Re: [gpm] Re: Gnome 2.16 Module Proposal: GNOME Power Manager

["Scott J. Harmon" <harmon ksu edu>]

Andrew Sobala wrote:
> Corey Burger wrote:
>> On 4/9/06, Luis Villa <luis villa gmail com> wrote:
>>  
>>> On 4/9/06, Andrew Sobala <aes gnome org> wrote:
>>>    
>>>> It's worth pointing out that gnome-power-manager is very much a
>>>> notifier
>>>> rather than an interactive applet. If your power cable falls out, it
>>>> pops up a message saying you've lost power. If you're working away from
>>>> a power source, there's a battery indicator with how much power you've
>>>> got left... that disappears when you're fully charged.
>>>>
>>>> (At least, that's how it's configured on my system.)
>>>>       
>>> This isn't the default, FWIW. I do agree that making this the default
>>> behavior  would be the best approach- better, IMHO, than a regular
>>> panel applet. I only want to know about power when something bad is
>>> going wrong, which is exactly what the notification area is for. An
>>> applet is all the time, and so is the current default behavior in the
>>> notification area- both of which are broken.
>>>
>>> Luis
>>>     
>>
>> I completely disagree. There are a few good reasons why an icon should
>> be displayed all the time
>>
>> 1. What state the battery is in is always relevant. Power is the
>> single most important thing on a laptop. Without it, you are going
>> nowhere. Whether or not it is a notification icon or an applet is a
>> detail I won't comment on.
>>   
> Nope. I'm working on a laptop at the moment, and I don't care that my
> battery is fully charged. This is because it's plugged into the wall. If
> I wasn't plugged into the wall, I'd start caring - but I'd also get a
> battery symbol.

Am I the only one who mouses over the applet to see how much more time
until the battery is fully charged?

> 
> I'd suggest you actually try using g-p-m like this.
>> 2. A hidden icon is impossible to view. Unlike Windows, you cannot
>> expand a slider to see hidden icons.
> This is because when it disappears, it doesn't give you any information.
> 
> As a sidenote, I believe the windows slider was invented to leave some
> room for the task bar when you have 40 icons in your notification area,
> one for every application installed on the system. The GNOME
> notification area isn't intended to be (and for the most part, isn't)
> used in this way, so we don't need a way to hide icons that shouldn't be
> there in the first place.
> 

In windows I have to set the option to "always show the battery icon,
even when plugged in".  If I have the room, I like to see the status of
my power on my laptop.  Who here has a system monitor applet on their
panel?  Should this be switched to a simple notification (your cpu has
been at 100% for 2 minutes).  That would be insane, this is why your car
has a gas gauge--you can look at it whenever you want to know how much
gas you have, and an 'idiot light'(notification) for when gas/power gets
low.

>> 3. Consistency. Now this is normally not an argument I think holds any
>> weight, but in this instance I think it does. Without a compelling
>> reason to break consistency with other operating systems/desktop
>> environments, I don't see why we should.
>>   
> 
> I do. We're better :-P
> 
> -- 
> Andrew

Scott