I am new to Linux. I have installed openSUSE 11.1 with KDE v. 3. The system asks for a password if the screen saver has been activated and ignores any attempt to deactivate this unnecessary religious ritual. The KDE was updated to 4.2 - or was it a new and extra installation?. I am not able to control if the old files were removed. The installation procedure is not transparent compared to Microsoft operating systems.
Can you supply list of enabled repositories? This command will give us the info:
zypper lr
KDE will only get updated if you had factory repo, or KDE 4.2.1 repos enabled.
With KDE 3.5, you can configure screen saver (password control) via Configure Desktop -> Screen saver. You can enable or disable ‘Require password to stop’ as desired.
This is a bug that seems to have been introduced with a recent KDE update and has to do with the powersave daemon. There was a thread about this, with workaround, search for it using those terms.
Sorry, looks like I misunderstood problem. (apparently with KDE 4.2 update). Hope its fixed soon.
Fist about your screensaver: if you had read what was in the screen where you selected the screensaver, you would have seen an option to lock screen, and require unlock to stop screensaver. So not openSUSE, you decided.
Do you know what you are saying? M$ transparent ? Can you see through what their installers do? Then please explain this transparancy: No matter whether it’s the old Celeron 400 or my X2 6000, Windows installers always tell me the install is going to last for 39, 33, 23, 21, 19, 17, several minutes. Always. Try simply replacing Vista by XP. Is it transparency that floods the fora? Come on.
Any single line containing the words transparency and microsoft in one sentence is a contradiction in itself.
Your problem is, that M$ have already done something to your mind: you’ve started thinking like a Windows-computer. You’re not asking for help, you’re just making a statement, with virtually no ground. Blaming the OS for not reading.
Transparency: This Program was terminated due to a serious error, Click OK to continue…
LOL
Well, that was a very polite answer. I am no friend of Microsoft, but MS seems to be the only usable system for home and office use. It is usable, but certainly not as it should be. My first computer was a DEC PDP 11 (1980) with the RT 11 operating system. I learned programming in assembler and Fortran. I am still preferring assembler and C (not C++). This is my third attempt to see if Linux can replace MS. My first two attempts were removed from the Hard disc within the first 24 hours, because of unrecoverable bugs. OpenSUSE Linux has been installed on my Internet-Computer (separated from the rest of the system) for 10 days now. My blood pressure gets raised every time I have to retype the password.
The problem is probably older than the KDE 4.2. The reason for updating to 4.2 from the installation version was the problem with the password.
I can forgive plain and simple programming errors, but not those who seems to have some religious or ideological background. My first encounter with passwords was a similar situation. I worked in Norway as a general practitioner. The computer-system was DOS-based with an Novell network. Every time a patient was to be examined, I had to leave my desk. When I came back, the running program (PROF-DOC database system) had activated a screen-saver (for safety reasons, was the explanation given). The program could only be restarted by typing a password. Nobody else were in the room and the screen-saver could not be deactivated. That is many years ago now, but I am still reacting allergic to screen savers and passwords.
I hoped that Linux was so mature now, that it was able to replace MS, but this seems not to be the case.
If it was a bug, it must have been fixed.
Just disabled password for screensaver (because I explicitly want this) and works fine for me.
//edit:
To be sure it’s not an architecture related problem, just rebooted to x86_64, also no problems here.
Thanks for wasting my (up)time…
I can understand that it is not a general problem. An architecture related problem seems less probable, but here are the relevant technical data of the system. The oldest computer in the household becomes the Internet computer: Medion with an Intel 3 GHz hyperthreading processor, 1 GB memory.
To complete the comparison with MS: I am programming my own install programs and I know what they are doing. The APIs for Linux, f.ex. the KDE are high level C++ functions. These are comparable to BASIC = beginners allpurpose symbolic instruction code. Note: beginner. You do not know the internals of a C++ interface.
Well, it is a general problem, it’s called PEBKAC 
Please explain - was it an attempt to say something funny, only understandable for people educated in an English speaking country, or was it meant as usable information.
There is a problem - but is it only on my installation? If so - why and where.
See if this works for you.
KDE4 screen lock problem - openSUSE Forums
I had screen lock turned off (I think that’s the default when installed), yet after a recent update, it started locking my screen after 15 minutes of inactivity. The workaround described in that thread fixed it.
