gnome

I use Gnome. I know, it's heavy, but I like it. It has lots of features that I just don't notice until I don't have them.

One thing that I did want to do, though, is have it so that when I close my laptop lid, it does nothing.

Thinking I knew how to change this, I fire up the gnome Power Management tool (System > Preferences > Power Management), and go to the On AC tab. I drop down the list for "When laptop lid is closed". There is no "Do Nothing" option. I have Blank Screen (which is no good, because I have an external screen connected), a Suspend (definitely no good!), a Shut Down and a Hibernate (also no good because I actually want to use the laptop!)

However, as this is Linux, of course there's a way of doing it. It just requires gconf-editor.

So, in gconf-editor, you look under /apps/gnome-power-manager/buttons/ (I didn't necessarily think of the lid as a button, but hrm!) and change lid_ac (or lid_battery, depending on what you're running it on) to "nothing".

Sure enough, when I close my laptop lid, the screen doesnt blank!