Just uploaded an improved version of GraphicsSwitcher.
Changes:
– When hovering over the tray icon it is displayed which graphics adapter has been activated
NOTE: Switches made through PowerManager are not detected (That’s on my todo list for the next days).
A feature I liked very much was the automatic graphics switching depending on the used power source that the Catalyst Control Center offered on my T400 in Vista. For those not knowing what I am talking about: some Lenovo notebooks are equipped with two graphics chips – one saving energy and one having more performance. In Vista / Windows 7 a dynamic switching between these chips is possible.
One (constructional?) flaw the T400 has is that only this high performance adapter is connected to the digital video output. This makes it necessary to use the high performance card for displays connected via DVI. Still I want to use the energy saving adapter when I am on the road as it gives at least 25% longer runtimes on battery.
Bottom line: Automatic switching would be great in Win 7.
Some days ago I stumbled over an article (link below) describing how to use Lenovo’s PowerManager libraries to switch the active graphics adapter and decided to implement the automatic switching myself.
To avoid trouble with Lenovo my graphics switcher does not need the PowerManager libraries in its folder but rather loads them from the PM directory (provided PM is installed).
Download GraphicsSwitcher (executable and source)
Usage:
Warning: Please use GraphicsSwitcher carefully (save documents before power source changes) as the current version of Lenovo’s graphics drivers are not perfect yet and tend to crash sometimes (which happens as often when you switch using PowerManager).
Licence: MIT licence, see licence.txt in the downloaded archive.
Source (graphics switching using PowerManager libraries): http://zabadab.eu/switchablegraphics/
Worms World Party. Wer es schon einmal gespielt hat kennt seinen Suchtfaktor.
Leider gestaltet es sich seit Windows Vista recht kompliziert in den Genuss von WWP zu kommen, da es im besten Fall mit recht psychedelischen Farben daherkommt. Seit einiger Zeit gibt es hierfür einen Fan-Patch im Forum von Team 17.
Da ich Installationen von Programmen unbekannter Herkunft gegenüber abgeneigt bin suche ich immer Wege, diese zu umgehen. In diesem Fall ist dies leicht möglich:
Leider ermöglicht auch dieser Workaround auf meinem PC nur das Spielen in 640×480, aber immerhin.
Quelle: http://forum.team17.com/showthread.php?t=38883
PSSuspend: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897540.aspx
Process Explorer: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
For more than a month now I am enjoying Windows 7. I really enjoy it. As too many folks out there are blogging about all its greatness I did not see myself invoked to jump onto that train – until now.
Some minutes ago my mouse hovered casually above the Media Player taskbar icon – and suddenly: What is that? Controls beneath the preview? Again, one of these WOW moments.
A quick websearch brought up a nice article by Arian T. Kulp, which I can really recommend. It is about creating this and some other of the new taskbar “effects”.
Link: http://blogs.msdn.com/coding4fun/archive/2009/08/25/9874533.aspx