Welcome to BatteryMinder, your PowerBook’s shareware control center!
For only $15, BatteryMinder is an application that combines many of the features of more expensive PowerBook utilities without the memory requirements and possible incompatibilities that can arise from System modifying Control Panels and Extensions.
BatteryMinder brings software control to the screen adjustments, especially good for Duo owners who may have had their buttons quit working. (Yes, this can happen!)
New to version 2.1 is powerful, yet easy-to-use folder synchronization (via a companion program, Synk 1.0).
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Contents
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1 • Quick Feature List
2 • Requirements
3 • Distribution and Registration
4 • Warranty
5 • Installation
6 • Displays
7 • Battery Estimation
8 • Button Controls
9 • File Menu
10 • Preferences
11 • Servers Menu
12 • Screen Controls
13 • Folder Synchronization
14 • Some PowerBook Hints and Suggestions
15 • About the Author
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Quick Feature List
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• Snapshots of file servers mounted on the desktop
• Easily mount these file servers with BatteryMinder’s Servers menu
• Synchronize the files between two folders
• User selectable status information conveniently displayed in menu - including internal temperatures
• Screen Controls window for adjusting brightness (on all models) and contrast (on black & white Duo models)
• Backlight toggle between preset values depending on charger status
• Force Appletalk to load at startup, so that it is always available
• Silence the startup sound
• Toggle Appletalk, sound and modem on/off with button control
• Monitors battery voltage (on all PowerBooks) and watts (on Duo or later)
• Hard drive spinning indicator
• Predict battery life with count up and count down timers
• Change screen color depth via BatteryMinder menu
• Open PowerBook control panel from menu or an option-click in BatteryMinder window
• Open Sharing Setup control panel from menu or a control-click in BatteryMinder window
• Put your PowerBook to sleep with a double-click in BatteryMinder window
• Balloon help for menus and dialog boxes
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BatteryMinder Requirements
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Any Macintosh PowerBook running at minimum System 7. BatteryMinder is an application that uses only 70K of memory and very little background processing power.
On PowerBook Duos 210 and 230, it is important to use the Duo_Enabler_1.0 instead of the original Enabler_201. BatteryMinder only gives accurate battery estimation and proper voltage readings with this enabler. This enabler is available from Apple in the System Update 3.0 package. Use Duo_Enabler_2.0 only if you are running at least System 7.1.1 (the “Pro” version).
BatteryMinder also requires the Helvetica screen font to be installed in your System Folder. This will have been installed if you did a complete system installation from your system disks but if you find the numbers in the status displays don’t look right, see if this font is installed.
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Distribution & Registration
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BatteryMinder may be distributed electronically through the normal Internet archives and their mirrors as well as any other online service or bbs. It may also be included on not-for-profit CD-ROMs or shareware libraries, such as AMUG publishes. All other forms of distribution must be approved by the author, Randall Voth.
There is a 60 minute time limit on certain features of an unregistered copy of BatteryMinder. To register, click on the Register button in the startup screen or the About BatteryMinder... dialog. (Look under the Apple menu). The BatteryMinder registration code also works with its companion program, Synk.
Send $15 US, payable to Randall Voth:
Randall Voth
46058 Fiesta Avenue
Chilliwack, B.C.
Canada V2P 3S4
telephone: (604) 795-4746
email: hvoth@cln.etc.bc.ca
The money must be a check drawn on a US or Canadian bank in US dollars (or Canadian equivalent = $21). If you do not have access to a Canadian or American checking account, equivalent cash in major currencies is fine — my bank is very forgiving with exchange rates for cash. Just make sure you cannot see the money through the envelope.
Along with your payment, you must include a mailing address (email is preferable and the fastest), to which you will be sent your registration code. Please hold onto the code! You will need it again for future updates or if your program must be copied to another hard drive. Write it onto the disk that you keep your backup copy of BatteryMinder.
If you have a whole fleet of PowerBooks, you may want to contact Randall Voth (hvoth@cln.etc.bc.ca) with regards to a very reasonably priced site license.
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Warranty
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There is no warranty, implied or otherwise, with this program. It has been tested on all models of PowerBooks, though, and you can use it with confidence. Unlike commercial software, you can try it out before you pay the shareware fee. If you have any difficulties, please contact the author. (Randall Voth c/o hvoth@cln.etc.bc.ca) All that can be done to solve your problem will be done.
