PowerMan - Power Automation

by drdrummie

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UUID: powerman@dr.drummie

Last edited:

3 days ago 2026-04-26, 07:54

Last commit: [a78d33ff] v1.9.11: Fix hide-applet-icon setting reset on state changes (fixes #8601) (#8604)

Enhanced power applet with automatic brightness and power profiles for AC/Battery

README

PowerMan - Power Automation for Cinnamon

A laptop-focused power applet for Cinnamon 6.x with automatic brightness and power profile switching for AC/Battery — extends the default Cinnamon power applet.

screenshot

Features

🔋 Enhanced Power Management

Reliable power source detection (AC/Battery) via UPower — works correctly even on laptops with battery charge-protection circuits that report DISCHARGING at full charge while plugged in
Battery level notifications with customizable thresholds
Battery monitoring with detailed device information — based on the original power@cinnamon.org applet

💡 Automated Brightness Control

Separate brightness levels for AC power and battery operation
Automatic brightness switching when power source changes
Idle dimming with configurable timeout and dim levels
Screen and keyboard backlight support via Cinnamon Settings Daemon

⚡ Power Profile Automation

Automatic power profile switching between AC and battery modes
Performance mode on AC power, balanced/power-saver on battery (or by user's choice in settings)
Low battery protection - automatic power-saver mode when battery is low
Manual override support through standard system controls

⚙️ Configuration

Settings and options appear only when supported hardware is detected
System integration - one-click removal of the default Cinnamon power applet directly from the popup menu
Debug logging - for troubleshooting

Installation

Method 1: From Cinnamon Spices

Open System Settings → Applets
Switch to the Download tab
Search for "PowerMan" → click Install
Go back to the Manage tab → add PowerMan to your panel

Method 2: Manual Installation

Download or clone this repository
Copy the powerman@dr.drummie folder to ~/.local/share/cinnamon/applets/
Right-click on the panel → "Applets" → Find "PowerMan" → Add to panel

Configuration

Access settings by right-clicking the applet and selecting "Configure..." or directly from applet's popup:

Display and Advanced

Panel Display: Choose what information to show (battery percentage, time remaining, etc.)
Notifications: Enable/disable automation notifications
- System Integration: Remove the default Cinnamon power applet via a button in the popup menu (visible only while the original applet is active)
Debug Logging: Enable detailed logging for troubleshooting

Brightness Control (available only if brightness control detected)

Automatic Brightness: Set different levels for AC and battery power
Idle Dimming: Automatically dim screen when idle

Power Management (available only if power profiles and battery detected)

Profile Automation: Different power profiles for AC/battery
Battery Saver: Auto-enable power-saver mode on low battery

Hardware Requirements

PowerMan automatically detects available hardware and shows only relevant settings:

Any system: Basic power monitoring and device status (same as default Cinnamon power applet)
🔋 + Battery and Power profiles: Power profile automation and battery saver depending on power source
💡 + Brightness control: Automatic brightness switching depending on power source, idle dimming

Compatibility

Cinnamon Desktop: 6.4, 6.6+ (Linux Mint 22.1+ and other Cinnamon-based distributions)
Brightness automation requires cinnamon-settings-daemon — standard on Linux Mint; present on most Cinnamon-based distros. The applet auto-detects availability and disables features gracefully if not found.
Power profiles require power-profiles-daemon

Troubleshooting

Known Issues

If dimming is enabled and screen is dimmed (user is idle), power profile would be switched immediately, but brightness will be switched after user become active again (to avoid screen brightness dimming bugs)
If you have dimming enabled for i.e. only battery mode, after auto switching from AC to battery, dimming would not be active until some user activity

Settings not appearing

Restart Cinnamon: Alt+F2 → type r → Enter
Check hardware detection in debug logs
Ensure required services are running (UPower, PowerProfiles daemon)

Features showing as unavailable

Info messages explain when hardware/software requirements are not met
Examples: "Screen brightness control is not available" or "Power profile automation is not available"
Enable debug logging to see detailed hardware detection results

Brightness control not working

Test manual brightness: brightnessctl or system settings
Restart Cinnamon Settings Daemon: killall csd-power
Check if laptop supports software brightness control

Power profiles not switching

Verify power-profiles-daemon is running: systemctl status power-profiles-daemon
Test manual switching: powerprofilesctl set balanced

Development

Based on the original Cinnamon Power applet with enhancements like power source automation.

Contributing

Test on multiple hardware configurations
Report issues or improvements on GitHub

Translation

Translations for 17 languages are included. Most are machine-generated — corrections and improvements are welcome via PR.

