Autopoweroff

Autopoweroff is a handy tool that kicks in right when your computer starts up. Its main job? To shut down your computer at a set time, but only if certain conditions are met. And guess what? It’s designed just for the Linux operating system!

When Does It Shut Down?

Your computer will power off if these conditions are all true:

• The computer isn’t getting responses from any hosts it depends on.


• No keyboard or mouse activity has been detected for a while.


• The user hasn’t turned off Autopoweroff.

Perfect for Home Use

A great use for Autopoweroff is on home servers, like a firewall or router. You can set it up to shut down your server each evening at, let’s say, 10 PM. But don’t worry! If other computers in your house are still active and responding, the server won’t turn off just yet. For example, if you’re still working late on your thin client in the living room at 10:43 PM, the server in the basement stays awake until you log off.

Wake Up Automatically

Your server can even boot back up every morning by tweaking its BIOS settings. Autopoweroff doesn’t handle this part; it just makes sure you don’t need to keep your home server running all day and night. Here are some cool benefits of using it:

• Boost security: Your server is safe from hackers when it's powered down.


• Save energy: Lower electricity bills and reduce heat buildup.


• No noise: A quiet home is a happy home—your shutdown server makes no sound!


• Simplify life: No more manual shutdowns or startups.

User-Friendly Setup

You’ll find a nice GUI that makes configuring Autopoweroff's settings super easy!

What’s New?

• The application icon has moved from "Applications/System Tools" to "System/Administration".


• Nifty new bootstrap scripts based on LSB and rc.status are now supported in RPMs.


• This release officially supports Ubuntu, OpenSuSE, and Fedora!


• The tool now uses `arping` along with `ping` to check if dependent hosts are online—this improves detection even if firewalls are involved!


• If /dev/input/by-path/* doesn’t exist, it falls back to using /dev/input/* entries instead for better user event detection on systems like Ubuntu 06.06.


• A small fix was made so that the About dialog closes properly now!


• The GUI got some love too—some widgets were resized to fit better with font sizes.