• Registered: 2008-12-13
  • Posts: 1,480

Topic: Power management gui, testers wanted

I wrote a power management gui for wattos, but I'm trying to get more people to test it and tell me how it works for them. The thread with the most information on it and isntallation instructions is here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=988309 . I'll write up a tutorial for it once I get settled into germany(it still needs documentation but it's pretty self-explanatory) There should be all the options that are available in powertop plus some extras that I've found. It's mainly designed for laptops but will work on desktops as well. Anyway take a look and leave me feddback on it.

I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.
  • From: Lincoln, UK
  • Registered: 2008-11-20
  • Posts: 4,246

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

Nice one, thank you for sharing. I will try and give this a test as soon as possible. I have a rather noisy old machine which I have retired, but I am thinking about bringing back to life, any power management/saving tools could come in really handy! I will report back once I have tried it. smile

My website | Follow me on Twitter | CrunchBang on DistroWatch

corenominal's Website

  • sheri
  • #! CrunchBanger
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2008-11-26
  • Posts: 117

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

I'll try to test it later today.  smile

Identi.ca | Deviantart | Last.fm
  • Registered: 2009-02-14
  • Posts: 13

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

Just installed, will update you on my experiences of using it with an EeePC 900 as they happen.

EDIT:
21.Feb.2009/02.30am:
Hmmm, it seems to be working, but some settings just aren't kicking in. corenominal, is there anything else in CrunchEee that could be changing the backlight brightness based on power (and therefore overriding the changes made by wattospm)?

With regards to those settings that work/aren't being overridden, and the interface in general, it looks good and works very well. Nice work!

Last edited by Psychedelic Squid (2009-02-21 02:33:42)

  • Registered: 2008-12-13
  • Posts: 1,480

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

the backlight issue is actually something I'm working on... I think it's an issue with dbus once again(been an issue for me with a lot of scripts I've been writing lately) as the daemon that makes the changes doesn't have the display number or dbus session as environment variables...once I get a chance I'll take a look at it again, maybe I'll just have the client portion change brightness, but I kinda wanted to keep the two portions separate. Also what other settings aren't kicking in? if the box saying detected isn't checked for a setting it probably won't have any effect, when you initially install it detects all your hardware (you need bluetooth and wireless turned on during your first run for it to detect them) also if detected and enabled aren't both checked it won't make any changes.

I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.
  • Registered: 2009-02-14
  • Posts: 13

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

Okay, that's cleared things up. As far as I can see, backlight appears to be the only one that doesn't work properly. My bluetooth and wireless weren't being switched, but, as you said, they weren't detected, so I did a reinstall with them on and they work now. Here's hoping you can sort the backlight issue, as I've no complaints about anything else. This is a neat little program. (maybe it'll even make it into 8.10.3 (or 9.04.1, depending on which one gets made) as a default program)

However, in my case, I think it's just that something else is overriding the backlight setting, as I get a little graphical doodah showing the brightness change (the one which goes against the wattospm setting), so I think it may be the eeepc-config package. Once again, if corenominal has any idea on this matter, I believe it could be very useful.

Last edited by Psychedelic Squid (2009-03-02 03:19:00)

  • Registered: 2008-12-13
  • Posts: 1,480

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

posted an update in svn, should fix the xbacklight bug, but I wasn't able to test it since xbacklight is broken with KMS on intel and I'm running 9.10 right now. Let me know if it works or not for you. Just follow the instructions in the ubuntu post I linked to at the top to update.

I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.
  • From: Brownwood, Texas
  • Registered: 2009-07-31
  • Posts: 52

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

I installed the wattospm and it launches fine but I have Firefox 3.5 installed and have removed Firefox. I altered the scrip to point to Firefox 3.5 and the correct directories, however when I launch Firefox 3.5 I don't find any way to configure anything. It may well be a pbkbac error so I thought I would ask if there was something I'm missing?

