PowerManagementConfiguration

Revision 19 as of 2005-11-02 12:36:53

Clear message

Summary

GNOME Power Preferences should by default only propose controversial options (ie: if we suspend when the lid closes). Other options have sane defaults which we should select for the user and not ask them about. For example, the following events are assumed to behave as follows:

  • power button press -> logout dialog

  • suspend press (if exists) -> suspend

  • ac unplugged -> so what? (do nothing -- but go into laptop mode!)

Scope and rationale

There should be simple, reliable, and understandable methods of:

  • shutting down the computer
  • putting the computer into a low-power-use state
  • going into a low-power-use state after some period of inactivity
  • blanking the screen, instead of using a power-sapping screensaver, when running on battery power
  • preventing data loss when the battery runs out.

Currently people need to edit text files in /etc to enable suspend to RAM, and to select which services will be restarted. Also, it's currently impossible to configure how the system should behave in various situations, such as on lid close. All of these points should be configurable graphically.

Use Cases

Michael just installed Ubuntu 6.04, he doesn't care about Power Preferences, he wants it to just work and do the right thing (tm).

Hubert has different ideas, about how Power Preferences should work by default. He should be able to change the option that make sense.

Panel Icon

There will be exactly one power status icon on the panel (either applet or notification icon) that will show the current battery charge status to the user. The icon will only show "primary" battery status (we make no attempt to deal with wireless mouse batteries, for example). The icon will not have its own preference dialog, but rather, a pulldown menu. The preferences item in this menu will lead to the global power preferences dialog (same dialog that is accessed via the System -> Preferences menu). 

+-------------------------+
|    _Preferences         |     -> system power preferences
|(o) No text              |
|( ) Remaining time       |
|( ) Remaining percentage |
+-------------------------+

Power Off Dialog

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                         |
| [     ]                                                                 |
| [  ?  ] Are you sure you want to power off?                             |
| [     ]                                                                 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| (_Log Out) (_Restart) (S_witch User) (_Sleep)  (_Cancel) ((_Power Off)) |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

* Power button -> pop up the power off dialog * all options in dialog are accessible with single (no need to hold alt) keypress. * possibly remove switch user * have ability to remove some items for certain users (admin may not want users shutting down, for example) * default is poweroff, accessible by pressing enter * this poweroff dialog might replace the global logout dialog

Power Preferences Dialog

If Suspend is supported: 

+-----------------Power Preferences-------------------------+
| Sleep                                                     |
|                                                           |
|   Running on batteries:                                   |
|    Put computer to sleep after:    +---------||---+       |
|                                              50min        |
|                                                           |
| Options                                                   |
|   [x] Suspend on lid close:                               |
|   [x] require password when                               | 
|       waking from sleep/hibernate                         |
|                                                           |
| Warnings                                                  |
|    Issue warning:                  +---------||---+       |
|                                         15 min remaining  |
|                                                           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
  • one tab
  • if suspend is unsupported then:
    • - hide suspend time slider - hide suspend-on-lid-close option
  • time until automatic suspend
  • checkbox for suspend on lid close
    • - defaults to on if suspend is whitelisted for laptop
  • checkbox for "require password when waking from sleep/hibernate"
    • - defaults to off if user is autologin - essentially, invoke the screensaver just before suspending
  • sliders for battery low in TIME (not percentage)
    • - warnings issued for battery low - automatic shutdown for battery critical
      • - automatic shutdown may be disabled by hidden gconf key