Archives For November 30, 1999

This is quick tutorial shows you how to prevent Ubuntu desktop from being automatic turned off (or locked up) while you’re watching videos.

Although the “System Settings” utility offers “Power” page to change screen dimming, blank screen inactive time, etc, it will be convenient to have a panel indicator applet to toggle the settings.

And Caffeine shows an applet in system tray area allows to temporarily prevent the activation of both the screensaver and the “sleep” powersaving mode.

To install Caffeine in Unity or Other Desktops:

For non-Gnome users in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and higher, just search for and install “caffeine” in Ubuntu Software:

Once installed, you can launch it from app launcher or let it launch automatically in next login.

To install Caffeine extension in Gnome Shell:

For Gnome Desktop, there’s an Caffeine extension available for install.

You can follow this tutorial to install the extension. Since Ubuntu 17.10 artful you can search for and install the extension via Ubuntu Software:

skip caffeine for xscreensaver which it not updated for a lone time.

Once installed, you should see the applet in system tray. And you can manage gnome extensions via “Gnome Tweaks” utility (Install it via Ubuntu Software if you don’t have it).

Caffeine is a simple indicator applet on Ubuntu panel that allows to temporarily prevent the activation of the screensaver, screen lock, and the “sleep” powersaving mode.

It’s helpful when you’re watching movies. Simply click active option inhibits Ubuntu desktop idleness. Works on Ubuntu Unity, Ubuntu Gnome, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Lubuntu.

Install Caffeine in Ubuntu 14.04:

The developer has made the latest release (2.8.2 so far) into PPA repository available for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

To add the PPA, open terminal from the Dash or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:caffeine-developers/ppa

After that, update package cache and install the indicator by running below two commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install caffeine

If you don’t want to add PPA, grab and install the ‘caffeine_2.8.2_all.deb’ from this page.

Caffeine, the screensaver and sleep inhibiting application, now is at version 2.5. It has been over 2 years since the last release.

According to the announcement, Caffeine 2.5 is now much simpler, flash video support is gone as it was too complicated to keep it working and many bugs are fixed.

See the changelog:

  • New maintainer: Reuben Thomas
  • Fix right-click on icon
  • Several new localisations.
  • Update and clean up packaging.
  • Replace autostart option with an XDG autostart .desktop file.
  • Remove specific support for Quake Live.
  • Require appindicator3; remove non-appindicator support.
  • Put requirement for notify support in package, not code.
  • Remove ability to disable icon: this should be done by the desktop environment, not the application.
  • Remove hash-bang lines from non-executable files
  • .

  • Fix race condition for notifications, patch from André Ericson
  • Fix i18n issues
  • Fix Open Build Service desktop file errors
  • Add dependencies for all required libraries
  • Fix recognition of apps which mention their name in their arguments
  • Use freedesktop ScreenSaver DBus API instead of per-desktop APIs.
  • Put description string on one line in setup.py to placate rpmbuild
  • Remove non-working Flash support.
  • Remove custom logging module.
  • Remove –preferences command-line option, no longer needed.
  • Remove –time command-line option: we’re not supporting timed disabling any more.
  • Make Ctrl+C work.

Install Caffeine 2.5

The developer only built this release into PPA for Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy. You can easily install it by running below commands one by one in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:caffeine-developers/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install caffeine

For Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.04 (not tested) and their derivatives download the .DEB from this page and install it via:

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/caffeine_2.5_all.deb; sudo apt-get -f install