low power notification

freezmi

freezmi

do you guys recommend an elegant way of getting notified about imminent low battery powerdown events?

every once a while I forget to activate the power outlet where my laptop is plugged into and it simply dies when the battery gets to 0. most of the time I'm in xorg (windowmaker, but it's clean without any docks/applets/taskbar/icons).

I do contemplate about an .xinitrc script that uses xmessage, but surely there is something nicer out there that creates a sticky, on-top, focused window with the notification (or otherwise catches my attention).

I miss my T42 thinkpad that had a hardware beep a few seconds before brownout.
 
I use sysutils/xbatt. sysutils/xbatt will produce a warning but only to syslog, not great for a laptop user. Though I suppose a person could use something like swatch to monitor syslog and display, using xmessage, the battery is low.

Then there's sysutils/batterycat. Again no notification.

I have a little script that displays battery status. You could use it, below, as a basis to create a script that would loop once a minute -- you don't need anything shorter than 30-60 seconds -- and when battery percentage drops below a predetermined level issue xmessage to pop up a window telling you to plug in your laptop.

Code: 
#!/bin/sh -

PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin

case $0 in
*/battery)
        exec acpiconf -i 0 | awk '$0 ~ /^Design capacity:/ || $0 ~ /^Last full capacity:/ || $0 ~ /^State:/ || $0 ~ /^Remaining capacity:/ || $0 ~ /Cycle Count:/ {print}'
        ;;
*/battstate)
        exec acpiconf -i 0 | awk '$0 ~ /^State:/ {print $2 " " $3}'
        ;;
*/battpresent)
        exec acpiconf -i 0 | awk '$1 == "State:" && $2 == "not" && $3 == "present" {print $2 " " $3; exit 1}; $1 == "State:" && $2 != "not" && $3 != "present" {print $2 " " $3; exit 0}'
        ;;
esac

You can use the acpiconf command as a basis to create your own scripts. It shouldn't be difficult to make your laptop beep, though I'd prefer something more overt, like a popup message through xmessage.

I simply use sysutils/xbatt, looking at it occasionally, just like one might on a Windows laptop.
 
cy@ said:
I use sysutils/xbatt. sysutils/xbatt will produce a warning but only to syslog, not great for a laptop user. Though I suppose a person could use something like swatch to monitor syslog and display, using xmessage, the battery is low.

Then there's sysutils/batterycat. Again no notification.

I have a little script that displays battery status. You could use it, below, as a basis to create a script that would loop once a minute -- you don't need anything shorter than 30-60 seconds -- and when battery percentage drops below a predetermined level issue xmessage to pop up a window telling you to plug in your laptop.

Code: 
#!/bin/sh -

PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin

case $0 in
*/battery)
        exec acpiconf -i 0 | awk '$0 ~ /^Design capacity:/ || $0 ~ /^Last full capacity:/ || $0 ~ /^State:/ || $0 ~ /^Remaining capacity:/ || $0 ~ /Cycle Count:/ {print}'
        ;;
*/battstate)
        exec acpiconf -i 0 | awk '$0 ~ /^State:/ {print $2 " " $3}'
        ;;
*/battpresent)
        exec acpiconf -i 0 | awk '$1 == "State:" && $2 == "not" && $3 == "present" {print $2 " " $3; exit 1}; $1 == "State:" && $2 != "not" && $3 != "present" {print $2 " " $3; exit 0}'
        ;;
esac

You can use the acpiconf command as a basis to create your own scripts. It shouldn't be difficult to make your laptop beep, though I'd prefer something more overt, like a popup message through xmessage.

I simply use sysutils/xbatt, looking at it occasionally, just like one might on a Windows laptop.
Click to expand...
Have you tried to implement command to open terminal with ascii or play a sound ( wav or mp3 format ) on player when threshold reached ?
I have similar issue with OP but i do have a status bar with batteries and color changes but still , when im concentrated or in full screen - missing the part to check battery life ( i can usually last whole day on terminal but still ... )
 
GlitchyDot said:
Have you tried to implement command to open terminal with ascii or play a sound ( wav or mp3 format ) on player when threshold reached ?
I have similar issue with OP but i do have a status bar with batteries and color changes but still , when im concentrated or in full screen - missing the part to check battery life ( i can usually last whole day on terminal but still ... )
Click to expand...
That's inelegant. Why not write an app that calls XBell() to ring the computer's bell or XkbBell() to ring the keyboard's bell? Or write a patch xmessage or xmsg to optionally call either function when popping up a window.
 
cy@ said:
That's inelegant. Why not write an app that calls XBell() to ring the computer's bell or XkbBell() to ring the keyboard's bell? Or write a patch xmessage or xmsg to optionally call either function when popping up a window.
Click to expand...
Or screen lock :D But yeah .. with wisdom and skills comes elegance :)
 
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