Re: Turning off the screen on an iBook G4

[Paul Mather <paul%gromit.dlib.vt.edu@localhost>]

On Jun 21, 2010, at 1:14 AM, R. Tyler Ballance wrote:

> Hello again everybody, I've been running this iBook dual-USB chiclet G4 model
> with NetBSD 5.0.2 quite well over the past few weeks but one thing has been
> really nagging me.
> 
> The screen never dims, or turns off.
> 
> I've been using this machine largely as a headless NetBSD machine, so I'm
> wondering if there's any way to simply disable the screen via sysctl or
> something else? (X11 is out of the picture, if messes up something fantastic
> with this model)

In the past, I have used a utility on my iBook G4 called "Screen Spanning 
Doctor," which is a hack to enable spanning of displays (separate desktops on 
built-in and external monitor) on the iBook.  Normally, the iBook is restricted 
only to mirroring displays.

An additional feature of Screen Spanning Doctor is to enable "clamshell mode," 
which allows operating the system with the lid closed using an external 
keyboard and monitor.  (Again, clamshell mode is disabled for iBooks.)  It 
sounds from the above like you want to run in clamshell mode.

Information about Screen Spanning Doctor and the spanning/clamshell mode hack 
can be found at this page: http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html

Scroll down to the section entitled "The Patch" to get the Open Firmware 
commands necessary to unlock screen spanning and clamshell mode on the iBook G4.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Paul.