Screensaver for the PinePhone

[Norman Feske]

To all Sculpt-OS-on-the-PinePhone testers,

I have just published a new Sculpt OS image for the PinePhone that 
includes a screensaver mode to increase battery time. You can download 
the image with version 2023-06-30 at [1], or use Sculpt's built-in 
system update feature, selecting me (nfeske) as image provider, and 
download and install the latest entry of my index.

[1] https://depot.genode.org/nfeske/image/

The screensaver kicks in after ten seconds of user inactivity in the 
administrative user interface. It also can be manually activated by 
pressing the power button. While the screen is blanked, a press of the 
power button enables the display again.

Under the hood, Sculpt completely removes the drivers for the display 
and the touchscreen while the screen is blanked, which considerably 
reduces the power draw. The system also switches the CPU to economic 
mode while the screen is blanked. Here are some illustrative data points:

Max brightness in performance mode: 2.8 W
Max brightness in economic mode:    2.6 W
Low brightness in economic mode:    1.7 W
Screensaver:                        1.0 W

As a caveat, I noticed that the screen-flickering issue, we sporadically 
observed in the past, occurs quite often when returning from the 
screensaver (aka after restarting the drivers). The flickering 
disappears after a while. However, maybe this way of reproducing the 
issue gives us the chance to eventually solve it.

Have fun with trying out the new image!

Norman

-- 
Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske
Genode Labs

https://www.genode-labs.com · https://genode.org

Genode Labs GmbH · Amtsgericht Dresden · HRB 28424 · Sitz Dresden
Geschäftsführer: Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske, Christian Helmuth