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*  a1ctl : fan control software & more for the Acer Aspire One  *
*  -----------------------------------------------------------  *
*  http://nodadev.wordpress.com         Version 0.4 [30/10/08]  *
*  -----------------------------------------------------------  *
*                                                      by Noda  *
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About
*****

A1ctl is a program able to control the fan speed of the Acer
Aspire One netbooks, and do some useful other things. It was
inspired by EEEctl, AsTray and some other programs available for
the EEE PC series.

This program is a freeware, but I've spent countless hours making
it, so if you like it consider making a donation to support my
work. You can do so by clicking the "Donate" button on the About
dialog of the program or from my website.


FAQ
***

Q- What is the "Prevent HD clicking" option?
A- Some hard drives used in the A1 does some frequent clinking
   noise, due to [badly] aggressive power management that parks
   the HD heads whenever it's possible, to reduce power usage and
   prevent potential damage from shocks. While this may be a good
   thing in a general case, when it occurs too frequently this
   dramatically reduce the lifespan of the drive and may be
   annoying due to the noise generated. This option almost 
   disable the hard drive power management to prevent this clicks,
   thus preserving your ears and you drive's lifespan at the cost
   of a little more power consumption. Activating this option is
   not recommended for the A1 models with SSD drives.

Q- Why the fan seems stopped when I set it to slow mode?
A- Slow mode can't be activated when the system temperature is
   under 37c, thus the fan is stopped until this threshold is
   reached, whatever your temperature settings for slow mode are.

Q- Why do I need to patch my acpiec.sys driver?
A- You don't need to patch this file to make the program run
   correctly, however due to this chatty driver, some warnings
   are constantly written into a log file (due to the temperature
   polling) causing your hard drive to never spin down and consume
   power. If you own a SSD drive model, this may reduce its life 
   span due to constant writing causing wear. That's why it's 
   recommanded (and completely safe) to patch your acpiec.sys
   driver when asked. This operation can be completely reversed
   using the 'unpatch' button in the configuration dialog.


Changelog
*********

* 30/10/2008 - version 0.4
--------------------------
+ added acpiec.sys driver patch
+ added 1024x768 downscaled mode restoration at startup/wake up
= fixed fan slow mode threshold control
= tweaked fonts some more
= fixed battery remaining time
= fixed single icon mode


* 26/10/2008 - version 0.3 beta
-------------------------------
+ now working on Windows Vista (CPU & Screen management are
  disabled though)
+ improved font readability for system tray icons
+ added advanced configuration settings in .ini file (text
  colors, icon modes...)
+ added support for the 2nd webcam model present in A1
= fixed slow mode causing fan to be full speed in some cases
= fixed other miscellaneous bugs


* 07/10/2008 - version 0.2 beta
-------------------------------
+ added CPU management
+ added 1024x768 scrolled and downscaled modes
+ added battery information and system tray icon
+ added possibility to activate/desactivate ethernet/wifi/webcam
  devices
+ added hard disk clicking prevention
+ added manual fan management modes
+ added display of temperature directly in the system tray icon
= fixed back from sleep/hibernation problems
= fixed fan management


* 25/09/2008 - version 0.1 beta
-------------------------------
= first public release
