Different areas of the wiki have things written about this. First I will copy them all to here. Then they can be organized later.
disable screen blanking
After my computer with ubuntu 12.04 has been idle for a short while, the screen will go blank, and even enter standby mode. Drop out of MythTV frontend to Xfce and on the menu in the upper left:
- Applications, Settings, Screensaver
Change "Blank After" to 0 or any value you want. Change "Screensaver" to "none."
STATUS: update. TV blanks on MythTV menu. Does not blank on livetv, player, or Xfce desktop. Culprit is a communications issue on the HDMI interface. HDMI technology flaw, implementation flaw, failure for some television and monitor manufacturers to adhere to HDMI specifications. On a Vizio brand display exhibiting the problem changing the automatic luminance to disabled seems to resolve. Keep in mind that pressing a button like "input" on the remote will recover display.
sudo xset dpms 0 0 0 && xset s off && xset s noblank xset q
xset -dpms xset s off
FROM: MythTV Setup- Operating System Adjustments
Q: How do I choose a graphic animated screensaver?
A: Screensavers were removed in Ubuntu 11.10. Ubuntu 12.04 has no screensavers, instead, the screen simply goes black when the system is idle for the set amount of time. You can ditch this screen blanking and install screensavers if you prefer the eye candy.
sudo apt-get remove gnome-screensaver
Install XScreenSaver and some additional screensaver packages with the following command:
sudo apt-get install xscreensaver xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl-extra
Get started by launching the Startup Applications utility from the Dash. Add a startup program with the following command. The name and comment here can be anything you like:
xscreensaver -nosplash