How can I send power on/off signals to a VGA monitor? I've used some old spare parts to make a sort-of kiosk for my kitchen. It's running OpenBSD and has a simple text based UI (no X Server). I plan to add an Arduino with a motion sensor that communicates over serial port to my app so that if there is any motion the monitor will turn on and display the time and weather and after a period of no activity it will turn off. I would like to know if this is possible to do in software before I have to take the monitor apart and create a hardware solution (emulate pressing the power button with an opto-isolator or transistor or hacking up the VGA cable). I have a feeling this is possible because power-management software seems to be capable of doing so but I am not sure how to go about it.

You can use `vbetool` to turn the display on/off from the console.

**_off:_**


$ sudo vbetool dpms off


**_on:_**


$ sudo vbetool dpms on


This command construct will turn it off, and then if you hit a key turn it back on:


$ sudo sh -c 'vbetool dpms off; read ans; vbetool dpms on'


### References

* [[SOLVED] How to turn off monitor at CLI](
* Turn off monitor using command line