Introduction and questions

[GregO]

I have Handle display power management unchecked and it goes blank on my Dell.

I ended up setting it to never and have my desktop background changing randomly every minute to act as a screensaver.

Yes, I ended up also setting power management display to 'never' and installed Xscreensaver. I am liking it very much so far. I appreciate that screensavers are unnecessary, but I like 'em

I like them too, and I'd probably install it if I knew how to do it.

piece of cake, this command in a terminal window is how I did it.

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get install xscreensaver xscreensaver-gl-extra xscreensaver-data-extra
*JanetBiggar, I am sorry for partially hijacking your thread.

Kewl, it works well.

I searched around last night after my post, and I found an install on youtube, but it seemed there was more to it than this.

Thanks alot for the command.

Sorry on my end Janet as well.

[pieboy314]

I have Handle display power management unchecked and it goes blank on my Dell.

I ended up setting it to never and have my desktop background changing randomly every minute to act as a screensaver.

Yes, I ended up also setting power management display to 'never' and installed Xscreensaver. I am liking it very much so far. I appreciate that screensavers are unnecessary, but I like 'em

I like them too, and I'd probably install it if I knew how to do it.

piece of cake, this command in a terminal window is how I did it.

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get install xscreensaver xscreensaver-gl-extra xscreensaver-data-extra
*JanetBiggar, I am sorry for partially hijacking your thread.

[GregO]

I have Handle display power management unchecked and it goes blank on my Dell.

I ended up setting it to never and have my desktop background changing randomly every minute to act as a screensaver.

Yes, I ended up also setting power management display to 'never' and installed Xscreensaver. I am liking it very much so far. I appreciate that screensavers are unnecessary, but I like 'em

I like them too, and I'd probably install it if I knew how to do it.

[newtusmaximus]

JanetBiggar, what software do your students use the most? Are they all Linux variants or do you use windows  programs on WINE?

[JanetBiggar]

JanetBiggar, You might want to try an earlier version of LL 32 bit.  My old Toshiba Satellite pro A10 with 2 x 512 MB RAM, ran very well on LL 2.8 32 bit  but struggled on LL 3.0... All power to your mission in SA.

Sorry, I just saw this today. I appreciate your thoughts on the Toshiba given that yours is similar. Actually maybe you were referencing the old Dell I was working on with 512 mb - either way so far LL 3.4 seems to be working on them fine and no doubt what I’m using them for doesn’t challenge these computers as much perhaps as regular everyday stuff we would put ours through.  The guys are soaking up the access to study stuff and internet access/ability when I can arrange it so so far so good with LL 3.4

Thanks for your comment on my SA work 😊

[newtusmaximus]

JanetBiggar, You might want to try an earlier version of LL 32 bit.  My old Toshiba Satellite pro A10 with 2 x 512 MB RAM, ran very well on LL 2.8 32 bit  but struggled on LL 3.0.  I believe the Kernel on LL 2.8 was V3.19? and I am not sure for how much longer it will be supported.  Perhaps others in the forum could advise the End Of Life date for Kernel 3.19  and what risks there would be by running the Kernel beyond its supported date?     All power to your mission in SA.

[pieboy314]

I have Handle display power management unchecked and it goes blank on my Dell.

I ended up setting it to never and have my desktop background changing randomly every minute to act as a screensaver.

Yes, I ended up also setting power management display to 'never' and installed Xscreensaver. I am liking it very much so far. I appreciate that screensavers are unnecessary, but I like 'em

[GregO]

hmm, I am here because I have Power Manger configured similarly to smhardesty, but my laptop display goes nuts flickering endlessly on the Display Brightness setting after 10 minutes instead of just going blank...must be a driver thing.

I am thinking about installing a screensaver and getting away from Display Power Management, after reading this thread maybe I should make a fundamental change in my behavior and quit walking away from my laptop while it is full awake. hmmmm. I like to tinker and I am almost certainly going to try to install Xscreensaver

I have Handle display power management unchecked and it goes blank on my Dell.

I ended up setting it to never and have my desktop background changing randomly every minute to act as a screensaver.

[pieboy314]

hmm, I am here because I have Power Manger configured similarly to smhardesty, but my laptop display goes nuts flickering endlessly on the Display Brightness setting after 10 minutes instead of just going blank...must be a driver thing.

I am thinking about installing a screensaver and getting away from Display Power Management, after reading this thread maybe I should make a fundamental change in my behavior and quit walking away from my laptop while it is full awake. hmmmm. I like to tinker and I am almost certainly going to try to install Xscreensaver

[JanetBiggar]

Thanks Steve, I will try out the power management (I also appreciate your comment about not likely having to worry about screen burn).

[smhardesty]

Not yet sure what I'll do regarding a screen saver as all these older laptops are most commonly 2008 era 'give or take'.

I'm not sure you'd really have any problems with screen burn on 2008 laptops, but if you're concerned you can always use the power manager to blank the screens during inactivity just like a screensaver. Here is a shot of my setup. I never leave my laptop up and running if I'm not actively on it. That's the reason for all the "Never" settings while plugged in. I only have the "On Battery" settings set to blank the screen, put to sleep, etc, etc to keep from totally draining my battery. About the only real difference between using a screensaver and using Power Management is there isn't a pretty picture on the desktop with Power Manager.

Just a thought.

[JanetBiggar]

Thanks for the welcomes and also the advice, much appreciated. 

I will stick to the one (Linux Lite) and will now go off and try making the zRAM change.  Not yet sure what I'll do regarding a screen saver as all these older laptops are most commonly 2008 era 'give or take'.

I waiting on a charge cord for the HP Chromebook so may have some questions then about loading Linux Lite on it 

[smhardesty]

I'll not repeat any of the comments I have read. They are ALL good, solid, recommendations and suggestions. Having spent a long period of time in the computing industry I would recommend Linux Lite be your one and only distro of choice. I say this for a couple of reasons. One, it will make your job as administrator much easier. No need to learn 2 or 3 distros if you don't need to. Lite will run well on older, slower computers and will run extremely well on any newer, more powerful computers you happen to obtain. Secondly, the students will be able to share in their knowledge of the system which will only lessen problems for them AND for you. Kids learn quickly and are apt to share their new found knowledge with their peers. As their knowledge of Linux Lite climbs, your problems as administrator should start to reduce.

[skippy95]

@JanetBiggar,
1)  I recommend Linux Lite on all of the computers. It would make your workload much easier and quicker. Learn one operating system and concentrate on that.

4)  Screensavers are not as important/necessary now, due to newer LCD screens not having the "burn" problem that the old CRT monitors had. So it's up to you if you want to use one or not.

I wish you the very best in your endeavors. It's great what you are doing.

[trinidad]

1) Should run fine on 1gig with 1.88g cpu or faster. 512mb will depend on the graphics card and cpu.
2) Yes to zRAM on 1g. Haven't tried it on 512mb, some older RAM won't allow it.
3) zRAM should work well on the Chromebook but installation might be a little different. The smallest HDD I have personally setup LL 3.4 on is 30g with 1g RAM and a Celeron 2.40g cpu but 16g should be more than enough to allow swap and still have room.
4) xscreensaver still worked in 3.0 but I'm not sure about 3.4. Check the help manual for locker explanations.
5) XP viruses are everywhere. Good news they are highly unlikely to affect LL 3.4. As long as you are not opening the USB with wine don't worry about it.

I test a lot of Linux distros and I absolutely recommend Linux Lite first to new users. Also this is one very rare forum on the Internet: one where the developers participate regularly, and are generally good natured.

TC