Distribution
Linux Mint 22.3 - Cinnamon 64-bit
Package version
Cinnamon 6.6.7
Graphics hardware in use
No response
Frequency
Always
Bug description
I've been trying to understand how locking, suspending, screen-off, and the screensaver all relate to each other in Cinnamon, and after digging through my own settings and different forum links where people are struggling with same issue, I strongly believe this is a bad design if not a bug that need addressing.
My setup for reproducibility is attached (screenshots attached, numbered 1–5):
Here's the actual problem I am facing apart from inconsistent terminologies.
For simplicity all times here are for battery power:
At 5 minutes mark I expect screen to be turned off only, per my settings, but I also got locked out which should happen at the 15 minutes like the Screensaver panel (screenshot 1) says. So the lock is riding on the screen-off event, but it's configured and labeled entirely under the Screensaver panel, and nothing in either panel tells you these are connected.
This is all very confusing as a user: I set a lock delay in the Screensaver settings expecting it to follow the screensaver's own timer, and instead it's silently governed by a totally different timer in a different settings window.
A few other things that make this whole area hard to reason about, on top of the above:
- "Sleep" is used in the Screensaver panel ("lock when put to sleep") to mean suspend, but that word never appears in Power Management, so there's nothing connecting the two unless you read a tooltip.
- "Sleep" is not an option when you hit power button (screenshot 5), but is used at different places in UI.
- Locking is not separately configurable and is tied to screensaver settings, where screensaver and screen off are tied. So following can't be achieved: I want screen to turn off at 5 minutes but lock to activate at 10 minutes mark.
- The Screensaver panel is really just a lock-timer at this point since there's no actual screensaver animation to pick, which makes the name itself kind of misleading.
- There's no way to tell from either panel that suspend, by default, doesn't lock the screen unless the Screensaver panel's toggle is separately turned on.
- I want to turn off screen when lid is closed that option is not available, although it should happen by default TBH, it doesn't happen and neither that option is available.
I couldn't find a clean answer to this on the Linux Mint forums. There are several old threads on the Sleep vs Suspend vs Lock confusion, but they're all locked now and none of them cover the specific screen-off-triggers-lock behavior I'm describing.
Steps to reproduce
Set settings as my screenshots and wait for 5 minutes mark on battery power.
Expected behavior
Desired design:
Lock to be either configured in power management, fully integrated with power management OR separately independent of any power related setting but not related to screensaver as well.
Retire screensaver or completely separate it from Lock Settings.
Create a definition guide of what each word mean and match UI and functionality to it.
Additional information
No response
Distribution
Linux Mint 22.3 - Cinnamon 64-bit
Package version
Cinnamon 6.6.7
Graphics hardware in use
No response
Frequency
Always
Bug description
I've been trying to understand how locking, suspending, screen-off, and the screensaver all relate to each other in Cinnamon, and after digging through my own settings and different forum links where people are struggling with same issue, I strongly believe this is a bad design if not a bug that need addressing.
My setup for reproducibility is attached (screenshots attached, numbered 1–5):
Here's the actual problem I am facing apart from inconsistent terminologies.
For simplicity all times here are for battery power:
At 5 minutes mark I expect screen to be turned off only, per my settings, but I also got locked out which should happen at the 15 minutes like the Screensaver panel (screenshot 1) says. So the lock is riding on the screen-off event, but it's configured and labeled entirely under the Screensaver panel, and nothing in either panel tells you these are connected.
This is all very confusing as a user: I set a lock delay in the Screensaver settings expecting it to follow the screensaver's own timer, and instead it's silently governed by a totally different timer in a different settings window.
A few other things that make this whole area hard to reason about, on top of the above:
I couldn't find a clean answer to this on the Linux Mint forums. There are several old threads on the Sleep vs Suspend vs Lock confusion, but they're all locked now and none of them cover the specific screen-off-triggers-lock behavior I'm describing.
Steps to reproduce
Set settings as my screenshots and wait for 5 minutes mark on battery power.
Expected behavior
Desired design:
Lock to be either configured in power management, fully integrated with power management OR separately independent of any power related setting but not related to screensaver as well.
Retire screensaver or completely separate it from Lock Settings.
Create a definition guide of what each word mean and match UI and functionality to it.
Additional information
No response