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black_puppydog
Asked: 2012-10-02 19:39:44 +0800 CST

How can I programmatically block user input for a given time?

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As a person working in computer science working offline to avoid facebook and thelike is not always (meaning hardly ever) possible for me since I mostly have to be online to work.

I have tried leechblock and similar things but the problem becomes that at some point I start making systems for myself to hack, which is kind of pointless if oyu have root.

I would very much like to try out the method described here. (Short version: reboot your PC every time finish a task or get bored with it)

Unlike for the author of this blog my work is mainly done not in screen sessions but in IDEs ans other not-so-fast-to-start-up stuff, meaning a full reboot including loading all my programs will take its time. So, the question is:

How can I block all user input and preferrably blank the screen for a given amount of time?

The idea would then be to have a keyboard shortcut to activate the script/program (which would probably also have to have root i guess?)

lock-screen

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    So you want to treat yourself like a 16-years old boy, don't you? Ok, this should be a good starting point...

    #> cat force-screensaver.sh

#!/bin/bash

secondstowait=$1

if [ "x$1" == "x" ] ; then
    echo
    echo "Please insert the number of seconds you want to wait"
    echo
    exit
fi

hourstowait=$(($secondstowait / 3600))
minstowait=$((($secondstowait / 60) - ($hourstowait * 60)))
secstowait=$(($secondstowait - $minstowait * 60 - $hourstowait * 3600))

starth=`date +"%H"`
startm=`date +"%M"`
starts=`date +"%S"`

ends=0
endm=0
endh=0

ends=$(($ends + $starts + $secstowait))
if [ $ends -gt 59 ] ; then
    ends=$(($ends - 60))
    endm=$(($endm + 1))
fi

endm=$(($endm + $startm + $minstowait))
if [ $endm -gt 59 ] ; then
    endm=$(($endm - 60))
    endh=$(($endh + 1))
fi

endh=$(($endh + $starth + $hourstowait))

echo
echo "Will wait for $hourstowait hours, $minstowait minutes and $secstowait seconds"
echo

printf "Starting at %02d:%02d:%02d - stopping at %02d:%02d:%02d\n" "$starth" "$startm" "$starts" "$endh" "$endm" "$ends"

while (true)
do

    currh=`date +"%H"`
    currm=`date +"%M"`
    currs=`date +"%S"`

    #echo "Running..."
    gnome-screensaver-command -a

    #sleep 5

    if [ $currh -ge $endh ] && [ $currm -ge $endm ] && [ $currs -ge $ends ] ; then
        echo
        echo Exiting...
        echo
        gnome-screensaver-command -d
        exit
    fi
done

    You can call it passing it the number of seconds you want to torture yourself (e.g. force-screensaver.sh 60 it's the maximum I've been able to stand). Then you just have to bind it to a keyboard shortcut and you're done.

    Have a nice pain :P

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