Comment 5 for bug 239419

Actually, you are quite right. Currently, all that /etc/acpi/power.sh and /usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/laptop-tools do is perfectly replicable with identical settings in /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf (*_HD_POWERMGMT, *_HD_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS, *_RATIO in /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf, and ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=true in /etc/default/acpi-support). Even the argument that laptop-mode is freezing some computers is no longer valid, because /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode is hard-coded to 2 on battery power, and you will get the same functionality as long as ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE_ON_AC=0 (which is default). So if there are problems people already should experience all that.

Also, /usr/sbin/laptop_mode already has all that state code commented out, so it doesn't need any force argument, WAS_ACTIVE is always 0 with the version shipped in Ubuntu, so it always reapplies its parameters.