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Installation
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Drag BatteryMinder to your PowerBook’s hard disk. It is a good idea to place it, or an alias of the file, into the Startup Items folder found in your System Folder. This way it runs when you power up your Macintosh. Consult your PowerBook User’s Manual for more information on aliases.
Also drag the Synk application to your hard disk. Anywhere will do. It must be installed to use BatteryMinder’s synchronization and backup features. Refer to Synk’s manual for more information on this program.
Double click on the BatteryMinder icon in the Finder or restart your PowerBook (if you placed it in the Startup Items folder).
If you like to learn through experimentation, BatteryMinder has help displays that can be found under the help menu. Balloon help is also supported for the menus and dialog boxes.
Dockernaut users: You may have a problem with the preferences file being copied and moved about by this utility. (BatteryMinder is not designed for that.) In such cases, it is possible to drag the “BatteryMinder Preferences” file into the same folder as you have placed BatteryMinder. You can find the Preferences Folder in your System Folder. Make sure you drag the preferences file into the folder of the actual application, not an alias.
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Displays
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BatteryMinder’s displays are fully explained in BatteryMinder Help... available under the Help menu. Balloon help is also available for dialogs and menus.
:::: Main Status Window ::::
Information displayed in the main BatteryMinder window depends on whether running on charger or battery power. The time/date is displayed when plugged in and voltage/watts are shown when running on battery. If your PowerBook is a 1xx series machine, watts are unavailable from the System and elapsed time is shown instead. Unfortunately with PB 5xx computers, System 7.1.2 provides an incomplete voltage reading, clipping off the decimal portion. This has been corrected with System 7.5.
There is a small dot in the upper right corner BatteryMinder’s main window that indicates a powered hard disk.
The state and position of this window is remembered between runs.
:::: Menu Status Display ::::
The menubar display is chosen in the Preferences... dialog by clicking on the [Menu Status] button. You have a choice of: time/date, battery status, timers, voltage/watts or CPU speed/freemem. If you select more than one, the display will cycle through your choices, changing every 6 seconds.
If the menu status obscures something in your menubar, adjust its placement with the Menu Status Inset control. It’s value (which defaults to 104 pixels) is expressed as pixels from the right of your screen. Increase the number to move it to the left. Please note that even if the display is covering a menu, the menu is still available by clicking in the appropriate spot. It may be an idea to cover up the help menu to make better use of the menubar space.
[Time/Date] - This displays the current time and date in the menubar.
[Timers] - Two are displayed in the menubar. The top timer is elapsed time, which resets automatically when the charger is connected or disconnected. You can also reset the timer at any time by selecting Reset Timers from the File menu. The bottom timer is an estimate of remaining battery life. See the “Battery Estimation” section for more information.
[Battery] - The battery icon changes depending on the state of the charger. If the battery is hi-charging, it becomes a gradually filling battery containing a bolt of lightning. When the charger is trickle charging the battery, a plug takes its place. When running on battery power, a slowly emptying battery indicates how much of a charge remains in your battery. New with version 2.0.3 in the Battery status display are internal/battery temperatures when available (Duos and later). The top temperature is your computer’s internal temperature, as indicated by the small i preceding the number. Below it is the temperature of the battery.
[Voltage] - Choosing Voltage displays voltage/watts while running off of battery power in the menubar. For PB 1xx series, watts is replaced by elapsed time. Please note that under System 7.1.2 provides incomplete voltage readings for PB 5xx computers. This has been corrected under System 7.5.
[Memory/Speed] - This display shows available memory and the current CPU speed.
Finally, the number of minutes you enter into the Battery Estimate Minutes control is used in the display of the bottom of the two timers. This number should be set to the normal number of minutes you get on a full battery charge. Use the elapsed timer to arrive at this value. This control is hidden if the System on your computer provides an estimate of battery life. See the “Battery Estimation” section for more information.
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Battery Estimation
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PowerBook 5xx and Duos (with the Duo Enabler 2.0) can automatically estimate battery life. The Duo Enabler 2.0 must only be used with Duos that are running at least System 7.1.1. Do not use this enabler with System 7.1, you will suffer crashes and may damage your battery (from overheating).
On older PowerBooks, estimating battery life with BatteryMinder is simple. Set the number of minutes you normally get on a full battery charge in the Menu Status dialog with the Battery estimate minutes control. Click on the Menu Status button in the Preferences dialog to find it. This control is not available, nor necessary, if your System provides an estimate for battery life.
