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Turing off an iMac Screen?

This (the actual original topic) is of interest to me, because I'm in the same boat--there are times I want to turn my monitor off but leave the computer running (long download while I'm sleeping, for example), but I don't like to have the screen set to sleep after 5 minutes (or whatever), since I also sometimes watch videos on the computer, and a short screen sleep time is annoying.

So, aside from manually changing the monitor sleep time every time I need to, or having a non-Apple monitor with a physical power button (which I have at home right now...), a "sleep screen" command would be handy. Haven't found any shareware that can do this, though.

Any help?


I really don't want to get into a "political" argument (which environmental concerns really aren't) in a tech help forum, but I feel oblligated to speak up a bit from a slightly less polarized viewpoint...

For one, the environment most definitely is self healing, and very good at it. It just happens on the order of centuries and millenia, which I'm not willing to wait for.

Originally posted by beerguy
It must suck to live in fear constantly because you only believe what you're told by some whacked extremist group.
Click to expand...
I don't think a majority (though not all, admittedly) of climate scientists count as a "whacked extremist group", nor does either of my middle aged, conservative, PhD-holding bosses or their colleagues, including myself. Most people I know living in Alaska aren't seeing global warming as a distant future occurance, either, since they're seeing some significant changes right now.

Still, it's worth being reasonable about environmental concerns--non-greenhouse gas-based air pollution (the type that's just nasty in the short term) in the US has gotten better in the past several decades, because it was so bad people got angry and regulated against it. And even worst-case, the world isn't going to flood, only very low-lying areas (~1-2 meters altitude) near sea-level (like where I live, where half the town used to be a bay).

Hey, the "good" part is, the end of really cheap oil and more noticable anthrpocentric warming should, by most estimates, occur in the next 2-4 decades, so we'll see who's right within our lifetimes if no major changes occur before then.
 
Why doesn't setting the screen brightness to zero work for you guys? That's my 'quick fix' solution, but then again I have a laptop, and I don't recall seeing brightness controls built onto the keyboard like on my laptop, but all you gotta do is open the prefs and change it, right?
 
Originally posted by Makosuke
I don't think a majority (though not all, admittedly) of climate scientists count as a "whacked extremist group", nor does either of my middle aged, conservative, PhD-holding bosses or their colleagues, including myself.
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The group referenced was the Sierra Club - I think that my description was closer than "climate scientists."
 
Originally posted by beerguy
The group referenced was the Sierra Club - I think that my description was closer than "climate scientists."
Click to expand...
By comparison, the Sierra Club is by no means "extreme", what about the eco-terrorists that firebomb stuff? they're pretty whacked, "Let's show how we're damaging the environment by BURNING ****!!!"


Okay, back on topic. You DO NOT need to set the computer to sleep to have only the display turn off. You can set the display itself to sleep after xxx minutes, and you can set a Hot Corner to disable the screen saver and sleep. I use the bottom right for that, and bottom left for turning the screen saver on.
 
Well, there's far too many enviro-posts to reply to now, so I won't even bother, but just to throw in my 2 cents:

The environment is self-healing? Sure, tell that to the billions of acres of rainforest that have been erradicated from the planet by the human race. They'll grow back, you say? Nice try.

Kay, that's enough off topic posting for me - for now... ;)
 
what's a topic?

haha
so yeah, anyways, even if you believe these curious statements about self healing environments (yeah, i agree, a couple 100 thousand years after we've wiped ourselves out, the earth would probably be doing alright for itself again, but on the short term...?), if you fall into the category of people who don't believe our actions are having any negative effect on our planet, to say you couldn't care less about the environment is pretty rediculous. I think you take a lot for granted. Imagine what it would be like if the water in your environment was filled with human excrement, or, something that more people in north america can relate to, pig excrement. Or imagine what it would be like if your environment didn't include air you can breathe. That may be a little far off from now, but if you live in a big city, you've seen and smelt that beautiful yellow cloud that just hangs over the streets. Not that i feel your all important personal computer is gonna contribute much to this by leaving its screen on for ten minutes, but i think that people who "couldn't care less" about their environment probably haven't realized that the word environment signifies more than something that a bunch of hippies and "extreme" educated folk care for for some reason.

If you lived in your own little self contained plastic bubble, you could do anything you want to it. But everyone on this planet has to deal with the negative impacts of your attitude, so try to be a bit more considerate.



now, someone said something about making a hot corner that'll put the screen to sleep instead of turning on the screen saver. i don't see how you do this, can you explain?
 
Re: what's a topic?

Originally posted by jeffy.dee-lux
now, someone said something about making a hot corner that'll put the screen to sleep instead of turning on the screen saver. i don't see how you do this, can you explain?
Click to expand...

Yah, I'd like to know this as well - when I go into my Desktop/Screen Saver settings into the Hot Corners section, the only options I see are for the screen saver or some Expose' stuff. Are there ways you can customize this further? If so, that would be very cool...

(My apologies for the on-topic post)
 
You set the display sleep time to 1 minute, and set a Hot Corner for the screen saver. It starts counting when the screen saver starts, so after 60 seconds, the display turns off.

jeffy: they will (probably) grow back. It will just take a very long time.
 
Originally posted by Counterfit
You set the display sleep time to 1 minute, and set a Hot Corner for the screen saver. It starts counting when the screen saver starts, so after 60 seconds, the display turns off.

jeffy: they will (probably) grow back. It will just take a very long time.
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Thanks for that Counterfit, I'll give it a try!
 
Okay, I thought I'd just put in my 2 cents, from a slightly different perspective...

