Cool Things :: Notebook battery as UPS

Here's a little history on my project... I'm stripping an older notebook down and mounting on a pic frame to make a digital picture frame. Also, it will be my mp3 server. I know Linux doesn't like having power cut, so I thought I could use the battery as a UPS. I have limited experience in scripting though, so I was wondering if anyone could help me out. For example, if someone unplugs the frame or the power gets cut, I want the computer to execute shutdown once it hits 20% battery left. If anyone has an idea they could throw my way, it'd be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Here are my thoughts on your project.

I can't help you with the battery control, but I have a suggestion. You could replace the hard drive with an ide to cf adapter and do a frugal install to the cf. You could partition the cf into two partitions, one for frugal and one for pictures, mp3s and programs and/or you could put pictures and mp3s on a thumb drive if the laptop has a USB port. This way you could lose power or pull the plug and nothing would be corrupted or damaged. The operating system is read only and if installed on a cf, there is no hard drive to crash or get corrupted.

I have been running the laptop that I am typing this response on for several months with that configuration with great success. If I pull the plug or hit the off button, I only loose what was changed in ram in the current session. Also every thing runs much faster from a cf than a hard drive.

Good luck, let us know how your project turns out.

I am doing the same thing with a laptop and I was wondering if there is a way to have it automatically shut down when it goes to battery power. That way all i'd have to do is pull the plug if I wanted it to shut down.

I'm sure that there is a way to execute a script to do this.

Basically, it would execute a "halt" command when it sensed battery power.

Reading up on the subject with google search for linux APM power script or linux ACPI power script might help.

I am no help on your question, but a battery will last a lot longer if only a cf card is drawing juice, instead of a hd. Good luck, would like to know what you end up doing?

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