When Timers is chosen as your Menu Status Display, the bottom timer will show how much time you have left on your battery relative to the number you have set in the preferences and the charge remaining in your battery. Use the top timer, elapsed time, for determining exactly how many minutes you normally get for battery life. Make sure the battery is fully charged before unplugging your PowerBook to reset the timers and start timing.
If your battery is charging and it is available from your System, a small ‘ch’ will appear in front of the bottom timer. This indicates that the timer is an estimate of how much longer it will be for your battery to fully charge.
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Button Controls
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In BatteryMinder’s main window, you will notice three buttons that indicate and toggle the status of Appletalk, Sound and your Modem (if one is installed internally). Clicking in the zoom box of the main window hides or shows these buttons. The zoom state of this window is saved between program runs.
:::: Appletalk ::::
Click the [A] button to toggle Appletalk. In the case it was not loaded at startup, a dialog will inform you to restart to use Appletalk. BatteryMinder does its best to prevent the obvious problems that can arise if you turn off Appletalk while it is in use. One thing that you should never do is to disconnect your computer from a network while shared volumes are still mounted. If you do this, subsequently turning off Appletalk may result in your computer crashing. It is never a good idea to disconnect from a network while nework volumes are mounted!
If Filesharing is active when you toggle off Appletalk, Filesharing will be also be turned off (there is a warning). The next time you activate Appletalk, Filesharing will spring back to life. This is supposed to be a handy feature. You can leave Filesharing on and activate it with the Appletalk button. Don’t forget that you can access the Filesharing Control Panel with a CTRL-click in BatteryMinder’s main window. For more shortcuts refer to the “File Menu” section.
:::: Sound Volume ::::
The [sound] button toggles the volume between a default volume (indicated by the outlined number in the sound menu) and off. The default volume is the volume BatteryMinder last saw other than zero. If you set a volume via the menu or the Sound control panel, this volume will become the default toggle volume.
:::: Modem Toggle ::::
The [modem] button simply turns your internal modem on and off. It is only available for those who have an internal modem. If you have a Duo Express Modem. The button really only quits the modem software. Any program that tries to connect with the modem will automatically turn it back on. If possible, the modem button will also set the serial port to access an external serial device. Turning it on will switch the serial port back to the internal modem.
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File Menu
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Balloon help is available for the menu items.
Appletalk, Modem and Sound level can be set via the appropriate menu items. These correspond to the buttons already discussed. If Appletalk had not been loaded by the system at startup, you will be notified that you must restart your Macintosh to use Appletalk.
When running on a machine other than the Portable or PB 100, your PowerBook’s Screen Depth can be set via a submenu. The depths available in the menu depend on your particular PowerBook. Only color or black & white can be set. If you have a grayscale LCD screen, this should make no difference. For those with color screens, use the Monitors control panel to set your display to grays instead of colors. These settings are temporary. When you restart your PowerBook, it will have returned to the last state set by the Monitors control panel.
The Screen Controls menu choice shows and hides the screen control window. It is checked when the window is visible. The state and position of this window is remembered between runs of BatteryMinder. The screen can still be adjusted via the keyboard (9,0,-,= buttons) even when the Screen Controls are hidden.
The Sleep menu choice puts your PowerBook to sleep by sending an AppleEvent to the Finder. Double-click in the main BatteryMinder as a shortcut for sleep. By using AppleEvents and the Finder, the greatest compatibility is assured because the Finder is putting the computer to sleep, not BatteryMinder. At the same time, the Finder is brought to the front in case there are any dialogs alerting the user with regards to the sleep process.
The PowerBook... menu choice opens the PowerBook control panel. As a shortcut, option-click in the main BatteryMinder window to open the PowerBook control panel. If it is called something else in the language of your system, a standard open dialog will be presented the first time for you to help find the control panel.
The Sharing Setup… menu choice will open the Sharing Setup control panel, allowing you to easily enable FileSharing. The shortcut for this menu choice is a control-click in the main BatteryMinder window. As with the PowerBook control panel, you may be presented with an open dialog if “Sharing Setup” is called something different in your language.
Reset Timers sets the elapsed time timer available in the menubar to zero.
Click Shortcut Summary:
double-click = System Sleep
option-click = PowerBook control panel
control-click = Sharing Setup control panel
Remember to click in the BatteryMinder main window for the shortcuts (the one with the buttons & icons), not the screen controls window.
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Preferences
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Balloon help is available for all BatteryMinder dialogs.
[X] Send to back at launch
Check this and BatteryMinder automatically goes to the back after launch, allowing you to immediately get on with your work in the Finder.