Yes, the environment is self healing. But what does that mean? I means that we can't kill the planet. We can change the planet, though. We can do enough to the environment that it will adapt to its new form, and suddenly the natural oxygen level in the atmosphere is significantly less than it was, and we can't breath.

I guess my point is that the environment isn't going to try to take care of us. It'll take care of itself. If that means that things will change to become inhospitable for us, then we'll be in trouble. So, yes, the environment can heal itself, but it could condemn us in the process. So, it's in our best interest to avoid changing things so much that the environment's healing process kills us...
 
Set a short display sleep time

Regarding the original post, why wouldn't just setting the shortest display sleep time possible (a minute in 10.3) mostly solve the problem? You said you were OK with a 10-minute sleep time, why not a 1-minute?
 
How to adjust sleep time via the command line

I just poked around, and it looks like you can adjust the sleep time of the display with a single command: pmset -c dim <# of minutes> (you need to run this as root according to the man page.) 0 appears to set off time to "never", and I was unable to do anything except integer minute values. (Although I only messed with this for a minute.)

So if a short display sleep time was a problem for you (because you're watching animated shorts on your computer???), you could make two scripts you could run to switch between 1 minute and None or some longer time... and then just run the 1 minute script and walk away from your computer.
 
I have a 17' Flat Panel iMac and I start mine up at 9am and leave it on until around midnight every single day. If it burns out I have AppleCare and I will get it replaced.

I highly doubt it will happen again anyways. I haven't had any problems with my iMac besides the screen being tiled which has nothing to do with it being on all the time.

The iMac doesn't use very much power at all.

I never use sleep...it always seems to screw things up no matter which Mac I use. I just set it so that the screen saver turns on when ever its not in use for 10 minutes.

I wouldn't be worried at all...if your screen dies too many time Apple will give you a new iMac anyways.
 
Macs and ecology

You know, the thing I really find "sad" about this discussion is the fact that it lends further credence to the claims many PC users make about Mac users generally being "neo-hippies" and "environmental freaks".

The Mac has always had a strong following with those having more Liberal political leanings, which probably just makes sense when you consider it's in widespread use with Hollywood types. But really, Apple has always had this around their neck as sort of a "ball and chain" - and I'm certain it hurts their potential marketshare.

(More than one politically "conservative" individual I've met refuses to use Apple computers on principle, believing they stand for all the things they dislike in politics. Heck, Jobs even put Gore on his board of directors!)

Especially with OS X based machines, "sleep mode" is increasingly inappropriate. These systems have scheduled maintenance events that are designed to happen late at night, and they don't get run when the computer is sleeping. Most Windows users who run their machines more than just occasionally have disabled the "energy star" power saving features a long time ago, because the hassles they cause just aren't worth the few cents it saves in electricity.

Mac users, by contrast, tend to be so hung up on their computer's "impact on the environment" that they use 3rd. party tools to get around the scheduled maintenance events, reduce system stability with hacks, and more - just to fight to leave "sleep" enabled. I don't get it.... Just turn it OFF if it's such a big deal.
 
Re: Set a short display sleep time

Originally posted by wadetemp
Regarding the original post, why wouldn't just setting the shortest display sleep time possible (a minute in 10.3) mostly solve the problem? You said you were OK with a 10-minute sleep time, why not a 1-minute?
Click to expand...
I guess it just had to do with convenience. Normally you don't want your computer to go to sleep, you just want to turn the display off. But while I can set the time for the display to go to sleep at a low number, I was just wondering if there was a simple way to do it manually. I really don't have a "problem", I was just curious.
 
Originally posted by mactastic
Why doesn't setting the screen brightness to zero work for you guys? That's my 'quick fix' solution, but then again I have a laptop, and I don't recall seeing brightness controls built onto the keyboard like on my laptop, but all you gotta do is open the prefs and change it, right?
Click to expand...
iMacs have brightness controls just like the PowerBooks and iBooks. But they work differently. On the iMac at least, the lowest setting does not turn off the screen like it does on the laptops. But actually, it doesn't even really turn the laptop screen off. If you look really closely in a dim room, you can still see all the activity going on.
 
Re: How to adjust sleep time via the command line

Originally posted by wadetemp
I just poked around, and it looks like you can adjust the sleep time of the display with a single command: pmset -c dim <# of minutes> (you need to run this as root according to the man page.) 0 appears to set off time to "never", and I was unable to do anything except integer minute values. (Although I only messed with this for a minute.)

So if a short display sleep time was a problem for you (because you're watching animated shorts on your computer???), you could make two scripts you could run to switch between 1 minute and None or some longer time... and then just run the 1 minute script and walk away from your computer.
Click to expand...
How do you learn about these UNIX control utilities? Is there a comprehensive list or manual somewhere? It would be interesting to know how to use them.
 
Originally posted by TigerPRO
iMacs have brightness controls just like the PowerBooks and iBooks. But they work differently. On the iMac at least, the lowest setting does not turn off the screen like it does on the laptops. But actually, it doesn't even really turn the laptop screen off. If you look really closely in a dim room, you can still see all the activity going on.
Click to expand...
Right, that's just a backlight control. Quite a battery saver if you turn it off when you don't need it.

Also, if you want to change the display sleep time, it's in System Preferences, under the Display pane. I don't know why you went to the Terminal...
 
Originally posted by Counterfit
Right, that's just a backlight control. Quite a battery saver if you turn it off when you don't need it.

Also, if you want to change the display sleep time, it's in System Preferences, under the Display pane. I don't know why you went to the Terminal...
Click to expand...
I don't know why either. Cause I didn't. :) I was just asking about doing it.
 
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