wmlaptop 1.4 - 11 set 2004

all that you need if you have a laptop shrinked in a 64x64 small application :)

-- Are you in a hurry ? read below.

INSTALLING:

refer to INSTALL file

wmlaptop is now installed on your system!

-- What is wmlaptop ?

wmlaptop is a WindowMaker dockapp that includes all that a linux user with a
laptop needs. The smartests should have guess that wmlaptop includes an advanced
battery information interface, with an estimated battery duration time
indicator. but that's only one of the useful fuctions provided by wmlaptop:


* Battery estimated time remaining
* Multi Batteries support
* Battery remaining charge (visual and percent)
* Auto-Frequency Scaling
* Manual Frequency Scaling
* 0-100 Cpu Load indicator
* APM and ACPI support
* sysfs and /proc filesystems support
* Kernel 2.6 series fully compatible
* Visual support for multiple batteries
* "Visual and audio" alarm on Low-Battery
* Auto shutdown on Low-Battery
* Easy screen saver starter
* Console executable
* Longrun Transmeta Cpu support



-- I have seen battery indicators in other apps, but what is Auto-Freqency
Scaling ? Is my laptop supported ?

Auto-Frequency turned on means that when cpuload is at its maximum, processor
frequency is automatically increased until it reaches the max frequency.
when cpuload returns to a low level, the frequency is decreased until min
frequency.
this feature is useful for laptops in particular, because you can save much
battery charge, but use all the power of your processor when needed.
to toggle this feature on and off, simply left-clic the central rectangle with
AUTO-FREQ written inside.

wmlaptop was inspired by a new Intel Centrino (Pentium-M) laptop, which comes
with Enhanced SpeedStep Technology from Intel. So Pentium-M processors are fully
supported. Also Pentium III and Athlon XP have frequency scaling support, check
your kernel settings and eventually recompile it.
WARNING: having "userspace governor" enabled on kernel 2.6 is a MUST.
If you have a kernel which use both performance and userspace, ensure to enable
the userspace governor before start wmlaptop. To do this you need to type this:
echo userspace > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
[wmlaptop is design to use only one cpu]


-- The battery estimated charge time doesn't work ! I see a 00:00 !

is impossibile to estimate this value at the moment when the laptop is alimented
only with battery; we must wait a few minutes for the value to be more accurate.
the indicator will show --:-- for a little bit, and then it will show a hour and
minutes time that indicates laptop battery remaining time. this value will be
more accurate more is the time passed from the moment when the laptop goes only
with battery. Extactly, with an example:


Battery
State

86%       <- wmlaptop is not running
 .
 .        <- you run wmlaptop when you have 86% and it shows you "--:--"
 .
 .
85%       <- you pass from 86% to 85%. wmlaptop starts to count
 .           the time, it still shows you "--:--"
 .
 .
 .
84%       <- wmlaptop now knows how many time is passed for a
             "one point percentage reduction" and it is able to
             try a first estimation of remaining time (now it must
             shows you something)


-- Are there special settings that I should set ?

before 'make', you can edit MODIFY_ME file (src/argsConfig.h); in it there are
some default wmlaptop's behaviours and parameters. if you don't like this way,
don't worry! you can change these parameters from the command line, when you
start the dockapp.



INTERFACE:

                                  +-------------+
   left battery's percentage -->  | 58%   02:27 |  <-- remaining time
       adapter AC plugged in -->  | -< ||||||   |  <-- left battery's graphic
                                  |-------------|
                                  | cpuload   0 |  <-- cpu's load
                                  | [AUTO-FREQ] |  <-- automatic frequency-
                                  |-------------|      scaling ON/OFF
   decrement cpu's frequency -->  | < 1 4 0 0 > |  <-- increment cpu's frequency
                                  +-------------+
                                      ^^^^^^^
                               actual cpu's frequency


HERE SOME NEW FEATURE FROM THE 1.1 VERSION:

	- by clicking with right mouse button over
	  the dockapp, is possible to start the screen saver
	- when the battery state is at 100% and the AC_Adapter is plugged in
	  the frequency will be set to maximum (enabled by --paradisiac arg)
	- you can use 'last full capacity' instead of 'design capacity' if
	  these values are different (in the battery's analysis)
	- you can now shutdown the system at prearranged battery percentage
	  to do this you have to edit /etc/sudoers (and have sudo installed)
	- you can play an "LOW BATTERY" alarm at prearranged battery percentage
	  with 4 funny jingles: simpson's bell, ambulance, victory, high beeps


That's all, folks ! Enjoy with your laptop and much more with wmlaptop !



/**************************************************************************/
/*                                                                        */
/*     SINCE VERSION 1.4 WMLAPTOP SUPPORTS LONGRUN TRANSMETA CPU          */
/*                        thanks to Adrian Robert                         */
/*                                                                        */
/**************************************************************************/
		
	  Implemented support for Transmeta CPUs with Longrun capability.  On these
	  systems you set a range of frequencies (actually "performance levels") and
	  the system will automatically adjust within the range based on CPU load
	  (like the auto-freq function but hundreds of times per second).  The
	  support works as follows:

	  - The arrows shift the maximum performance level up and down by one unit.
		The minimum always stays at 0 (which is equivalent to, e.g., 300 MHz on a
		1 GHz CPU).
	  - If "auto-freq" is turned on, the range is set to (0, max), otherwise it
		is set to (max, max).
	  - Theoretically code could be added to adjust the shift size based on
		right-clicks on the arrows, but with only 5 levels typical on a CPU, this
		isn't a high priority.
	  - On startup, the setting is set to 0,current, current,current depending on
		auto-freq state, where min or max is used in place of current if min or
		max setting is requested.  Note that this and subsequent adjustments may
		not interact well with other processes or daemons adjusting longrun state,
		such as an acpid script.
	
To enable the Longrun support you need to compile wmlaptop using the file
Makefile.Longrun; to do so, use "make -f Makefile.Longrun" instead of the
simple "make"



CONTACT THE AUTHORS:

- Giacomo Galilei (code and a bit of graphics)
matic _at_ libero _dot_ it

- Lorenzo Marcon (graphics and a bit of code)
stclaus _at_ libero _dot_ it

Perugia (Italy), December 24, 2003

This project is released under GNU GPL license
See LICENSE for more information