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libranet.com :: View topic - Two handy little apps for laptop…
I found these two quite usefull apps for my laptop:

ifplugd
A configuration daemon for ethernet devices
ifplugd is a daemon which will automatically configure your
ethernet device when a cable is plugged in and automatically
unconfigure it if the cable is pulled. This is useful on laptops with
onboard network adapters, since it will only configure the interface
when a cable is really connected.

NoFlushd
allow idle hard disks to spin down
Noflushd is a daemon that spins down disks that have not been read from after a certain amount of time, and then prevents disk writes from spinning them back up. It’s targeted for laptops but can be used on any computer with IDE disks. The effect is that the hard disk actually spins down, saving you battery power, and shutting off the loudest component of most computers.

I haven’t tried this one yet:

i8kutils
Dell Inspiron and Latitude laptop utilities
This is a collection of utilities to control Dell Inspiron and Latitude
laptops. It includes programs to turn the fan on and off, to read fan
status, CPU temperature, BIOS version and to handle the volume buttons
and Fn-keys.

The package includes also a small Tk applet, designed to be swallowed in the gnome panel, which monitors the CPU temperature and controls automatically the fans accordingly to user defined thresholds.
The programs require the kernel module i8k.o which can be compiled from the package sources or found in Linux kernel 2.4.14 and later versions.
The kernel module has been tested only on Inspiron 8000 laptops but it should work on any Inspiron and Latitude laptops.

Haven’t tried either but could be usefull for older laptops without a CD-Writer (like mine):

backuppc
A high-performance, enterprise-grade system for backing up PCs
BackupPC is disk based and not tape based. This particularity allows
features not found in any other backup solution:
* Clever pooling scheme minimizes disk storage and disk I/O.
Identical files across multiple backups of the same or different PC are stored only once (using hard links), resulting in substantial savings in disk storage and disk writes.
* Optional compression provides additional reductions in storage.
CPU impact of compression is low since only new files (those not already in the pool) need to be compressed.
* A powerful http/cgi user interface allows administrators to view log files, configuration, current status and allows users to initiate and cancel backups and browse and restore files from backups very quickly.
* No client-side software is needed. On WinXX the smb protocol is used.
On linux or unix clients, rsync or tar (over ssh/rsh/nfs) can be used
* Flexible restore options. Single files can be downloaded from any backup directly from the CGI interface. Zip or Tar archives for selected files or directories can also be downloaded from the CGI interface.
* BackupPC supports mobile environments where laptops are only intermittently connected to the network and have dynamic IP addresses (DHCP).
* Flexible configuration parameters allow multiple backups to be performed in parallel.
* and more to discover in the manual…