[maemo-developers] osso.Context vs. PyGame: osso.DeviceState(context).display_blanking_pause() issue

[From: Thomas D. Waelti]

Some of you might have seen the screenshot of my (work-in-progress) Python-based "maemoClock" application on the itt forum
However, I've now "wasted" too many evenings trying to fix a strange issue and would be very glad for any help/ideas:
I'm trying to use the osso.DeviceState(context).display_blanking_pause() in Python to keep the screen from dimming and blanking.

However, while the following codesnippet works on Benoit's (pygtkeditor) IT, it just won't work on my N800, freshly flashed, Python 2.5 installed :-(

Here is the relevant code "prototype":
##################################

#!/usr/bin/python

import pygame
from pygame.locals import *

import os
import datetime
import math

import osso
import gobject

#from sun import *

EVT_STEP = pygame.USEREVENT
EVT_STEPSCREEN = pygame.USEREVENT+1
backBottom = pygame.Surface((800, 80))

# Class that handles all display stuff
class display:
  def __init__(self):
    pygame.init()
    pygame.display.set_caption('maemoClock')
    self.scale = False
    self.screen = pygame.display.set_mode((800,480),FULLSCREEN,16)
    self.back = pygame.Surface((800, 480))
 
  def UpdateTime(self):    #Simply write time and date onto the screen
    #Reset bottom to black
    self.screen.blit(backBottom, (0,400))
    #Update time
    font = pygame.font.Font(None, 96)
    theTime = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%X")
    theDate = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%a %d %b")
    textTime = font.render(theTime, 1, (128, 128, 255, 192))
    textDate = font.render(theDate, 1, (128, 128, 255, 192))
    self.screen.blit(textTime, (0,self.screen.get_height()-textTime.get_height()))
    self.screen.blit(textDate, (self.screen.get_width()-textDate.get_width(),self.screen.get_height()-textTime.get_height()))
    #Update display
    pygame.display.flip()

#Display---------------------------------------------
def keepDisplayOn(device_state):
    print "keepDisplayOn() at " + datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%X")
    if device_state is not None:
      device_state.display_blanking_pause()
      print "display_blanking_pause() at " + datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%X")
    return True    #or gobject will stop calling the timeout_add

def main():
    osso_ctxt = osso.Context("com.tomch.maemoclock", "0.1", False)
    applic = osso.Application(osso_ctxt)
    device_state = osso.DeviceState(osso_ctxt)

    d = display()
    d.UpdateTime()
    pygame.time.set_timer(EVT_STEP, 1000)        #Update the seconds display every second
    pygame.time.set_timer(EVT_STEPSCREEN, 8000)  #Re-activate the screen every 8 seconds
    pygame.mouse.set_visible(False)     #disable the cursor
    # Wait for user input
    while True:
      event = pygame.event.wait()
      if (event.type == KEYUP) and (event.key == 287): # Fullscreen button / F6 : Toggle fullscreen
          pygame.display.toggle_fullscreen()
      elif (event.type == EVT_STEP):          #Timer-Event
         d.UpdateTime()
      elif (event.type == EVT_STEPSCREEN) :         #Timer-Event
         keepDisplayOn(device_state)
      elif (event.type == MOUSEBUTTONDOWN):   #Touchscreen-Event
         break
      print "Event " + str(event.type)

if __name__ == '__main__':
  main()

##################################

While the events get called, nothing ever happens with the display on my N800 - it simply keeps dimming and blanking...

OTOH, If I call the display_blanking_pause() in the main() loop, the call will work (for once). So the API does work.
If I play around with the examples from the wiki doc (osso_test_device_blank_pause.py, osso_test_device_on.py), they both work, too.

However, once I start shifting the timer from a gobject.timeout_add to an pygame.time.set_timer, the calls to display_blanking_pause (in the function called by the timer) won't do anything anymore.
My guess is that I'm somehow losing the osso.context.

Helpy anbody? Does that code snippet work on your device, keeping your screen from dimming and blanking?
Anybody who can explain what is happening?

Thanks!
-Tom (desperate, bordering towards madness :-)