So I learned that all of the pre-built tools to decompress *.rar files can't handle multi-parters. I ended up finding the source code for a tool that does, and that worked after compilation.
The next thing on the agenda is the screensaver/power management. Apparently DPMS doesn't work right with my hardware, and I need to use a special tool to turn off my backlight. A black screen is fine, but if the backlight is still on I'm not happy. I don't want to burn that out any faster than I have to.
My idea was to run a perl script in the background to monitor the state of the screensaver, and when it went into "blank" mode, I'd just run my program to turn off the backlight. When it comes out, I'll turn the backlight back on. Should be easy.
The problem is that this is the output that I'm dealing with:
BLANK Sat Mar 25 13:56:33 2006
LOCK Sat Mar 25 13:56:33 2006
UNBLANK Sat Mar 25 14:01:30 2006
Note that it's not until the UNBLANK that my script would know to turn the backlight back on. However, the unlock login window thing pops up between the LOCK and the UNBLANK. If I don't mind entering my password blind, or if I disable screen locking, then it's just dandy. But I don't want to do either of these things.
I'm thinking that there might be another program running to pop that login dialog up. I hope there is, so that I can monitor the state of that and toggle the backlight that way. If not, then I guess I'll never automatically lock my screen again.
I like that configuring my system involves some programming, even if it is just writing shell scripts.
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