34. Screen

Screen sets the screen saver, the moving picture that appears when you have not used the computer for a while, and the screen lock, which closes the screen after a longer time. The resolution of the monitors is set in Display (chapter 39).

The screen saver

Setting	What it does	Default
Screen saver	Switches the screen saver on or off.	on
Start after … minutes	How long without keyboard or mouse before it starts.	10 minutes
The list	Which screen saver it shows.	Qix

The screen savers:

Screen saver	What it shows
Random	A different one of the others each time.
Blank	A black screen.
Qix	Coloured lines that bounce across the screen, the classic of the X11 screen savers.
Swarm	A swarm of bees chasing a wasp, after the old X11 screen saver.
Starfield	A flight through the stars.
Floating Logo	The amadeOS logo and the time, drifting slowly across the screen.

The preview to the right of the list runs the chosen screen saver in small. Test shows it on the whole screen; any key or mouse click ends it.

The screen saver ends at the next key press or mouse movement and does not ask for a password. That is the lock's job.

The screen lock

Setting	What it does	Default
Screen lock	Locks the screen by itself after a time without input.	on
Lock after … minutes without input	How long before it locks.	15 minutes

The lock takes over from a running screen saver. Only your login password opens the screen again (chapter 26). To lock at once, use the padlock in the Front Panel or Super+L.

Your data

Leave the lock on, especially on a laptop. A screen saver alone only hides the screen; anyone who touches the mouse sees your open windows.

Under the hood

The settings are stored in ~/.config/amadeos/screen.conf. The screen saver program of the session, started by /etc/amadeos/autostart.d/50-amadeos-screen, asks the X server how long there has been no input, starts the screen saver and the lock at the set times, and reads the file again whenever it changes; there is no need to log in again.