Starting screensaver from terminal

Question

I like the 'Black Screen' screen-saver. Because it makes the monitor look like turned-off. But my CentOS takes minimum 1 min. to start it automatically.

Can I start it instantly from the terminal?

I sometimes need this feature while working with 2 monitors with two different OS. CentOS is on my VNC.

Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' · Answer 1 · 2013-06-14T10:10:59.733

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If all you want to do is blank the screen, as opposed to running a fancy animation or locking the screen, then xset can do it.

xset dpms force off

If you want to lock the display, you need a screen locking program, e.g. xscreensaver-command -lock -activate or gnome-screensaver -al or (for KDE4) qdbus org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver /ScreenSaver Lock.

If you want to turn off one monitor only, you can to it through xrandr (unless you're using a proprietary display driver, in which case you'll have the tools provided by NVidia/ATI).

xrandr --output DVI1 --off

This won't be undone by moving the mouse, you need to run xrandr --output DVI1 --auto to bring the monitor back.

edited Jun 14 '13 at 10:10

answered Jun 13 '13 at 23:25

Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'

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That was awesome :) . I didn't knew about that . – tusharmakkar08 Jun 14 '13 at 05:09
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But if you're concerned about security (and you should be) then you should use `xlock` or `xscreensaver` before turning off the display. (Perhaps make a wrapper that does both.) – bahamat Jun 14 '13 at 05:13
@bahamat For the use case “working with 2 monitors with two different OS”, locking doesn't seem useful, but I've edited it in anyway. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Jun 14 '13 at 10:11
@Gilles: I've got to try it. But the worstation is at my office and I use windows when I'm home.I have to wait this weekend :( .Thanks ... and I'm sorry for being late. – MD. Mohiuddin Ahmed Jun 14 '13 at 11:44
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@Gilles: Hi , Gilles... It gives this message : server does not have extension for dpms option xset: unknown option force ' – MD. Mohiuddin Ahmed Jun 16 '13 at 07:21

score 9 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 03 '22 at 13:48

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You can use xscreensaver-command:

$ xscreensaver-command -activate

or, with XScreenSaver 6 or later:

$ xscreensaver-command --activate

If it is not there on your system, on Debian derivatives you can install it with:

$ sudo apt-get install xscreensaver

On Fedora/CentOS/RHEL you install it with this command:

$ sudo yum install xscreensaver-base

edited Mar 03 '22 at 13:48

Stephen Kitt

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answered Jun 13 '13 at 05:54

tusharmakkar08

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If you use gnome, you can use `gnome-screensaver-command --activate`. No need to install `xscreensaver`. – andcoz Jun 13 '13 at 05:58
When I tried using `gnome-screensaver-command --activate` my screen got locked instead of the activation of screensaver .I am using Linux Mint 14 Nadia.Do you have any idea why is it so ? – tusharmakkar08 Jun 13 '13 at 06:03
Hey Tushar Makkar , it shows 'apt-get: command not found' !! – MD. Mohiuddin Ahmed Jun 13 '13 at 06:45
Hi , for centOS/RHEL you need to use `yum install "package name"` that is in this case use `su -c "yum install xscreensaver"` to install Xscreensaver . For Debian based linux we use `apt-get`. – tusharmakkar08 Jun 13 '13 at 06:52
But , it displays : 'No package **xscreensaver** available.Error: Nothing to do' – MD. Mohiuddin Ahmed Jun 13 '13 at 07:50
Did you try using `sudo yum install xscreensaver-base` ? – tusharmakkar08 Jun 13 '13 at 07:57
I did it with the root user... – MD. Mohiuddin Ahmed Jun 13 '13 at 08:05
I meant did u use `xscreensaver-base` ? Anyways you can download the rpm from this [link](http://rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html/search.php?query=xscreensaver) and install xscreensaver . – tusharmakkar08 Jun 13 '13 at 08:30
You can see my [screen](http://ctrlv.in/201121) : – MD. Mohiuddin Ahmed Jun 13 '13 at 08:44
let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/9223/discussion-between-tushar-makkar-and-md-mohiuddin-ahmed) – tusharmakkar08 Jun 13 '13 at 08:55
@andcoz: It just displays : '** Message: Screensaver is not running!' – MD. Mohiuddin Ahmed Jun 16 '13 at 07:41
Initially when you type the command it asks whether you want to run the screensaver in background ? You need to select yes and select the screensavers from the given list. – tusharmakkar08 Jun 16 '13 at 11:25
@TusharMakkar: but it's not asking anything.... just the message. – MD. Mohiuddin Ahmed Jun 17 '13 at 05:27

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 22 '21 at 20:24

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On modern distros you'd do xdg-screensaver activate

answered Apr 22 '21 at 20:24

Atemu

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This solution working on my `Ubuntu 20.04` – MD. Mohiuddin Ahmed Apr 22 '21 at 20:38

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 02 '22 at 17:03

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Per the other answer, I use:

xscreensaver-command -a

On Arch/Manjaro, I installed it from the AUR using:

$ yay -S xscreensaver

answered Mar 02 '22 at 17:03

Jesse

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Starting screensaver from terminal

4 Answers4