Registered Linux user 456511
Life's fun when your sick and psychotic!
  • Registered: 2008-12-13
  • Posts: 1,480

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

The firefox launcher just loads your profile into a ramdisk, you shouldn't have to configure anything. If it's working correctly it should tell you (with lib-notify i.e. a popup) when firefox is launched then also after you close firefox when the profile is restored to it's original place.

I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.
  • From: Brownwood, Texas
  • Registered: 2009-07-31
  • Posts: 52

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

I can launch it, but don't have any configuration options. That's what I'm trying to figure out. What do I do to some configuration once Firefox is launched?

Registered Linux user 456511
Life's fun when your sick and psychotic!
  • Registered: 2008-12-13
  • Posts: 1,480

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

oh...you don't configure the power management stuff with firefox. That's just an option in the power manager to help keep your disk spun down since firefox writes to disk a ton, if the profile is loaded to ramdisk theoretically it should keep your disk spun down more saving power. The configuration options are opened by left clicking instead of right clicking on the tray icon.

I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.
  • From: Brownwood, Texas
  • Registered: 2009-07-31
  • Posts: 52

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

That was my only problem. Thank you very much

Registered Linux user 456511
Life's fun when your sick and psychotic!
  • From: cascadia
  • Registered: 2009-10-26
  • Posts: 14

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

Interesting. Downloading and testing now.

  • From: the Netherlands
  • Registered: 2010-03-07
  • Posts: 812

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

Iggykoopa, is your script useful for Statler as well? Or does it need adjustments?
Tunafish

Compaq Presario A900 - #! Statler Alpha2 Openbox
Privacy & Security on #! - Application List
  • Registered: 2008-12-13
  • Posts: 1,480

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

It needs adjustments for Statler, I haven't had a chance to get around to it though. It's not a substantial amount of work, but I don't know when I'll be able to get around to it.

I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.
  • From: California, USA
  • Registered: 2008-11-29
  • Posts: 8,647

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

@iggykoopa - if I wanted to use this on Arch, would that require adjustments too?

Note: ** Please read before posting **

BTW if you wish to contact me, send me an e-mail instead of a PM.

17 Reply by fox

  • fox
  • #! Junkie
  • Offline
  • From: Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
  • Registered: 2009-05-10
  • Posts: 361

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

Are there any updates on battery-saving scripts for Statler?  Even with PowerTop, Statler seems to use considerably more juice than Ubuntu (UNE) 10.10, and somewhat more than Peppermint Ice on my netbook.

Mac user with Linux tendencies
#!CrunchBang Statler & UNE 10.10 on Acer 1810TZ (OCZ Vertex 60gb SSD)
#!, Mint LMDE & Peppermint Ice on MSI Wind U100 (Gigabye Atheros b/g wireless)
Various linux virtual machines on a Mac mini, an iMac and a MacBook Pro
  • From: Juneau, AK, USA
  • Registered: 2010-08-19
  • Posts: 446

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

I am having trouble running the command "svn" in this post: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p= … tcount=103

whenever I copy and past the line starting with "svn" it says "svn: command not found"

is it my computer or is it a picnic problem (Problem In Chair, Not In Computer) hmm

I would really like to test for you if I could figure out how to test it.

registered Linux user: #533379
registered #! user: #6769
Whenever someone calls me a computer 'nerd' or a 'Unix-based-system'
all I can think is: You just wait. In a couple of years. I'll be your IT. Then where will you be!
  • pitje
  • #! Junkie
  • Offline
  • From: me to you
  • Registered: 2009-02-10
  • Posts: 395

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

to be able to use svn, you have to install subversion

sudo apt-get install subversion
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident. - Mark Twain

pitje's Website

  • From: Juneau, AK, USA
  • Registered: 2010-08-19
  • Posts: 446

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

@pitje thanks for the help. I just found a way to get around it. smile

@iggykoopa this is working great! I haven't found any big difference in my power useage yet but I will do some testing later. I'm going on a camping trip in about 2 hours and will be gone for a couple of days. I hope that this gets some attention.

