[vox-tech] sleep/standby mode under debian?

[ashleigh smythe]

Hi everybody.  I was wondering if it is possible for my debian desktop
(Dell dimension) to power-down or go to sleep when not in use for a
certain amount of time?  My husband is a Windows man and he's
complaining that my computer is on all the time, making noise and using
power unnecessarily - and worse that Windows machines are superior
because they automatically go to sleep!  OK, he's mostly kidding, but it
got me searching around to see if this is possible.  

Is the sleep mode an inherently Windows/single-user concept, because I
can find very little on google about putting any linux to sleep, let
alone any debian packages.  Dell mentions on their website that the
standby and "hibernation" modes are not supported but "alternative"
OS's. 

Any thoughts?  Does anyone do this?  I know my RedHat machine at work
certainly doesn't do this automatically either.

Thanks!

Ashleigh