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!

Power saving for the win!

Update 2: I've released a new version of the package that fixes numerous bugs and brings new features. Since updating requires some special care, it's best to check out the new article on this before trying to do anything manually.

Update: Apparently the startup script doesn't work correctly yet. Upon system boot, the governor is set to performance, probably after my script set it to ondemand or powersave. I'm currently looking into this and will release an update as soon as possible. Until then, You can either set the governor manually after logging in, You can remove my package, or You can turn the ondemand init-script back on:

Code:
update-rc.d ondemand enable

The latter method will set the governor to ondemand on system startup. This is not as good as powersave if You're running on battery, but it's still better than performance.


I'm happy to announce the second package in my PPA! cpufreq has joined the ranks of tablet-mode and is ready to be downloaded!

It's basically nothing else than a packaged version of my article on CPU governors and the power supply status. It has a few more checks (if certain nodes on the sys filesystem exist) and now also displays a list of available frequencies. If You want to increase the running time of Your laptop on battery, I recommend You get it while it's hot!

As of now, the package requires absolutely no configuration (as long as some things on Your system work the same way they do on mine) and if You should encounter any problems, just drop by, leave a comment or write me a mail. I'll try to fix it as soon as possible.

To install it, add the PPA to Your APT sources and update Your package list (as described here). After that, install it via synaptic or the console:

Code:
apt-get install cpufreq

Congratulations! You can now pull the plug and Your system automatically changes to the powersave governor! In addition, You can use cpufreq to change the governor manually on the command line (see the man page for details).

That's it! You're done!

2 new packages to come!

Here's a small announcement:
I will probably create a package for automatic CPU frequency scaling based on my article here. From what I read in the forums where this blog was posted, there are many people (especially those new to Ubuntu) who have problems or difficulties setting up and installing scripts. The package will thus contain the script, the ACPI handler and the upstart job. This is nothing more and nothing less than I already posted in the article, but will of course be much easier to install and update. I hope the package will be useful for many people and I would be very happy about any feedback on this topic (there are visitor statistics available for me concerning the blog, but unfortunately there's no download counter for my PPA).
Another package I'm currently working on is based on the post about switchable graphics. It will contain a small graphical (also usable without a GUI) program which is able to switch the graphics card between the integrated (less power consuming) Intel card and the discrete (more powerful) ATI card. It will of course still restart the X server upon changing the card as there is currently no way to circumvent this. Personally I have little use for such a program (as I don't really need the graphical power of the ATI card in Linux), but I think it might be come in handy once in a while and may be even more useful for other people. As for the first announced package, I would be very happy about any feedback concerning this.