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  From: David Brownell <david-b@pacbell.net>
  To  : Nino Margetic <nino@well.ox.ac.uk>
  Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 14:06:49 -0700

Re: apmd-3.0beta5-8

Nino Margetic wrote:
> 
> Hi David,
> 
> Thanks for your message..
> 
> > 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.
> 
> *** I am now running ampd-3.0beta8 on 2.2.10. I am runing apmd with the
> same options as the default RH60 rpm (i.e. -p 10 -w 5 -W) and it still
> starts reporting far too early (imho anyway):

Those "synthetic" low battery notifications ("from apmd") annoy me
a bit too, but as of Beta8 they should only come every "-p" percent.
They indicate the BIOS battery status is "low".

Battery status can be "low" without the BIOS sending a notification
about it.  Such notifications ("from APM BIOS") come at times that
aren't standardized, but the APM spec says there should be at least
ten minutes of battery life left.

I'd suggest doing away with the synthetic notifications entirely,
except that I suspect that with some older laptops (dumb batteries
etc) that might be unwise.


> Jun 25 19:38:14 localhost apmd[1716]: Version 3.0beta8 (APM BIOS 1.2,
> Linux driver 1.9)
> Jun 25 19:38:14 localhost apmd[1716]: Charge: * * * (40% 2:18)
> Jun 25 19:18:52 localhost apmd[1668]: Battery Low Notification from apmd
> (46% 2:31)
> Jun 25 19:38:26 localhost apmd[1716]: Now using Battery Power
> Jun 25 19:38:26 localhost apmd[1716]: Battery Low Notification from apmd
> (40% 2:19)

Apart from what looks like a delayed message from your old APMD,
that's just reporting status as it starts up (since the battery
status from the BIOS is "low").


> It does *not* beep/log a message every 20 seconds as it used to (now it
> just beeps once approx 15-30sec after it starts - if the battery capacity
> is below 49%), so (for me) that makes all the difference (BTW, I suspect
> beeps come from -W, i.e. syslog).

Personally, I run with "-q" (turns off alert level logging
for low battery notifications).  But if that's syslog, I'd
think you would be logging many more messages.

APM and beeping give me questions, in general.  Why does it
beep 7-12 times (number varies) when I suspend?

- Dave



> Hope this helps,
> 
> --Nino