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Now, I like Mac OS X. But one thing that really annoys me, especially when I'm watching a youtube link or some other kind of video, is the propensity of the display to dim itself after the computer doesn't get any input after what feels like 30 seconds or so. It's like it thinks I've gone away and left it on its own, poor dear, and that it can slack off and power down a bit.
But it's this kind of behaviour that completely sandpapers my teats.
I've ended up developing a nervous twitch, tapping the shift-key like some kind of numpty, just to reassure it I'm still there.
It's this neediness that finally got me motivated to do something about it, and after a fair old amount of digging, I finally managed to come up with something that Works For Me (On My Machine).
The trick, as it most certainly is, is to delve into the dark and mysterious depths of power management settings from the command line.
It's all right there in the manpage. Who'd have thought it?
So, what is this magic command of utopian salve of which I speak?
None other than:
$ sudo pmset -a halfdim 0
And that's all there is to it. No muss, no fuss, just (more) juice.
As obviously, you use more power this way -- but I'm a manual kind of a guy and am perfectly capable of dimming my display manually if I ever feel the need. And as it turns out the 'pmset' command is surprisingly useful for other related settings too!
So there you have my OS X tip of the day!
Well, of the week.
Well, of the mon-- oh you get the idea. Feel free to leave your adulation of my mastery in the comments. Or mock me for taking eight years or so to cotton on to this tidy snippet. Delete as applicable, as it were.