Power profile option not showing up.

[fosslover306]

Distribution

LMDE 6 Faye

Package version

6.4.6

Graphics hardware in use

Intel Corporation CoffeeLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics 630]

Frequency

Always

Bug description

When I try to use the new power profile settings no power settings show up in the power management page, or any sign of the option at all.

Steps to reproduce

1. go to power manager.
2. try to find the power profile option under the "power" tab.

Expected behavior

A power profile setting should show up in the power manager.

Additional information

I do use TLP, so I saw a potential issue with the power profile working, but not the option missing all together.

[fosslover306]

I tried removing TLP and restarting and the problem still persists.

[gulbalasalamov]

Hi. I upgraded from Mint Cinnamon 22.0 to 21.1 . This upgrade auto removed TLP although it left some conf files. I removed the power-profiles-daemon via the software manager , rebooted, and installed TLP. Note that up on upgrade, my power profiles were active and I was able to choose between them. In your case can you try to remove tlp first to prevent potential conflicts as it already exists in your system, and then install power profiles from software manager to see if it works and if yes then you can remove again and install TLP back. Although I am not sure why power profiles don't appear in your system, this manual installation can help.

[fosslover306]

@gulbalasalamov That fixed it, I haven't done the reboot step but now I have the option available, I do however still see this as a bug of sorts on the point that it does not tell you how or if power profiles is a thing to have, and I am just a tad disappointed it doesn't automatically, change modes between AC and DC(battery) power modes, or at least go into power saver when the computer is running on battery and said battery goes to 30% or something. Honestly Linux Mint really has gold mine of opportunity with power profiles being natively supported, like say block automatic updates if on battery.

Yes I know there is a feature request form but it says it is deprecated and the place it sends me instead me is empty and confusing.

Thank you for the help.

[gulbalasalamov]

Happy to hear that. This response confirms this workaround can help people in the same situation until developers explore the issue further if needed.

[fosslover306]

@gulbalasalamov I just checked my LMDE 6 server with a full cinnamon desktop environment that also is fully updated and it was also missing power profiles, but TLP has not been installed on that machine for months.

I suspect that the power-profile-deamon is not listed as a dependency in anyway so unless it was intentionally installed, or installed by default in a new install it will not be their, and since the power profiles option disappears if power-profile-deamon is not installed I fear that this problem is affecting more people then we think, and I needs to be addressed before it becomes a problem for reviewers on Youtube or something and makes Linux Mint look less user friendly and competitive then it needs to be. I simple button in the power manager to install power-profile-deamon to enable power profiles would be a reasonable solution while power profiles get further interrogated to allow the use of other options in the meantime.

[fosslover306]

1. Add power-profile-daemon as optional dependency.
2. Add automatic power mode switching between AC and DC power modes.
3. Add protections to the update manager so it will not run automatic updates when on low battery, or if on DC mode(togglable).
4. Add the abilty to automaticly go into power saver mode when on DC mode with a battery charge of less the 30%(hide this option if the user has already selected power saver as the default mode when in DC mode).
5. when these features get added just use power manager to control power-profiles-deamon like you can already so power-profile-deamon does not require modification to add any specific fuctions.
6. Since you now have feature parody with TLP in the ways most people care about, add a way to overide the automatic setting untill the laptop or tablet gets pluged in.
7. Add a button to install the power-profile-deamon in power settings if it is not detected instead of hiding the opton altogether so no one even knows it is a option, or has to search the internet or ask on github how to make it work.

If all of these steps are followed in logical order then no will care that TLP can no longer be used if you want GUI power profiles that are easy to configure(which TLP is decidedly not anyway) but advanced users that want TLP's configuabity can still use it, maybe even telling the user that TLP is currently in use in case they don't know already to avoid confusion and unnessary bug reports.