It stopped happening a little while ago though just started again. Searching "dim" in the Menu doesnt bring up anything

what window manager are you running? Some have a gui to use to malnipuate time settings for screen dim.

Window manager.....

yes that thing you are looking at when you're sitting in front of your pc/laptop that you use to open up all of whatever it is you open ...

gnome, mate, i3, icewm, KDE, Blackbox, cwm, Enlightenment, TinyWM, Ratpoison, awesome, dwm, cinnamon...

just to name a few.

what are you running on your box?

( though I do have to warn you, there is a difference between,
Window Managers, and DeskTops) I may have used the wrong terminology and should have asked you,

which DT/WM are you using?

instead.

To begin with, what distro (distribution i.e. type of Linux) are you using?

Examples are Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Slackware, Debian, Arch, Linux Lite, Puppy.

Once we've ascertained that, we will work out which desktop environment you're using.

haa that is like asking someone that has a 442 Engine stuck in a car, it does not matter which car, it is the 442 Engine that is giving him problems the door shuts just fine.

the desktop, or window managers all run on top of the Linux distro. it is rather more app to best find out what I asked, because you can take a distro and discard the desktop or windowmanager it came with and install something completely different, just like the car that orginally had a 305 in it now it has a 442.

think about it.

When someone is struggling, it is best to take things easy and start from a position before what you really want to ask so that you can ease them comfortably into answering the question you really want answered. Newbies do not want to be confused by the distinction between window managers and desktop environments, and many newbies have no idea what their desktop environment, or as you vaguely describe it "that thing you are looking at when you're sitting in front of your pc/laptop that you use to open up all of whatever it is you open", is called. They just use it. The user has already said that they don't know what "window manager" is. The distro is therefore a good starting point.

that is the start postion.

problem is screen dims in a few secs.
then the one that wants to help him now has to ask themselves what controls that, how does a user get to the controls that malnipuate this screen dim?

and where is it kept?

in linux itself? NO!
but it is the desk top that has it within its bundle that lays the answer to his problem. it matters not what flavor of Linux he or she is running, it is what lays on top of it that has within it the controls to malnipute the screen dim timing.

hence gnome or KDE has such a feature.

it does not matter if these two are installed on ubuntututu or SlackWare they both still operate the same. therefore it does not matter what disto the OP is running. it is the windowmanager or desktop one needs to know so the person helping then can access if he has a GUI option or does he need to use the command line, or open up some confg file to mod it to change the settings so that the window will not dim in a few sec but rather at a time he or she wants it to....

therefore the starting point is what Desktop or Window Manager is he or she using?

furthermore, because it is dimming in a few secs is a tell tell sign that it most likely is a KDE or Gnome because these two have the personality to do such a thing. Enlightenment would be a third but that usally only happen when they log out.

think about it.

I know that, you know that, but what if the person cannot answer that question directly. ;-) Then you have to find another way to get the info.

If you are going to launch in all technical like, you are going to scare a lot of newbies off this forum.

sometimes you just got a get your feet wet. that is not a scary thing to learn what DT/WM you are running.

then of course their is always the blinding light and cigarette burning technical method to get information out of someone.

if asking someone what window manager they are using is too technical a question for them and it scares them away from using Linux. then what is to be said of that person?

It's not in what you ask, it's in the way that you ask it.

And of course, I talked about scaring people away from this forum, not from Linux.

But that's me done. You carry on at a thousand miles an hour. I've actually wondered on occasion if you're a plant from Microsoft, intentionally placed here to confuse newbies so much that they think twice about their decision to try Linux. ;-)

ok mister,
so you're telling me it is how I ask it, so this is going to scare away all of the little newbeeies

as opposed to what your frist question was?
which you'll see is you just getting ready to ask the OP exacly what I asked in the first palce. Which is the starting point of trying to fix his or her problem.

your argument holds no water ...

Linux Mint.

Ok, I'll leave it to BW-userx to talk you through the solution.

@BW-userx: assume Cinammon.

on On Cinnamon desktop go to menu-> system settings-> applet -> Brightness then adjust accordingly.

same for most other desktops, look for a (system) settings -
sometimes in a place called power settings, or power management you'll find an area that you can adjust your screen dim time

1 members found this post helpful.