Release Party!

I proudly present: video-swicher, a tool to switch betweeen the integrated and the dedicated video card on laptops that have switchable graphics cards. As far as I know, this the the first and (up to now) only tool for this job!
The package is easy to use. It comes with an upstart job that can disable the unused video card on system boot (configurable via a configuration file in /etc/default) and a binary to change the active card. It can only be run by root (or via sudo) since it needs to write into a file on /sys which is owned by root and it needs to shutdown any running display manager.
Up to now there's only one available package, video-switcher which provides the upstart job and the binary. A second package providing a GUI will follow within the next days.
Grab the package by the usual means (available in my PPA) and tell me what You think!

1. Install
   

   Code:
   $ sudo apt-get install video-switcher

2. Use
   

   Code:
   $ sudo video-switcher [int|ded]

That's it! You're done!

P.S.: You might ask Yourself: How come there's version 1.0.3 available if this is the release announcement? Well, I uploaded the package, found some bugs, deleted it and fixed them. When I tried to upload the fixed version as 1.0.0 again, the system rejected the code claiming that there was already a version 1.0.0 that differed. So I had to make it version 1.0.3.

The end is near!

I'm about to finish work on latest package called video-switcher! I managed to write a command-line application that is able to change the video card. It has to restart the X server (closing Your session), but as far as I know, there's no getting around that.
There's only one problem left to fix. When switching back to the on-board Intel video card on my tm2-1090eg, the display often gets into a weird state where it's either showing just garbage or nothing at all. I was able to circumvent this by turning the screen off and on again. However, vbetool, the program I use for doing so, sometimes hangs up using 100% of the processor. At that point, my program hangs, too, and never gets to restart the X server. Apparently this is a known bug which hasn't been fixed yet. I'm still working on this and I hope to have a fix ready in the next few days. If You have any idea that might help, I'd be glad to hear about it!
I'll keep You posted!

P.S.: After fixing the problem it might still take some time to write a graphical user interface for the command line application. This shouldn't take more than a day, though.

Yet another bugfix release (for tablet-mode)

I'm sorry! I broke it again! Shame on me!
As You might have noticed, upon upgrading from an older version of tablet-mode the upstart job disappears magically and the automatic screen rotation stops working. I failed to notice the postrm script during the last bugfix. This nasty little thing (which I wrote myself, shame even more!) deletes the upstart job when the package is removed. This is neither necessary nor useful, as it is also called when the package is upgraded, effectively breaking the automatic screen rotation.
You problably won't be surprised when I tell You what You need to do. Remove and reinstall. Just as in the last article. Make sure to grab the newest version (1.5.3), upgrading from there should finally work as expected.
I'm really sorry.

Bugfix for tablet-mode

As usual, there's a bugfix for tablet-mode shortly after there was a new version with a new feature. I'm sorry, but I messed up some things again. If You find Yourself with a broken package (something's not working), You might want to purge the package and re-install the latest version (this should be 1.5.1 or higher!). Unfortunately, a simple update from an earlier version might not fix everything, as the configuration files (in /etc) are not re-installed correctly. In order to purge and reinstall the package, do the following (as root).

Code:
$ apt-get purge tablet-mode
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install tablet-mode

You should check Your /etc/tablet-mode/tablet-mode.conf to make sure that all entries are correct.

That's it! You're done!

New feature for tablet-mode!

As You might have notices (or if not, I'm gonna tell You now anyway), there are 2 updates for tablet-mode. Version 1.5.1 ist out. Version 1.5.0 fixed some package-internal things (particularly with the config file and the postinst script) and introduced a new feature. Thanks to Nicolò's comment, the new tablet-mode package gives You the possibility to turn off Your laptop's touchpad (that mouse-replacement, not the touchscreen) when entering tablet mode (e.g. when putting Your screen onto Your keyboard). According to him, this should fix the crazy pointer movements some people might have experienced when not turning it off. After updating the package, You should have a look at the configuration file /etc/tablet-mode/tablet-mode.conf and check if the options are set they way You want them to be.
So that was the first update. What about the second? Turned out I messed up a script (again) so the postinst script would not insert the right values into tablet-mode.conf upon updating. I corrected that and everything should be working again.
Just update by the usual means.

That's it! You're done!

Yet another cpufreq update

The title says it all. I've found another bug in my cpufreq package broke the ACPI handler. The script tried to execute /usr/local/bin/cpufreq which of course doesn't exist if You installed my packge. I've changed it to execute cpufreq which gives You the possibility to put a custom version of the cpufreq script into /usr/local/bin and which is then executed instead of the package version. If you stay with the packaged version, it will of course execute that.
I recommend You install the update as soon as it's available. As always, report any bugs You might find!

cpufreq update

I've released version 1.1.0 of my cpufreq package. It fixes numerous bugs, including the one that made the upstart job not work at all. Unfortunately, version 1.0.0 is so broken that You can't just update to 1.1.0. The old version will break the update and You'll end up with essential files missing. Due to this, I've made it impossible to upgrade from 1.0.0 to any other version. In order to get the new version, You will have to remove (or purge) the old version first, e.g. with apt-get:

Code:
$ apt-get purge cpufreq

After that, You are safe to install the new version (make sure to update Your package list, first!):

Code:
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get upgrade cpufreq

I'm sorry for the troubles this may have caused You (or will cause You during the update). As far as I can judge, it will not happen again with this package. I fixed the control files to prevent deleting files that are being installed by a newer version of the same package (in fact, they don't delete anything anymore).

In addition to the bugfixes, I've included a configuration file: /etc/default/powersave. Using that file, You are able to control the behavior of the ACPI handler and the upstart job. You can specify which CPU governors to install and You can disable each of them completely. I hope this compensates You for the pain the bugs caused :)

A side note here: The package will not remove any files in /etc when being removed normally (not purged). The upstart job and the ACPI handler will stay, but they won't do anything, since the cpufreq executable is not present. If You want to delete those files, purge the package (called "Mark for Complete Removal" in Synaptic) or delete them manually.

Another side note: When future upgrades are being installed, You might be asked if You want to keep some configuration files or install the "package maintainer's" (that's me) version. If You haven't changed the file in question and are unsure, it's best to install the new version, since it may contain bugfixes or new features (although You shouldn't be asked if You didn't change the file).

Since this problem seems to be fixed (report any bugs that persist or came up, please!), I will focus on the package to switch the graphics card now. Stay tuned for more!

That's it! You're done!