[MPlayer-users] Move mouse to disable screensaver

[The Wanderer]

Dotan Cohen wrote:

> All XKCD jokes aside, can a feature be added to mplayer to move the
> mouse every X seconds to prevent the screensaver from activating? As
> is it, I launch mplayer through a script that sets some preferences
> (such as -zoom).

You don't need a script for that; just add the line "zoom=1" to the
MPlayer config file (on an *nix, it's '~/.mplayer/config') and it should
take effect automatically. Just about any MPlayer option can be set in
the config file that way.

> Can I add something to that script which wiggles the mouse?

If you are on an *nix and running X, you can run 'xset s off' to disable
the screensaver and 'xset s on' to turn it back on. I used to do
something like this by hand (rather than via a script) every time;
nowadays I just turn the screensaver off entirely and leave it that way.
If you're using a script anyway, it should be simple enough to add those
commands.

Quite some time ago, MPlayer used to disable screensaver automatically
when run and enable it again on its own, but this seems to have fallen
by the wayside with some now-long-ago changes to make the
screensaver-related code more generic and less implementation-specific;
it hasn't worked at all for me ever since. I don't really miss it much
anymore, either, but it certainly bothered me at the time.

-- 
    The Wanderer

    My usual .sig is on vacation while I adjust to my new computer