Cinnamon Spices installation: .po files are automatically compiled during installation.

License

GPL-3.0 - Based on original Cinnamon power applet code.

Credits

Original Cinnamon Power Applet: Linux Mint Team
Applet icon: Batteries icons created by phatplus - Flaticon
Inspiration: My aged laptops with old batteries

CHANGELOG

Open

Changelog

Known Issues

If dimming is enabled and screen is dimmed (user is idle), power profile would be switched immediately, but brightness will be switched after user become active again (to avoid screen brightness dimming bugs).
If you have dimming enabled for i.e. only battery mode, after auto switching from AC to battery, dimming would not be active until some user activity (couldn't find a way around that issue).

[1.9.11]

Fixed (#8601): hide-applet-icon setting reset on every state change: _updateCapabilitySettings() was unconditionally overwriting the user's hide preference on every device-scan-post event (power source change, UPower signal, notification), causing the applet icon to reappear even when explicitly hidden by the user; replaced the bidirectional override with a one-way auto-hide that only sets the flag on feature-less systems (no battery and no brightness, e.g. VM)

[1.9.10]

Fixed AC source detection on laptops where battery charge-protection circuits report DISCHARGING at full charge while the charger is connected — now uses the authoritative UPower OnBattery property directly.
Removed prefer-battery-ac-detection setting — superseded by direct UPower detection which is reliable across all hardware without per-vendor workarounds.

[1.9.9]

Fixed brightness slider value not being stored correctly after a SetPercentage D-Bus call.
Fixed race condition in brightness change tracking when multiple async D-Bus calls were in flight simultaneously.
Fixed orphaned menu separator remaining visible after removing the original power applet.
Simplified "Remove power applet" confirmation dialog and menu item label.
Added missing translations for 17 languages; corrected Bluetooth device mistranslation in Czech, Danish, and German locales.
Various internal stability fixes.

[1.9.8]

Fixed brightness detection race condition at startup — detection is now delayed to allow D-Bus service registration to complete.
Fixed brightness control appearing unavailable on laptops with older CSD versions that don't expose the GetStep D-Bus method.
Fixed battery saver mode triggering on every battery level update instead of only when the threshold boundary is crossed.
Fixed capability detection using actor visibility instead of a dedicated flag — prevents false-negative on startup.
Various internal stability and memory leak fixes (signal disconnection, null guards, settings cleanup).

[1.9.7]

Replaced the "Replace system power applet" setting switch with a "Remove power applet" button directly in the applet popup menu.
- The button is visible only while the original power@cinnamon.org or battery@cinnamon.org applet is active in the panel.
- Clicking opens a confirmation dialog before permanently removing the applet.
- The button hides itself after removal.

[1.9.6]

Fixed signal leaks on applet removal and brightness slider cleanup.
Fixed auto-hide logic for desktop and VM systems (no battery detected).
Various internal stability fixes.

[1.9.5]

Extended default popup with switches for quickly enable / disable automation.
Added option to remember user's "external" change of brightness with settings depending on power source.
Refactored some internal stuff.
Updated po / pot files.

[1.9.1]

Refactored whole automation logic into extension framework with hooks and dedicated managers separated from applet's main logic.
Fixed (most of) brightness and dimming switching bugs on power source changes.
Fixed power state when batteries are full and AC connected (since most of power line detection on 3 laptops didn't gave me some meaningful results like "AC connected", on 100% of battery it should switch onto battery mode, then after short timeout switch again onto AC mode).
Improved responsiveness and speed of the applet.
Added icons to notifications.
Removed some unneeded notifications.
Improved debug logging for troubleshooting.

[1.6.6]

Initial release with power profile automation.
Added separate AC/battery brightness levels.
All logic inside original Power applet.

PowerMan - Power Automation

README

PowerMan - Power Automation for Cinnamon

Features

🔋 Enhanced Power Management

💡 Automated Brightness Control

⚡ Power Profile Automation

⚙️ Configuration

Installation

Method 1: From Cinnamon Spices

Method 2: Manual Installation

Configuration

Display and Advanced

Brightness Control (available only if brightness control detected)

Power Management (available only if power profiles and battery detected)

Hardware Requirements

Compatibility

Troubleshooting

Known Issues

Settings not appearing

Features showing as unavailable

Brightness control not working

Power profiles not switching

Development

Contributing

Translation

License

Credits

CHANGELOG

Changelog

Known Issues

[1.9.11]

[1.9.10]

[1.9.9]

[1.9.8]

[1.9.7]

[1.9.6]

[1.9.5]

[1.9.1]

[1.6.6]

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