registered Linux user: #533379
registered #! user: #6769
Whenever someone calls me a computer 'nerd' or a 'Unix-based-system'
all I can think is: You just wait. In a couple of years. I'll be your IT. Then where will you be!
  • From: The Forbidden Planet
  • Registered: 2009-11-08
  • Posts: 1,421

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

i just installed and ran the gui... i have a little lightning bolt in my notification area that changes from red to green/blue smile
not sure how i am going to find out if im saving any power...and i think i need a better idea of whats going on in the gui
after runnning the program and closing the gui window i got this in the terminal

mcdowall@mcdowall-desktop:~$ wattospm.py
Fontconfig error: Cannot load default config file
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/wattospm.py", line 699, in check_mode
    currentMode = Config.get("config", "current_mode")
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/ConfigParser.py", line 532, in get
    raise NoSectionError(section)
ConfigParser.NoSectionError: No section: 'config'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/wattospm.py", line 351, in PrefsOKClicked
    Config.set("config","username", self.username.get_text())
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/ConfigParser.py", line 377, in set
    raise NoSectionError(section)
ConfigParser.NoSectionError: No section: 'config'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/wattospm.py", line 351, in PrefsOKClicked
    Config.set("config","username", self.username.get_text())
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/ConfigParser.py", line 377, in set
    raise NoSectionError(section)
ConfigParser.NoSectionError: No section: 'config'

i have a seperate issue going on with the "Fontconfig error: Cannot load default config file" thing... which was entirely my fault

anyway, im running *cough*ubuntu 10.10*cough* big_smile

It's hard to find something if you don't know what you're looking for.
I have a blog, it's mostly about conky and lua stuff... go here.
  • Registered: 2008-12-13
  • Posts: 1,480

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

you're lucky I randomly decided to check the forums today...I haven't been around for a while. Anyway I don't know how well this app will still work because I never updated it for ext4. The error you're getting is saying it can't find a section in the config file... did it start doing this on a stock install? or did you change some settings?

I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.
  • From: Sweden
  • Registered: 2011-03-23
  • Posts: 40

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

iggykoopa wrote:

It needs adjustments for Statler, I haven't had a chance to get around to it though. It's not a substantial amount of work, but I don't know when I'll be able to get around to it.

Does this mean that it's not worth trying for Statler yet, that you want people to test it and report in any problems in Statler or that it will work nice but some features may not work?

Downloaded and installed it anyway, looking forward to check it out!

  • Unia
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • From: The Netherlands
  • Registered: 2010-07-17
  • Posts: 2,127

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

brickuz wrote:
iggykoopa wrote:

It needs adjustments for Statler, I haven't had a chance to get around to it though. It's not a substantial amount of work, but I don't know when I'll be able to get around to it.

Does this mean that it's not worth trying for Statler yet, that you want people to test it and report in any problems in Statler or that it will work nice but some features may not work?

Downloaded and installed it anyway, looking forward to check it out!

If you look at the first post, you'll see that it's from 2009. I don't think it was ever meant to be for Statler, but maybe it can be adjusted for it

Let's do it and don't screw it.
  • From: The Forbidden Planet
  • Registered: 2009-11-08
  • Posts: 1,421

Re: Power management gui, testers wanted

iggykoopa wrote:

you're lucky I randomly decided to check the forums today...I haven't been around for a while. Anyway I don't know how well this app will still work because I never updated it for ext4. The error you're getting is saying it can't find a section in the config file... did it start doing this on a stock install? or did you change some settings?

it was a stock install ... ah.. i never actually looked at the dates of the posts big_smile
just saw this thread pop up in the active topics and it looked like a good idea!

It's hard to find something if you don't know what you're looking for.
I have a blog, it's mostly about conky and lua stuff... go here.