Power Management gui

[iggykoopa]

I'm working on a power management gui for wattos (a spin-off of ubuntu) and need people to start testing it out. I know a lot of people have requested something like this so hopefully this will help out. It started out in the dell section of the forums and here is the post I just made in the original thread showing how to get the gui http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...&postcount=180 (don't worry I rewrote it to work on all machines not just dell's). keep an eye on the google code page as I'm working on it pretty heavily now. Just added support for ati cards today (haven't uploaded it yet, my firewall at work doesn't allow svn access) and I'll need people to test that portion out because I don't have any ati cards. Thanks to anyone that tries this out and helps getting it working good.

New installation instructions are here http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...&postcount=103

[motin]

I'd like to cast a vote to either:

A. (if we want to continue development in python) ...merge poweeersave's code structure (with login in one file, and all the hardware-specific commands in another - so that different files can be contributed to support different hardware configurations) and preset management, with your specific hardware commands, the tray icon and the auto-switch feature...

B (if we can do this in C...) ...build upon kpowersave all the way, instead of writing a whole new application/GUI. kpowersave already implements a tray icon, all powerstate change detections, ability to have different savings profiles etc.

I don't know C but can help out with python, and I like the idea of having one application solely for advanced power saving settings. On the other hand, going with B would take us furthest in means of features and interface development. What do you prefer?

PS You might want to copy/move the information on how to get the gui running from the other thread...

[iggykoopa]

here is the post from the other thread:

ok the power management gui I'm writing is coming along...as I mentioned before I'm developing it for wattos, here's the post I just made for it over there:
I've decided to go with google code for hosting the power management gui. If people could start checking out the svn version I would appreciate it. to checkout use:
svn checkout http://wattospm.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ wattospm
to run it go into the wattospm directory and type:
sudo sh -c "python powersaving.py"
Status so far... I have the hardware autodetection done, it will automatically check if your on battery power or not and change the settings accordingly if it is in auto mode. You can change it to manual mode (for if your on a desktop or gaming) and set it to powersaving or performance. I've added in a few other power saving options, I'll document them once v .2 is done (the version your checking out).
what's not done.... The advanced configuration gui, for now please just select basic mode. if you want to edit any settings you will have to do it manually in the config file (named conf in the wattospm directory). If you want to enable some settings that aren't turned on in basic mode go into the conf file and set detected and enabled both to = 1. The code to change the settings is all written except for usb, bluetooth, firewire, and tracker. Tracker I just haven't got to but I haven't done the other three because I'm doing testing to see if there is a way I can actually powerdown the bluetooth(I was testing it out and useing hciconfig and then rmmoding the bluetooth modules wasn't powering down the device). Anyway if you could test it out for me and put any bugs you have on the google code issues page for the project it would help out a lot. I'll be adding a few more powersaving options then start work on the advanced config gui and documentation. Shouldn't be much longer and the next version will be out(when it's ready I'll make an installer as well so all the files go in directories that make sense).


as for merging the powereesave code structure I'm takeing a look at it now I'll probably contact the author and see what he thinks but I'd prefer to stick with gtk, I probably wont do anything with kpowersave because I don't want it to be dependent on kde stuff(also I don't know c).

[iggykoopa]

ok I have the first part of the advanced mode config gui done. should be able to get the rest done tomorrow if you want to try it out. just check out from svn as shown above.

[iggykoopa]

Everything is now done on the gui except figuring out what to do for nvidia powersaving and autodetection for nvidia and ati(you can still manually select them). If you want to control the backlight with the gui you need to install xbacklight first...
sudo apt-get install xbacklight
please download and run using the instructions above, I'm considering this a RC for ver 0.2 it's pretty much feature complete but as I haven't had anybody but me really test it I'm going to wait till I see if you guys are happy with the options before I release a ver 1.0.

once I have enough people test it to be happy with it I'll make an installer and manual.

if anyone has bluetooth can they check out that option? it's still not actually powering mine down but it is removing the module so the kernel and software aren't accessing it, I just wanted to see if it's just my bluetooth or the way all of them work (I've got a dell 1420N)

[felipefoz]

Everything is now done on the gui except figuring out what to do for nvidia powersaving and autodetection for nvidia and ati(you can still manually select them). If you want to control the backlight with the gui you need to install xbacklight first...
sudo apt-get install xbacklight
please download and run using the instructions above, I'm considering this a RC for ver 0.2 it's pretty much feature complete but as I haven't had anybody but me really test it I'm going to wait till I see if you guys are happy with the options before I release a ver 1.0.

once I have enough people test it to be happy with it I'll make an installer and manual.

if anyone has bluetooth can they check out that option? it's still not actually powering mine down but it is removing the module so the kernel and software aren't accessing it, I just wanted to see if it's just my bluetooth or the way all of them work (I've got a dell 1420N)

nice job, I think it's a good initiative, I'm going on vacation and I'm willing to help. A suggestion would be, a box, to put services to disable. But your intention is a good one, a gui where anyone can customize, because hardware will be always different and it will impossible to create something to work on all hardware
good luck

[felipefoz]

if anyone has bluetooth can they check out that option? it's still not actually powering mine down but it is removing the module so the kernel and software aren't accessing it, I just wanted to see if it's just my bluetooth or the way all of them work (I've got a dell 1420N)

about the bluetooth, have you tried first to put the service down?
/etc/init.d/bluetooth stop
and then try to take down the module!