[H-GEN] Turning off laptop display

[Matthew Sellers]

Geoff Shang wrote:
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> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> My flat mate has an oldish compaq (I think) laptop with Debian Sarge on 
> it. She wants to know if it's possible to turn the screen off so people 
> can't look at what she's writing.  Since she is blind, she has no need 
> for it herself.
> 
> Is this possible?  Is this something specific to particular laptops or 
> is there a standard way to do this sort of thing?
> 
> If there isn't a laptop way to do it, is there something that might 
> achieve the same result, say setting the foreground colour to the same 
> as the background.
> 
> She only uses console aps at this stage.
> 
> Geoff.

This is dependent on the model.

If the microswitch that detects the closing of the lid is externally 
accessible, then putting sticky tape over it may turn off the screen 
backlight. The LCD may continue to draw on the screen, but it would be 
difficult to read without getting very close. The lid would also have to 
be disabled as a power management event.

I know this works on some Toshibas, but I am unfamiliar with Compaq.

--
Matthew Sellers