
This document was last updated 11 December 2003 by Thomas Hood

                                apmiser
                                README

Copyright information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original program version: Copyright (C) 2000, David L. Sifry.
Modifications up to 4.9: Copyright (C) 2003, Thomas Hood.
All Rights Reserved.

This software is licensed under the GPL; please see the file COPYING
for licensing information.

Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apmiser is a tool for IBM Thinkpads that automatically controls the
APM power settings based on your usage patterns. I was often annoyed
at how slow my Thinkpad would run in its low power-expenditure mode:
firmware would slow the CPU clock to 1/4 speed.  This saved power but
the performance drop was noticeable.  Whenever I wanted to compile
something I would use tpctl to switch to full-power mode and when I
was done, I would switch back into power-save mode.  This was fine
for big compiles, but even then it was time consuming and sometimes I
forgot to switch back to power-saving mode, which caused my batteries
to run out quickly. In addition, this didn't change performance when
doing short CPU intensive tasks, like sorting a mail folder, or when
switching virtual desktops.

apmiser
~~~~~~~
In response to this, I created apmiser, which is a little daemon that
regularly checks your CPU utilization. If it thinks that you're using
the CPU then it switches you into full-power state; if it thinks that
you are not using the CPU intensively then it switches back to power-
saving mode.  I have found that apmiser increases my productivity when
using my thinkpad on battery power. 

Usage 
-----
All you have to do is run apmiser as root or as any user who can
change power management settings with tpctl.  For more usage
information please see the apmiser man page.
