Arch Linux

RedScare

Member

Registered: 2009-03-28

Posts: 91

[SOLVED] ACPID vs pm-utils vs laptop-mode-tools

What is the real difference between these tools apart from the conveniences they have installed? My understanding is that ACPID runs scripts when the battery is plugged in and when not plugged in, and pm-utils and laptop-mode-tools just come with different sets of these scripts bundled with them.

Is this view accurate or would there be a reason to install more than one of these?

Thanks.

SOLVED: For anyone wondering, it is completely possible, using only simple bash scripts, to implement the functionality of pmutils and laptop-mode-tools using acpid. If anyone wants the scripts I use (Dell XPS m1530-specific scripts) please pm.

Last edited by RedScare (2010-08-07 23:56:04)

Coacher

Guest

Re: [SOLVED] ACPID vs pm-utils vs laptop-mode-tools

man acpid ->  acpid - Advanced Configuration and Power Interface event daemon
man pm-suspend -> pm-action - Suspend or Hibernate your computer
man laptop_mode -> /usr/sbin/laptop_mode - start and stop laptop mode
This is goddamn easy.

Ledti

Member

Registered: 2010-07-31

Posts: 122

Website

Re: [SOLVED] ACPID vs pm-utils vs laptop-mode-tools

What is the real difference between these tools apart from the conveniences they have installed? My understanding is that ACPID runs scripts when the battery is plugged in and when not plugged in, and pm-utils and laptop-mode-tools just come with different sets of these scripts bundled with them.

Is this view accurate or would there be a reason to install more than one of these?

Thanks.

ACPID - ACPI functions/auto-configuration.
laptop-mode-tools - Lots of power-management scripts.
pm-utils - Suspend/hibernate and some power-management scripts. Somewhat incompatible with laptop-mode-tools since 1.4.0.

ACPID also allows you to set predefined actions when you close the lid on your laptop and when the power/sleep button is pressed. Before pm-utils 1.4.0, it was generally common to use all three of those tools together as they complimented each other. Now it's probably best to just use acpid/pm-utils together. I've opted to soley use pm-utils and have added this to my startup script:

# Requires upower package.
on_ac_power &

Along with some key bindings to replicate what ACPID does, everything generally works without configuration. But as Coacher so obnoxiously said, it's a good idea to read their man pages as well.

Tip:

pacman -Ql package

Edit: The wiki is slightly outdated regarding pm-utils.

Last edited by Ledti (2010-08-07 07:08:37)

---

dotfiles

RedScare

Member

Registered: 2009-03-28

Posts: 91

Re: [SOLVED] ACPID vs pm-utils vs laptop-mode-tools

Well I ended up being able to implement all of pm-utils and laptop-mode-tools functionality using only acpid as the former are just script sets, as Ledti very kindly mentioned. Not sure if this matters to anyone apart from myself, but I don't like to install extra packages so being able to do this was nice.

@Coacher: very clever sir, how original.

MoonSwan

Member

From: Great White North

Registered: 2008-01-23

Posts: 881

Re: [SOLVED] ACPID vs pm-utils vs laptop-mode-tools

I,too, had been wondering about the differences in these scripts and packages. The "hibernate/suspend" page from the wiki is a complete mess (I don't have the knowledge to fix that unfortunately) and I'm sure confused many new people to Arch. Thanks for asking these questions RedScare & please mark this solved.

jocheem67

Member

Registered: 2009-11-09

Posts: 243

Re: [SOLVED] ACPID vs pm-utils vs laptop-mode-tools

Thanks from here too. Powermanagement still is one of the shadows of linux for me.
I'm on gnome using pm-utils and acpid on an asus netbook. Things work well, I'm still not sure where to place gnome powermangement though..

RedScare

Member

Registered: 2009-03-28

Posts: 91

Re: [SOLVED] ACPID vs pm-utils vs laptop-mode-tools

Yep, marked the thread as solved. If anyone wants the scripts I use please PM, but some of them are specific to a Dell XPS m1530 with a re-compiled zen-kernel.