xfce-power-manager and/or apcupsd?

[StephenH]

I can't seem to find out anything about this so far, so it is time to ask.

I am currently running Fedora 15, 64 bit with XFCE as my DE. Here's the situation:

I know that my APC BackUPS XS1500 displays more options when I use the gapcmon front end or the apcupsd-cgi version for web browser display of the UPS status and configuration. However, there are no real options listed for things like monitor control or power savings/performance.

Is it okay to run both? Is it better to run one or the other instead? Which would be preferable, apcupsd or xfce4-power-manager? Is there any down-side to removing xfce4-power-manager and running only with apcupsd and its front-ends? Likewise, is there any down-side for removing apcupsd and front-ends and only running xfce4-power-manager?

Right now, it looks like both xfce4-power-manager and apcupsd are, in essence, trying to perform the same function. However, the statistics available for xfce4-power-manager are seriously lacking/flawed in that they do not give an adequate picture of the hardware capabilities but the balloon that pops up when I hover the mouse over it does seem to give an adequate report of the time remaining. Apcupsd/gapcmon reflect the statistics for the UPS much better, showing the battery status and capacity which are lacking in the xfce4 version.

What is the experience of others? I would think that this would be a situation that not only xfce4 users would encounter, but also those using gnome-power-manager.

How does xscreensaver figure into this equation? Would it provide the screensaver/power saver functions for the monitor while letting apcupsd handle the UPS? Would the same answers apply to a laptop/netbook?

Edit:

Okay, nobody has replied so I am going to post the results of my experimentation.

I deactivated xfce4-power-manager so that it does not start up. I now am using apcupsd with the gapcmon front-end. I selected the options to have the information panels appear using a tray icon. The downside to this is that it means that there are two tray icons as opposed to only one with the xfce power manager. The upside is that the statistics I see are much more complete and the information about the unit is full and (I would think) accurate since it gives statistics the xfce manager left blank. I am using xscreensaver to control the monitor.

The only thing I can think of that would be a big disadvantage is if this were a laptop instead of a desktop. The xfce power manager has settings for when the computer is on AC or on battery. These are not available with the apcupsd utility and gapcmon front-end. Since it is a desktop, if it is on battery, there has been a power outage and runtime would be limited anyway.

I still would like to hear what others have done and the experiences they have had with using apcupsd instead of xfce or gnome power managers.