[mythtv-users] MythFrontend only suspend mode options...

[Michael Watson]

On 10/01/2015 8:13 PM, Raymond Boettcher wrote:
> I just wanted to get an opinion on this topic from a few users in the 
> mailing list to see what I can do about this.
>
> So lets start....   I have read article after article about putting 
> the backend to sleep after the frontend goes into idle mode. From what 
> I understand this is handled by the MythWecome program which launches 
> Mythfrontend.  This worries me because I don't want to put the backend 
> to sleep.  The backend hosts the internet as a router on the network, 
> runs Asterisk PBX for the phone switch and a few other functions that 
> are outside the control of MythTV.  I just want to put the frontend to 
> sleep after a specified time of no activity.
I found MythWelcome to be almost useless for my use case, as when I 
configured my frontends to shutdown automatically when not in use, I 
found it odd that in order for MythWelcome to shutdown/suspend the 
machine, you had to physically exit the frontend.  This may have 
changed, I am not sure.

I used the "Frontend Control Socket 
<https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/frontend_control_socket>" to query what the 
frontend was doing, combined with xscreensaver to determine when to 
shutdown/suspend the system. Not sure if you can query if its playing 
music outside of MythMusic.

ie:  When xscreensaver has blanked the screen for X minutes, and the 
Frontend is not using MythBrowser or in MythMusic then its ok to shutdown.

>
> The best method I've seen so far is to monitor 'xset q' for the status 
> of the monitor.  if xset +dpms during X Startup before mythfrontend is 
> loaded, then MythFrontend will see this and disable DPMS during times 
> of playback of music, videos or video games.  However, I have found a 
> few exceptions to the rule that concerns me a little.  #1> If you 
> decide to play music and then jump out of the music player but allow 
> background playback, Mythfrontend will re-enable DPMS while music is 
> still playing.  If my script checks that the monitor has been "turned 
> off" and decides to suspend the system, that would be bad.  Not to 
> mention I don't really want the screen to blank while playing 
> background music simply because it does show the next song as it comes 
> on.  Also, my Flat Screen TV is finicky about there being "No Signal" 
> due to DPMS being on. After a certain amount of time the TV will 
> automatically turn off.  Not Standby, if I make the computer comes 
> back on the TV is still off.  I have to press the TV On button on my 
> controller to get the TV to live again.  Nice feature but it should 
> have been implemented like the monitors handle it, and there's no 
> reason it shouldn't, the computer is connected to the Flat Panel TV 
> via its VGA connector.
>
> I considered checking the monitor to see if it has been blanked and 
> checking the CPU usage to see if its at 0 or near 0.  Even the Mp3 
> Player will create some CPU load which will prevent standby.  However, 
> my attempts to dive into /proc/stat has been interesting, and granted 
> I could probably figure out what all the numbers mean, I don't really 
> see this as the best approach in handling this.
>
> However, I did notice that the logs suggest this:
>
> 2015-01-10 03:09:26.034317 N  Suspending idle timer
> 2015-01-10 03:09:42.539346 N  Resuming idle timer
>
> But I assume this idle timer is for the backend suspend and didn't see 
> any options for getting access to that idle timer or using that idle 
> timer to suspend a FE Only machine at least from Settings in 
> MythFrontend or mythtv-setup.
>
> Also, my second problem is for machines that are in suspend for a long 
> time.  I'm concerned that the NFS handles to the mounts for the video 
> library, game library, etc will become stale.  Then once the machine 
> comes out of standby those mountpoints will become dead, especially if 
> the backend server gets rebooted while the client machine is in 
> standby.  However, I am more than capable of writing a script that 
> would kill mythfrontend, X11, and dismount those shares before 
> entering suspend (maybe even via a runlevel).  And then spend 5 
> seconds putting it all back together after suspend is over...  The 
> second option was a complete power down, however, I do like the fact 
> that I can make linux come out of standby using the keyboard, or in my 
> case a Universal Remote programmed with the keys from a Infrared 
> Keyboard with Sensor. (This method sure makes it easy to exit 
> Emulators, Navigate BIOS, Select the OS to boot from LILO or GRUB, etc 
> that don't support LIRC using my TV Controller...).
>
> Anyhow, I just want to make a small write up about this and ask how 
> everyone else is handling this.  Currently all my DVR Clients run 24/7 
> which makes maintenance a little messy.  Fans get clogged, hard drives 
> fail after 3-4 years, 24/7 power consumption, etc.  All because these 
> machines run 24/7 and get used maybe 4-6 hours per day depending on 
> who is home.  There is no need, the FE Only machines do nothing while 
> idle except consume power, create unneeded heat in the house and wear 
> out internal parts.
>
> Anyhow, your idea's and suggestions would be great.  I'm sorry about 
> the long write up, I just wanted to cover all the bases and could all 
> be easily solved with a simply "execute command if idle for x 
> minutes." and that action will have no consequences or actions on the 
> backend server...  Keeping in mind that background music is still not 
> idle...
>
> -RayRay-
>
>
>
>
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