XFCE Screensaver Freezes - Otherwise no problem?
 

Hi everyone.

About 3 weeks ago I installed the newest MX Linux, lots of chages from my previous updated MX which was about 2 years old. My wife also has Linux with XFCE on her machine, but she prefers Linux Mint instead of MX Linux. There's a reason why I'm making that point. Well, my wife's XFCE screensaver works exactly the way that it should, including password, sleep, etc. But the screensaver on my MX Linux just starts up, runs for about 5 to 10 minutes, and then freezes cleanly on my screen. If I hit the escape key or click a mouse button, everything is fine ... the screen comes back and everything is working.

Since my wife and I are both using brand new installs with XFCE, I'm assuming that my screensaver behavior is something that's been built into the newest MX Linux? It really annoys the crap out of me (sorry). It does, really. Our office machines are located about 15 feet away from our livingroom setup with the TV, and I actually enjoy being able to glance over to the other room now and then in order to see my running screensaver.

So does anyone know how to disable the screensaver freeze? During the past few days I've tried numerous settings & adjustments, rebooted the system afterwards too, but nothing seems to work. Would it be helpful if I changed to Compton instead? I'm certain that it's not the graphic card because I'm using the standard Intel HD 4600 which has never given me problems before. My wife's machine is identical to mine, except for the Linux Mint variation.

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Some screensavers are extremely heavy on resources.
It annoys the crap out of me, too: that the developers have not had the common sense to include a resource check.
We once had an old computer that would freeze fully when one of the heavier screensavers started up - it took a minute or so to come back to life after pressing Escape.
And anyhow, what's the point of letting your machine run hot when it isn't actually doing anything?
If you have yours set up to randomly change, try excluding those that eat resources.

Thanks for the answer. No, I'm just running a single screensaver that's set up just the way that I like it. I'm not too concerned about resources either since the processor is a 2,9 to 3,6 ghz rig with 16 gb of RAM. I've had machines with as little as 2 GB of RAM run a single screensaver on an XFCE desktop without a problem. That's why I thought that it was something specific that the MX developers decided to tweak in this manner? Granted, screensaver stops ... those resources may not be used anymore ... which should however be an individuals choice ... just as the remaining power settigns are.

I changed the screen rendering to Compton. Then I left, came back 3 hours later, and the display was shut off like it was supposed to be. That didn't work correctly before either. When I got back into the system with a click, I could briefly see the screensaver running before the entire screen was back. That's looking promising. Maybe I'll get lucky and Compton did the trick. I'll let you know tomorrow when I know for sure ...

EDIT: Compton = Solved

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<solved> screensaver freeze xfce
 

Yeah, that took care of it alright. Switched the Compositor from standard XFCE over to Compton and now all's well. Screensaver works as it should, ends as it should, system goes to sleep as designated, etc. Switched my wife's Mint / XFCE setup over to Compton as well and that was an improvemment too. Compton was already installed on Mint, but I had to manually add the configuration UI from Synaptic.

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