Scripts for Laptops |
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These FvwmPerl scripts use PerlTk's ProgressBar widget to display battery charge level, screen backlight brightness level, & audio volume level. At the top of each script are instructions how implement them. They are kinda rough & I will be putting updates here as I improve them. But hey, they work for me.
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Uses these files /proc/acpi/battery/BAT1/info /proc/acpi/battery/BAT1/state Updates every 10 minutes or via the "Refresh" menu command described in the file's comments. Works on my Toshiba Satellite A135-S4427 laptop & my Acer Aspire One AO751H netbook.
Uses these files: /sys/class/backlight/psb-bl/brightness /sys/class/backlight/psb-bl/max_brightness Works on my Acer Aspire One AO751H netbook. Remove the ".blue" to use it.
Uses Keith Packard's xbacklight command. Works on my Toshiba Satellite A135-S4427 laptop. Remove the ".reina" to use it.
Uses ALSA's amixer command to control Master Playback Volume. Works on my Toshiba Satellite A135-S4427 laptop & my Acer Aspire One AO751H netbook.
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NOTES:
Requirements: If you didn't assimulate & synthesize the information presented above, realize that FVWM, FvwmPerl, Perl, PerlTk, are required. PerlTk is not included in any of the Linux distributions I've used, so download it from cpan.org & install it. Note my current version of Tk (Tk-804.031) includes Tk::ProgressBar; a prior version of Tk did not.
Prior to using these modules, execute them from a command line and note any error messages, which might be something like
Battery information is not accessible...exiting. Brightness information is not accessible...exiting. /usr/bin/xbacklight not executable...exiting. /usr/bin/amixer not available...exiting.will require resolution before they will operate properly.
I added the following line
+ "Refresh All" SendToModule /home/bgeer/bin/Fvwm*Display.pl refreshto a FVWM menu and a simple click causes them all to refresh.
Ok, I'm a diehard C programmer. I haven't imbibed the kool-aid that is C++. If you don't like the looks of my Perl code, well, tough - you got what you paid for.
Why FVWM?
My core-duo laptop & single-core atom netbook are not exactly state of the art faster-than-greased-lightning computers. I used Ubuntu for a few years, but such heavy environments require so much resource that they felt more & more sluggish with each new release. I use Slackware & FVWM on the desktops I build & they feel very responsive. So I booted my laptop & netbook from a Slackware flash drive & they felt a lot more responsive.
So I installed Slackware on them. Wow! They feel a lot faster. Feel. They may not be faster, but they feel that way.
The downside is Slackware doesn't necessarily cater to all the fancy features of laptop/netbook computers. I pretty much don't care about some of the fancy features, but I do like having an indicator of battery condition, convenient audio volume control, & lowering screen brightness helps battery life. Since Xorg pretty much recognizes hotkeys, I felt challenged to bind them to useful little programs to accomplish their intended purpose.
Hence these programs. As noted, they have some rough spots; i.e., no automated installer & not all errors handled sensibly. I hope to improve on them & will post updates here if/when I continue work on them.
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