How do I make EmulationStation obey OS sleep settings on x86 install?

movisman

Hi all,

I wonder if someone can help me out.
I have RetroPie installed on Linux Mint 18.3, and everything is working great. However, I notice within ES, any OS sleep settings which are configured are ignored when ES is running. So for example, if I have the monitor set to turn off within an hour, and the machine set to suspend after 2, it will ignore both. The ES screensaver will kick in though. Outside of ES, the power management options work as intended.

As this is a small but reasonably powerful PC running RetroPie on a living room setup, I don't want it running 24x7 like a Pi would, but I also don't want to have to quit ES and relaunch it every time or shutdown the machine manually with the power button.

Is there a way to have ES running but have it adhere to the OS power management settings?

I ideally want to have it so on the living room machine, I select the HDMI input, bring the machine out of standby - ES will be sat there ready to go, and when finished, just turn off the TV or change back to another input knowing the PC will eventually go into suspend mode by itself by following what is set in the OS.

Thanks!

movisman

Hi all,

I hate to bump threads but i'm still running into this issue - I also get this on Lubuntu. I'm pretty sure it's a setting within ES that disables any power management or overrides it - does anyone have any idea where this might be and if it can be adjusted?

I would like the system to suspend the PC automatically after 30 minutes or so of inactivity (as it does in the OS). I know ES is tailored more for Raspberry Pi but if there is a config file I can adjust myself that anyone knows of that would be really helpful?

Cheers!

silicongraphics

Were you ever able to find a way to do this? I too am using an x86 machine, and the only things i can find using google are for raspberry pi's, which wont apply to me.

akafox

I hate to say this...but that is what the screen saver was made for....

ES takes over that so you don't have to worry about it going to sleep on you while you are playing your game. (That is annoying trust me!)

The screen saver runs to save your screen from burn-in if you want to save electricity turn off the monitor when you are not using it.

movisman

@silicongraphics

Hi, no I never found a way to do this except using a type of Cron job to pop the machine into sleep at a specified time every night, just in case I forgot to press the power button on the machine to put it into standby or manually shut down ES. The Cron thing I tested about 6 months back but I cannot remember if it fully worked. I will pick it back up at some point in the near future as I've not played with the machine for a while.

If anyone has any idea how I can make ES obey the Ubuntu OS sleep settings while sat on the system select menu that would be awesome.

@akafox we were talking about the x86 build running on a PC, which if left on 24/7 consumes too much power and the system fans will keep running. The screensaver just dims the screen so isn't applicable here. Having ES obey the OS sleep settings would be good if you forgot to press the power button on the machine to sleep, shutdown manually via ES or whatever. I know with a Pi you can just leave it on 24/7 because of low power consumption, and this is fine, but using a PC there is a different requirement.

Cheers