> I hoped that Linux was so mature now, that it was able to replace MS,
> but this seems not to be the case.
and yet you install KDE 4.2, which must be THE most bleeding edge
windows manager in the universe…exactly the one that Windows 7 is
now trying to emulate and beat??
if you want more stability that gives a Mac feeling, go for
Gnome…wanna feel kin to Redmond go for KDE3
either way you are light years ahead of M$ transparency…
but if you want a mature, rock solid, industrial grade OS and windows
manager, give SLED 10’s no religious ritual a whirl…
–
solo
still on openSUSE 10.3 because i can’t stand the BETA feel of 11.1
None of the suggestions work - I am sufficiently experienced to try all the obvious possible solutions before asking for help.
I am using the german language:
-
Systemeinstellungen
-
Arbeitsfläche
-
Bildschirmschoner
-
After choosing the screen saver, you can check a button to activate the screen saver (“Automatisch starten”) and adjust the time before activation
-
The next field is: “Nach Passwort fragen, um Bildschirmschoner zu beenden.” Then you can adjust the time until the password has to be typed.
-
After the update to 4.2 another field with text in English follows: Allow widgets on screen saver.
The system ignores everything, even after a restart. I can change the screen saver, bur all other changes are ignored.
Read the post about the powerdevil setting.
> I am sufficiently experienced to try all
> the obvious possible solutions before asking for help.
then please do NOT say: “I am new to Linux.” which is the first line
of the first post in this thread.
if you are experienced and have already tried all of the obvious (to
you) possible solutions go ahead and LIST those anyway, because
someone here MIGHT have another 15 obvious possible solutions that you
did NOT think of…
see how that works?
–
solo
In the meantime openSUSE 11.1 was installed on another computer. The screen saver behaves - on that computer - the way I want it to. This computer has more power than my Internet computer, but that does not make the difference. The Internet computer has an unoriginal video-card, and the problem may be some incompatibility in the driver. After the weekend I will try to get another card and see how it works. But thank you anyway. I will return and report the result.
Good grief the level of hostility in many of the responses in this thread is staggering. The OP is clearly a frustrated new user not a troll.
I ran into the same issue after a recent update. There are now several places you have to tell KDE that you don’t want to lock out the screen. Just un-checking the box on the screen saver dialog is no longer enough to prevent your screen from locking when the machine is idle.
In the “Configure Desktop” window. Click on the “Advanced” Tab.
Click “Power Management”
In the “General Settings” interface (which comes up as the default)
Uncheck “Lock screen on resume”
Click on “Edit Profiles” in the left hand menu.
Click on each profile (“Aggressive Powersave”, “Performance”, “Powersave”, etc)
Make sure the dropdown after “When the system is idle for more than” does not read “Lock Screen”
And how exactly is anyone installing openSuse for the first time supposed to know that? The 11.1 install gives you the option for Gnome, KDE4 for or Other when it asks which desktop environment you want. It provides no clue that KDE 4 basically preforms like a beta product or that KDE 3.5 is included under other, so shockingly users who want KDE go for 4.
PEBKAC is geek speak for Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair and is a common refrain from developers who’ve never bothered to crack a book on interface design in their life.
gulvsand it’s been a while since I’ve sought help on this forum, but I’ve generally found it to be infinity more helpful and kind that some of the posts in this thread would indicate. I’ve also found the openSuse Forums on SuSE Linux Help - Linux Forums and Suse/Novell - LinuxQuestions.org to be quite helpful as well
normfox is right.
I’m using OpenSuse 11.1, KDE 4.1.3.
I also had the same difficulty trying to stop the screen session lock - vital for a freevo Media Centre PC, searching various threads til I found normfox’s tip (thanks!). I’d say there should be a simpler way to turn this off under the (General) Desktop> screensaver settings.
Criticism should be used constructively to improve future releases.
Thanks, normfox. I’ve been trying to figure this one out for the past few weeks as I only found a few posts for this and one had a dead link to the fix.
I was really confused because "configure desktop>general>desktop>screensaver “require password to stop” was by default, unticked.
The section under "configure desktop>advanced>power management>edit profiles and under Performance, it had “when the system is idle for more than…” “Lock Screen”. I changed this to “suspend to ram”, as well as the other suggestion of unticking “lock screen on resume”, and that did the trick.
Much appreciated for the help!
Orba