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  From: David Brownell <david-b@pacbell.net>
  To  : Nino Margetic <nino@well.ox.ac.uk>
  Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 08:45:38 -0700

Re: apmd-3.0beta5-8

Nino --

Actually, ampd-3.0beta8 should be a LOT better on those
excessive logging problems, which I also experienced
(on a different Toshiba model, RH 6.0 2.2.9/10 etc).  It
was never supposed to emit messages that often.

Another little gotcha was that many of the "battery low"
notifications before before beta8 were just synthetisized
by apmd, and were not actually reported by the BIOS.  As
of Beta8, it shouldn't suffer that confusion any more.
I suspect that you were getting synthesized messages.

Beeps ... Never saw that, is your syslogd doing them?

In short, I think you'll find that a number of these sorts
of bugs are gone in Beta8.  Give it a try, and let us know
if there are other problems you turn up.


Avery --

Re finding a use for the messages the BIOS really emits,
they come out pretty late in the game (5%-10% battery left)
and I'd as soon have them.

What I don't find a use for any more is the ALERT and "--wall"
messaging out of apmd, which the proxy could do just as well
if it gets accurate alerts from the BIOS.  (Not that I use
them -- audio alerts from my BIOS do a better job.)

- Dave


Avery Pennarun wrote:
> 
> Hi Nino,
> 
> I'm Cc:'ing my reply to the apmd-list.  Hope you don't mind.
> 
> On Wed, Jun 23, 1999 at 10:20:28PM +0100, Nino Margetic wrote:
> 
> > I am running RH60 with 2.2.9 and apmd-3.0beta5-8 on a Tecra 8000. When I
> > have two batteries (main + selectbay) connected apmd starts beeping way
> > too early - when total capacity of batteries reaches approx 49%.
> >
> > cat /proc/apm gives
> > 1.9 1.2 0x02 0x00 0x01 0x02 49% 161 min
> > and
> > cat /etc/sysconfig/apmd gives
> > APMD_OPTIONS="-p 10 -w 5 -W"
> >
> > I also get loads of messages in the console window which correspond to
> > beeps:
> >
> > Jun 23 16:09:06 localhost apmd[103]: Battery Low Notification from APM
> > BIOS (49% 2:41)
> > Jun 23 16:09:22 localhost apmd[103]: Battery Low Notification from APM
> > BIOS (49% 2:37)
> >
> > If I kill apmd, both beeps and messages stop. Have you seen this before?
> > Is there a way around this problem?
> 
> The APM BIOS in your laptop is actually responsible for producing this
> message - and the battery level for the event can't be changed, I think.
> Perhaps one of your two batteries is nearly dead at this point?
> 
> The apmd warning level is completely separate from the BIOS-generated
> message.  Perhaps we should disregard the BIOS message entirely.
> 
> Craig, is there any reason why we aren't passing "synthetic battery low"
> messages on to the apmd_proxy?
> 
> Does anyone find any use for the BIOS-generated warnings?  Perhaps we should
> just ignore them.
> 
> Avery