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Okay, so I'm new to trying out Linux. I want to get more comfortable with it but when basic things like stopping the computer from falling asleep on me become impossible to fix from a "I can't find anything in settings, googling and trying the results that come up fail" standpoint, it becomes pretty hard to want to keep giving it a chance.

For example, I'm watching a YouTube video. I want to sit back and watch, not have to move my mouse on a whim. And from what I THINK I've gathered, Caffeine only stops it from happening when I fullscreen the video. Well I hardly fullscreen videos and I don't want to start just because of this.

Besides, even if I DID start full screening videos, it wouldn't help with Skype. I'll be in a Skype call talking to people and out of nowhere, boom! I'm disconnected! Why? Because the dumb thing fell asleep during a call.

I've searched and searched to no avail. But the thing is, I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO be searching for some fix to this. Why is the OS so primitive to not handle this correctly? Am I just stupid and blind to the fix for this or is my aggravation justified? Please help.

Edit: I should point out I don't want the screen to never sleep. If I walk way from the computer I want it to, to save battery. Because if I walk away from my computer it won't be while in a Skype call or with a video playing. It's obvious tasks like those I want it to not sleep, and let it do so when not doing them. I DON'T want to disable sleep forever.

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    This normally depends on your desktop environment, not the OS per-se. Do you use vanilla Ubuntu as it gets installed or have you installed LXDE or KDE?
    – 0xC0000022L
    Jul 10, 2014 at 20:27
  • I have vanilla Ubuntu.
    – hobox
    Jul 10, 2014 at 20:50
  • with your edit it becomes unclear whether you're after screen or computer sleep settings or both? Could you clarify, please.
    – 0xC0000022L
    Jul 11, 2014 at 16:43
  • Both of them, I don't want the screen turning off or it going to sleep while watching a video/movie/being in a Skype call, etc.
    – hobox
    Jul 11, 2014 at 20:43
  • If you're still not satisfied with your current solution, I recommend giving Keep.Awake a shot. Read the answer recommending Keep.Awake here: askubuntu.com/questions/577862/…
    – DanglingPointer
    Jun 17, 2016 at 0:16

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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In the top right corner, there is a menu with the item "System settings". This will open a screen with various configuration items. The one you want is "Power". Here you can set the screen dimming behaviour.

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  • I added an edit to my original post which I think addresses your reply. Let me know if what you're talking about is different.
    – hobox
    Jul 10, 2014 at 20:29
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There's a section in the system settings called Brightness and lock where you can set how long the computer can be idle before locking.

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  • Please read my entire post.
    – hobox
    Jul 11, 2014 at 13:02
  • @hobox I'm fairly new to Linux myself, so I'm not sure how to make certain processes keep the display on. Sorry.
    – Pierce Griffiths
    Jul 11, 2014 at 14:46

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