Put VGA monitor into standby by timeout.

daplumber

I get that "real" pfSense hardware does not sport VGA ports and uses a serial console, BUT: Unless someone wants to donate a gigabit+ capable "real" router, I'm stuck using the salvaged desktop I have available. I would dearly love to either blank or preferably put the attached VGA monitor into standby mode since the system lives in a closet and the monitor power switch is hard to get to. I guess I could put the monitor on a power strip with a switch to turn it off but then I'm stuck reaching for the monitor power when I need to turn it on again. Since the monitor supports power standby and FreeBSD 11.2 supports power management how do I turn this on in pfSense? What to install since pmset doesn't appear to exist in 2.5.0 CE install.

OS control of the system fans instead of the BIOS would be good too. I guess REAL pfSense Routers don't have OS controlled fans either.

An SG-3100 is a little hard to cost justify for home use, or gods forfend a XG-7100 if I want to use something like Suricata, VPNs, etc. Definitely getting one as soon as I win the lottery, but in the meantime waste not, want not. I appreciate that Netgate is a commercial enterprise and really appreciate the sponsorship, but pfSense CE is not.

I've been a pfSense user (in one form or another) at work or at home for over ten years now. I'm loathe to consider the "other" 'Sense over something this silly.

Gertjan

@daplumber

Does "VGA" can support commands like that ?
The more modern HDMI maybe.

But what is the issue : when you have to look at the console - that is, during install, that's ones in live time, the monitor button is right in front of your face.
While setting up, think about enabling SSH - the console access for the rest of pfSense's live .

stephenw10

Mmm, no easy way to do this with vt console. You could try switching to sc console where there are tunable options.

I would rather just turn off the monitor though than see it in standby or just blanked but still consuming power.

Steve

daplumber

@gertjan That feels a little condescending. I'm neither stupid or lazy. Ssh is always been enabled on my pfSense configuration for the last 10 years. However when troubleshooting, sometimes physical console access is necessary depending on where the fault occurs. The Router will also serve double duty as a terminal in the wiring closet when finished. The only space for the monitor is somewhat inaccessible hence not so easy to just "turn it off". I also don't think I'm being unreasonable to expect an OS in the 21st century that can use a VGA port to support a power management protocol that's been around since 1993?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_Display_Power_Management_Signaling

Having found a few other threads discussing this, it's beginning to feel like there's an almost religious attitude towards pfSense routers being headless.

I can't use a serial port console since the desktop I'm salvaging for this doesn't have the physical port. It does apparently have the header on the motherboard but I don't have an adapter and it's never been used/tested.

Besides, I LIKE having multiple virtual terminals in kernel on a physical console WITHOUT having to mess with screen or tmux.

daplumber

@stephenw10 Bugger. I haven't played with FreeBSD in a while except for pfSense and FreeNAS, and it looks like "someone" decided to fix something that wasn't broken while I wasn't looking:

https://wiki.freebsd.org/Newcons

It looks like they fixed their specific peeve for Unicode, Double width character support, and bigger font maps while dropping or "Not Yet Implemented" Everything else that made syscons(4) so useful. Nice one, NOT!

Anyone know if the sc(4) driver is still in the pfSense 2.5.0 kernel? Would putting "kern.vty: sc" in /boot/loader.conf work? vidcontrol is still present.

Color me peeved.

stephenw10

Yes, it should do since:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/install/upgrade-guide-versions.html?highlight=kern%20vty%20sc#upgrading-from-versions-older-than-pfsense-2-4-4

I haven't tried it in 2.5 though but I haven't heard it does not work.

Steve

Gertjan

@daplumber said in Put VGA monitor into standby by timeout.:

That feels a little ......

I was just trying to understand the 'physical' situation.

You said yourself :

@daplumber said in Put VGA monitor into standby by timeout.:

However when troubleshooting, sometimes physical console access is necessary ...

So sorry if you considered my 'then reach out for the power button' as joking.

Btw : VGA actually does have full computer <=> monitor (I2C) support.
But, as already discussed : it should be supported by the monitor, the cable, the VGA chipset or other gleu ware and the OS (FreeBSD : drivers). For what I know, the FreeBSD used here is somewhat limited, as it's foundation is a router, not a desktop PC.

I fully agree here :

@daplumber said in Put VGA monitor into standby by timeout.:

there's an almost religious attitude towards pfSense routers being headless.

as Netgate tends to "cram" pfSense in boxes like this.

NollipfSense

Here is what I do ... I have an eight inches HDMI monitor (eBay from Chinese sellers) that I use with pfSense, a Mac Mini server, and a Lenovo tiny FreePBX. I have a three port HDMI switch so I can switch among the three computers using the remote.

The only thing I have noticed is that one need to have the monitor on pfSense at boot up ... after that, it's easy to monitor each computer by clicking the remote. I use it just as reference as at 1080p, one need a magnify glass to read from the monitor.

daplumber

SO: One quick kernel option later:

kern.vty=sc

and syscons is back in control, my kernel boot is the colorful affair I remember fondly and vidcontrol is letting me set the things I want to, including timeout. Yay!

I set it on the boot loader menu with:

OK set kern.vty=sc
OK boot

I guess I'll add it to /boot/loader.conf or local once it's been soak tested for a bit and proven stable.

This is pfSense 2.5.0 and FreeBSD 12.2-STABLE

Now I just need to figure out why this <bleep> Radeon 3000 on the motherboard won't let me use the HDMI port instead of VGA...

daplumber

@nollipfsense yeah I thought about using a KVM I think I have one around here somewhere, only problem is the wiring closet is about 15m from my desk and I ‘m a bit short on space on my desk anyway.

On a related subject how much throughput do you get on the Mac Mini?