Comment 11 for bug 390816

The gconf thing, whilst very hacky, did the trick for me. seems I'm having to use it a lot lately :(
I now have a Do Nothing in the menu. Yay! Why wasn't it the default?

@Nicolo, the closed screen should still blank, the hardware switch is (usually? :) wired to disable at least the backlight (which is the screen's main power drain). In some notebooks you can engage your lid-close switch without actually closing the screen and see what happens. But I suppose a per monitor software solution would be the best solution.. Klunky to implement. Perhaps a "ignore non-software power saving events for this monitor" under Monitors?

Making gnome easier to use for newbies shouldn't come at the expense of flexibility for power users.. A little Borg mentality is slipping though. :(

We could possibly compile a list of all these little gconf gems for power users and fixes for the other little "regressions" that have popped up for the sake of newbie proofing, and maybe put them in a big script with a check-box during installation that says "If I wanted to be told what I'm allowed to do with my computer, I'd be using Microsoft/Apple/Sony/Nintendo/Oracle software!"

[Insert 'gconf + Ubuntu/Gnome's "users==idiots" Policy should be buried in the same grave as Micro$oft' rant here]