Schurger.org

import dbus
import dbus.glib
import sys

class LidSwitch(object):
    def __init__(self):

        bus = dbus.SystemBus ()
        hal_obj = bus.get_object ('org.freedesktop.Hal',
                                  '/org/freedesktop/Hal/Manager')
        hal = dbus.Interface (hal_obj, 'org.freedesktop.Hal.Manager')
        udis = hal.FindDeviceByCapability ('input.switch')

        for udi in udis:
            dev_obj = bus.get_object ('org.freedesktop.Hal', udi)
            dev = dbus.Interface (dev_obj, 'org.freedesktop.Hal.Device')
            if dev.GetProperty ('button.type') == "lid":
                self._lid_dev = dev

    def _is_closed(self):
        if hasattr(self, "_lid_dev"):
            return self._lid_dev.GetProperty ('button.state.value')
        else:
            raise ValueError("no lid switch found")

    is_closed = property(_is_closed)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    ls = LidSwitch()
    print "Lid switch is %s" % (ls.is_closed and "closed" or "open")