gnome-power-manager put display to sleep timer incorrect when CPU is being used
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
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gnome-power-manager (Ubuntu) |
Fix Released
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Wishlist
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Unassigned |
Bug Description
Binary package hint: gnome-power-manager
Currently, gnome-power-manager uses mouse and keyboard inactivity to determine idleness. As a second step, it then uses cpu load as an additional measure. So the computer is not considered idle unless the mouse, keyboard, and cpu are all idle. This definition is found in the gnome-power-manager manual for both Gutsy and Hardy.
This is great for determining when to suspend or hibernate. But it is counter intuitive for turning off the display. There are a large number of bugs filed againt g-p-m for display blanking issues: not working at all, intermittent failure, other stuff. I believe it is because of the cpu criteria that no one is expecting.
For display purposes, the computer can be considered idle when the user it not actively typing or mousing. This is the usual expected behavior. When I kick off a large compile and go off to lunch, it is annoying to return and find my backlight still at full brightness with no audience. It wastes power and longevity of the backlight.
I propose that there should be two different algorithms for idleness. One for suspend/hibernate that uses cpu load, and another for display blanking that does not consider cpu load.
Changed in gnome-power-manager (Ubuntu): | |
status: | Confirmed → Incomplete |
I think the problems are way deeper than lack of intuitiveness. Most or all of the problems described in http:// www.shallowsky. com/linux/ x-screen- blanking. html seem to still be present in Intrepid.
Fundamentally, if there's a bug, it's that the g-p-m "put display to sleep" controls give the impression that they can be used to save power, but they just don't do anything. I'm filing a new bug on that issue and will reference it in a follow-up