UPS support for desktop computers

Powermanager does not support UPS (or mouse...) batteries. We currently support only primary (laptop) batteries.
This might be considered for future version (but it is hard to test as developers do not own any HW to test this).

The comments in the guidance-power-manager.py script suggest that it should
support UPS as well as bluetooth batteries, since they also have the battery
capability flag in HAL. The undesired part is the laptop check which I
beleive prevents guidance-power-manager from being used on a desktop with a
UPS.

On 1/30/07, Luka Renko <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> Powermanager does not support UPS (or mouse...) batteries. We currently
> support only primary (laptop) batteries.
> This might be considered for future version (but it is hard to test as
> developers do not own any HW to test this).
>
> ** Changed in: kde-guidance (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Wishlist
> Status: Unconfirmed => Confirmed
>
> --
> [Feisty] guidance-power-manager doesn't work for UPS on a desktop system
> https://launchpad.net/bugs/82277
>

--
Sunny Sachanandani.
Capri/B/203,
Hiranandani Estate,
Thane(West),
Maharashtra,
INDIA.

+91-022-25308509
+91-9870489418

"Should also handle UPS and bluetooth batteries" is mentioned under "Issues:", so it is still on to-do list.
If you are willing to help, I can try to implement this with your testing and debugging support.
For start, I would need output of "lshal" command from your system. It would be good to have this command executed with UPS in different states:
- UPS fully charged, main power attached
- UPS discharging (no main power)
- UPS reaching warning level
- UPS reaching critical level

Okay here is the lshal output for

1. fully charged UPS on AC power: fullAC.txt

2. fully charged UPS discharging: fullDischarge.txt

3. UPS reaching warning level: warning.txt

4. UPS reaching critical level1: critical.txt

Hope this helps.

Thanks. It looks promising and not too hard to add. I just need to think about how to present it and what to do with actions on battery warning/critical levels.
I am busy for next 1-2 weeks (Feisty feature freeze), but can work on this after that. Will need your testing help though.

Thanks. I am ready to help.

On 2/2/07, Luka Renko <email address hidden> wrote:
> Thanks. It looks promising and not too hard to add. I just need to think about how to present it and what to do with actions on battery warning/critical levels.
> I am busy for next 1-2 weeks (Feisty feature freeze), but can work on this after that. Will need your testing help though.
>
> ** Changed in: kde-guidance (Ubuntu)
> Assignee: (unassigned) => Luka Renko
>
> --
> [Feisty] guidance-power-manager doesn't work for UPS on a desktop system
> https://launchpad.net/bugs/82277
>

--
Sunny Sachanandani.
Capri/B/203,
Hiranandani Estate,
Thane(West),
Maharashtra,
INDIA.

+91-022-25308509
+91-9870489418

I think there is a further extension to this problem. kde-guidance should work anyways, regardless of if you have a UPS or not.

I am a pretty environmentally concious guy, and I like ot have my PC hibernate or suspend when it goes unused for more than an hour. Previously, the only place I had installed kubuntu was on my work laptop, and was happy with how this functionality worked via the guidenc eapplet's idle settings.

Now I install it on my desktop, and come to find that short of writing your own script and adding it to the crontab yourself, there is no way to have a desktop PC automatically hibernate with the default install There's no applet, nothing under screensaver management nothing. I ended up apt-get'ing kpowersave (that doesn't ship by default), which seems like a great app.

But anyway this seems really hokey to me. I don't know why this app should be keyed at all on the fact that you have a battery - laptop, UPS, or otherwise. If you're PC doesn't have a battery then disable those portions of the app. HAL works to suspend and hibernate ACPI capable PC's without batteries just fine.

I've recently done a bit of work on that, with a very recent version, you can set IS_LAPTOP=True at the top of powermanage.py. This is a workaround to allow powermanager to run, even if HAL reports that the machine is not a laptop (in which case it exits by default).

The reason why I did that was to allow to control CPU frequency via the applet, and hibernate / suspend after a while.

I do agree with you that this functionality is useful also for non-laptop machines. I'm not sure, however, if extending the scope of powermanager does any good to its primary use cases.

Care to check if the hack I introduced comes close to the thing you want?

I second brunes' comment - I found this page while searching for a way to get Kubuntu Edgy to sleep when idle. Can't believe there's no easy way yet!

Having a nicely packaged way to handle cpufreq stuff is another good bird to kill with the same stone.

Kind of surprised this hasn't been done yet. By default, OSX suspends after 15 minutes, and on any machine that recovers from sleep quickly and easily enough... this really changes your experience of using the computer dramatically for the better. No more starting up and shutting down, really.

Most computers only use 1-3W when suspending, and obviously zero on hibernate. :)

I suspect we will save many kwatts of electricity by following their example...

sebas

Is it possible to leave "true" on by default, or maybe make it a command line option? like "guidance-power-manager --force"?

I will probably implement the following:
- powermanager is always started by default (no check for laptop anymore)
- Quit will have confirmation and checkbox "Do not start Power Manager at startup"
- If user selects this, powermanager will not get started at login

Is this OK with everybody?

Ah... Won't most people not notice or need powermanager, and also not stop
it manually? Won't that slow down startup unnecessarily in the common
case?

On Tue, 5 Jun 2007, Luka Renko wrote:

> I will probably implement the following:
> - powermanager is always started by default (no check for laptop anymore)
> - Quit will have confirmation and checkbox "Do not start Power Manager at startup"
> - If user selects this, powermanager will not get started at login
>
> Is this OK with everybody?
>
> --
> [Feisty] guidance-power-manager doesn't work for UPS on a desktop system
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/82277
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

I think we should get rid of the laptop check, and just leave it so that if any battery is detected, guidance starts.

And also have a "Do not start Power manager on start up"

Is this bug forgotten about?

I would (like several other commenters) like my desktop machine to automatically suspend if it is left unused. Power isn't exactly cheap where I live, and wasting it is environmentally unfriendly... and I like my living room to be as silent as possible.

So it would be nice if the power manager applet was allowed to start regardless of it being run on a laptop or not, or even better, the suspend-when-idle settings being moved to the general system configuration somewhere (seems logical to put it at the same place where you can configure the monitor to automatically shut down due to inactivity, in my opinion). I don't really need another icon in the system tray...

Tore

Guidance Power Manager has been removed from Kubuntu 10.04 and onwards since it is unmaintained. Unfortunately, this means that no new features or bugfixes will be made.