“If you’ve got an energy saving monitor, chances are you’d
love to take advantage of its energy saving features in Linux and
XFree86. If your monitor is already behaving as though DPMS is
enabled, then it probably is — your distribution’s installer may
have done it for you. If you think you need to enable DPMS or tweak
the settings, however, read on.”
“There are four basic DPMS states. They are on, standby,
suspend, and off, and they have the following meanings:
- On is the normal operating state of your
monitor. The power is on and a picture is being displayed by the
electron guns. - Standby is the first level of power saving;
the screen is blank because the guns have been powered down, but
the rest of the monitor is on. Recovery is almost instant. - Suspend is the second level of power saving;
the guns and their power supply are off, but the rest of the power
system is enabled. Recovery time is from 2-5 seconds. - Off is the highest level of power saving;
everything is off but “listening” circuitry to detect video signals
and power the monitor back on again. Recovery time is the same as
when powering the monitor on in the first place, usually from 5-10
seconds.”