                                apmiser
                                =======

Original version: Copyright (C) 2000, David L. Sifry.
Derived versions up to 4.7: 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 often got pissed
off at how slow the Thinkpads were when running on power-save mode -
IBM would slow the CPU clock to 1/4 the rate of the full-speed
CPU. This significantly saved power, but the performance drop was
noticable. Whenever I wanted to do a compile, I would run tpctl to
switch the thinkpad into full-power state, and then when I was done,
I'd switch back into power-save state. This worked for big compiles,
but even then, it was time consuming and sometimes I forgot to go back
into 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 switching virtual
desktops.

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 while you need the
CPU and then it immediately switches you back into power-savings mode
when you're finished with the CPU.  I've 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.
