DPMS(4)

📦 version 12.2, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 DPMS(4) — the VESA BIOS DPMS driver, bestie edition 💖

okay so before we even start: this is page DPMS(4) from the Kernel Interfaces Manual, and it's giving "tiny driver, huge responsibility" energy. sit down, hydrate, let's talk about your external display and what happens to it when your machine goes night-night 🌙✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

dpms — the VESA BIOS DPMS driver 💅

that's it. that's the name. short, sweet, iconic.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

device dpms

yep, that's the whole thing. no options, no flags, no chaos. just vibes. 🫶

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so the dpms driver uses the VESA BIOS to babysit an external display through suspend and resume, which is lowkey a very specific little job but somebody's gotta do it.

here's the tea, step by step:

  • when the machine suspends, the dpms driver turns the external display off 😴
  • when the machine resumes, it restores the display to its state when the driver was first loaded 🔄

that's the entire personality. it's not complicated, it's not doing the most, it just shows up, does its one thing, and goes back to sleep. main character restraint, honestly. 👑

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

  • acpi_video(4) — go read this one too, bestie, it's part of the same friend group 🫶

💀 BUGS 💀

okay this is the part where we hold hands. 🫂

the VESA BIOS DPMS calls do not provide any way to identify a particular display or adapter to manipulate. not one. zero. nada. it just yells into the void and hopes the right screen hears it.

as a result, this driver may have unexpected results on systems with multiple displays and/or adapters. 💀

so if you're running more than one screen or more than one adapter, just know it's fr fr unpredictable and you've been warned. not me being dramatic, that's literally what the page says. 🙈

heads up, bestie: if you've got multiple displays and/or adapters, the dpms driver can act in ways you did not ask for. it's not a skill issue, it's a "the VESA BIOS calls give us no way to target a specific display or adapter" issue. 💅

and that's the page!! tysm for reading, you ate that. 💖

this one came from Debian, dated August 23, 2008, living in the Kernel Interfaces Manual — DPMS(4) and out. ✌️✨

📦 where this page comes from