The future of Power Management - together with Activities

[Alex Merry]

On 01/10/11 15:27, Dario Freddi wrote:
> Me and Bjorn have been discussing extensively about how to improve the current
> situation with Power Management in KDE. We focused on simplicity, still
> without losing power-user features. And we have a plan I'd like to share and
> get some feedback on.

I just want to say that I think this is a great idea.  I generally get 
annoyed at computers trying to second-guess me, but at the same time I 
want my computer to adapt to my current situation, and I really don't 
know enough about power management (or various other things, like 
fine-tuning of network settings) or have the patience to change every 
little thing to match what I'm currently doing.

I've read the entire thread, and I have come to the conclusion that the 
main reason there are so many emails in it is that people have been 
talking at cross-purposes.  It seems completely natural to me to have 
the system (or me, by changing the profiles configuration on a 
per-battery-state and per-activity basis) choose default power settings 
based on AC state/battery level and what I have told my computer I am 
doing right now, but still be able to tweak odd things in special 
circumstances.  This seems to be exactly what the new powerdevil code 
will do.  And the inhibit button is a wonderful idea - really useful 
when I'm watching something on BBC iPlayer in full screen.

Also, Wi-Fi and bluetooth really don't belong with power mangement.  How 
does powerdevil know whether I actually need to use those features?  It 
doesn't.  Trains often have wi-fi these days, after all.  So I should 
just turn them off manually when I know I don't need them and need to 
save power.

So, basically, great work, Dario.  Keep it up.

Alex