Meet Jupiter

For the last few months the Eeebuntu 4 (EB4) team has been working on developing a Debian based distribution for computers capable of functioning well on any system be it a laptop, netbook, or even a desktop.

One of the things we found to be very necessary was a simple interface that could be triggered by a user to make simple configuration changes such as turning the web cam on and off, or rotating the screen. Eee PC Tray fit this scenario very well however in addition to being developed to only function with Eee PC netbooks; we found through feedback that it was difficult to configure and in many cases the software was incompatible, or simply broke with patches released by our parent distribution Ubuntu.

Looking forward towards EB4 we felt that Eee PC Tray was good software, however there was substantial room for improvement and with that in mind I took the opportunity to re-evaluate how I developed Eee PC Tray, and began development of a replacement technology that we now call Jupiter.

The requirements laid out were as follows: Be easy to use and configure, and provide some level of functionality for any laptop, desktop, or netbook computer regardless of brand.

Meet Jupiter
The main UI for Jupiter was written in C#, and executes on both 32 bit and 64 bit systems. When Jupiter is executed, a lightning bolt icon appears in the notification area which changes color based on the currently applied performance mode. When clicked with either the right or left mouse button, a pop-up menu list appears organized into sub menus by function. Each function available is automatically detected by the software at startup, and when the software determines that the capabilities are not available on the system it will automatically hide the function, or sub menu which prevents the user from assuming functionality that doesn't exist on his or her platform.

Power Management
Performance Modes are determined by evaluating CPUFreq capability within the kernel, and exposing three modes:

• Maximum Performance
• High Performance
• Power Saver

Maximum Performance mode triggers CPUFreq to "Performance" mode which is the maximum capability available for your CPU. In High Performance mode, the CPU governor is configured to "On Demand" which reduces power when the CPU is idle. Power Saver mode configures your CPU governor to "Powersave" mode which lowers your clock rate to the minimum rate defined in CPUFreq utils for your specific CPU. In addition, if a support package exists for your platform such as the Eee PC, specific functions for your platform are executed.

In the example of the Eee PC, when jupiter-support-eee is installed the following extra events are triggered when a performance mode change occurs:

• Super Hybrid Engine
• GMA Overclock

Jupiter recognizes a trigger event which occurs when the power cord is connected, or disconnected from a system. By default when power is applied, Jupiter assumes the user will want to be in Maximum Performance mode. If a user changes this mode while power is connected, Jupiter will "remember" this setting, and apply it the next time power is removed and re-applied making configuration super easy. The same is true when power is disconnected. By default, when a disconnect event occurs Jupiter will shift the performance mode to Power Saver. Should the user change the performance mode with the power disconnected, Jupiter will remember this setting and re-apply it auto-magically when power is removed in the future.

In addition, Jupiter will apply specific kernel parameters on a power add or remove event in an effort to maximize power savings. When a support package is applied, vendor specific kernel parameters become available during power change events.

Device Management
Jupiter detects the availability of device control by evaluating the kernel for specific capabilities. If these capabilities are discovered to be available, a Device Control submenu is created, and an entry is added for each device found.

When a user enables or disables a device in Jupiter, the requested mode is saved and Jupiter places that device back into the desired mode when the system is restarted.

Screen Resolutions
Jupiter utilizes the XRandR capability within the X server to provide a list of available video modes. When the notification icon is clicked, Jupiter will identify the connected video output device be it a monitor, laptop display, or TV and will present the user with the top four video modes available.

If a resolution of 1024x600 or 800x480 is detected, an additional "compressed" mode becomes available to the user as either 1024x768 or 800x600. Jupiter will remember the last configured resolution, and override any configuration change made in your operating system.

Screen Orientation
There are four screen orientation modes available to the user and when a supported touchpad driver is installed, the touchpad will also rotate with the screen. These modes are triggered utilizing the XRandR function of the X server. Jupiter remembers this configuration and will re-apply it after a reboot which is useful to users with touch screens and tablets.

Video Displays
When the Jupiter icon is clicked, it quickly evaluates the display devices available to the user. A video mode selection in Jupiter overrides any existing internal setting, so it is important to remember that if you use dual displays, first enable both displays in Jupiter and then configure them in your display manager.

User Friendly Features
Unlike Eee PC Tray, Jupiter is completely self contained and has no need for a configuration file.

• Hover information is available by simply placing your cursor over the icon, the information displayed is updated while hovering.
• Capability Auto-detection, only available devices and configurations are available to the user.
• Memory, Jupiter remembers your last used settings and re-applies them as needed.
• Fast response, Jupiter evaluates system settings at startup only making it necessary to evaluate user settings on click.

Availability
Jupiter is distributed as a key component of the EB4 distribution, and also supported on Fedora.  Use in any other distribution is not currently supported.

Download a copy of EB4 today - [ LINK ]
Visit the project page at SourceForge for DEB and RPM packages - [ LINK ]
Questions thread for Eeebuntu and Fedora users - [ LINK ]

NOTE: Installing an unsupported package on a distribution other than EB4 or Fedora may break your distribution.  The packages being made available are only tested on EB4 and Fedora.