[X] Quiet startup sound
Check this and the sound volume is set to 0 (or 1 on PB 140 and 170) when BatteryMinder is quit. The sound level is restored when BatteryMinder is next run. By doing this, the startup chime is eliminated or minimized. (Unfortunately, setting the volume to 0 on a PB 140/170 will make the startup sound very loud, this is why BatteryMinder sets it to 1).
For this feature to work correctly, please place BatteryMinder or an alias in the Startup Items folder in your system folder, allowing BatteryMinder to start with the computer and quit when you shutdown.
[X] Load Appletalk at startup
Check this and BatteryMinder forces Appletalk to load at startup by turning Appletalk on when BatteryMinder is quit. BatteryMinder will attempt to restore the on/off status of Appletalk when you next restart your computer and the program is run again. If Filesharing is on at startup, Appletalk will not be restored to off. This can happen because Filesharing will turn off when you toggle Appletalk off with the [A] button. In this case, either toggle Appletalk off yourself after running BatteryMinder or make sure that Filesharing is off when not in use.
Please note that BatteryMinder or an alias *must* be in your Startup Items folder for this to work properly. BatteryMinder will then startup with your PowerBook and quit when you shutdown. If you quit BatteryMinder before shutdown with this option, you will find that Appletalk has been turned on. Keep this in mind for PowerBooks that have only one serial port because the port will not be free for communications or other use.
[X] Backlight toggle
Checking this will automatically toggle the backlight brightness between two settings, one for the charger and one for battery power. Set the brightness for each charger state with the two associated number controls. These controls are also set when you adjust the screen brightness via the Screen Controls window. See the “Screen Controls” section in this manual for more information.
For this toggle feature to work along with the screen dimming feature of your PowerBook control panel, please set your physical backlight brightness to something other than its lowest value, otherwise BatteryMinder will have no way of knowing whether the screen has been dimmed by the backlight dimmer. You will know if you have run into this problem if the screen dims after the amount of minutes you set in the PowerBook control panel, but moving your trackball or pressing a key does not restore the backlight brightness.
A byproduct of this automatic control is that your computer’s physical screen controls, for as long as BatteryMinder is running, will not adjust your PowerBook’s screen. This shouldn’t be a problem, just use the on-screen controls (or the keyboard shortcuts: 9, 0, -, =). Quitting BatteryMinder restores the backlight to the brightness it was before BatteryMinder was run. Control is also returned to your physical screen brightness controls.
[X] Allow backlight to be zeroed
Color active matrix screens are nearly impossible to read without the backlight. Leaving this unchecked ensures that you won’t accidentally turn off the backlight, both in the Preferences dialog and with the Screen Controls window. Passive matrix gray scale screens are very readable under bright lighting conditions. Turning off the backlight greatly increases your battery life.
[Menu Status]
This button brings up a dialog that allows you to set your menubar status display. See the section, “BatteryMinder Displays”, for more information.
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Servers Menu
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Balloon help is available for all BatteryMinder menus.
A Snapshot can be taken of any Appleshare volumes currently mounted on the Desktop. These volumes will then appear in the Servers menu and can be mounted by simply selecting them. Appletalk must be on and the shared volume must be currently available on the network. You can mount all listed volumes by selecting the Mount All menu item.
Choosing “Unmount All” will attempt to unmount shared volumes from the desktop. If files are in use, the shared volumes will stay on the desktop without error. In these cases, dragging the volume to the trashcan will give you more feedback. But this menu choice is good after you have backed up a folder over Appletalk using Synk and want your PowerBook to be able to sleep automatically. It cannot sleep automatically with network volumes mounted.
To delete an item, press the Option key while choosing a volume from this menu. Or, you can press Option and choose Delete All to remove them all.
To rename an item, press the Shift key and select the item from the Servers menu. By placing a backslash (‘/’) and an alphanumeric character within the name, the character that immediately follows the backslash will become the command key equivalent for the server menu item. Just remember that the menus command keys are read from the right to the left, so any character you place in the Servers menu will override command keys in the File and Edit menus.
For more information on shared volumes and how to make use of them, please refer to your PowerBook’s User Manual about the Sharing Setup control panel and the Finder’s Sharing... menu choice.
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Screen Controls
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You will have noticed a small window displaying brightness and, on non-color Duos, contrast levels. This window hides automatically when BatteryMinder is in the background. You can hide it all the time by selecting the “Screen Controls” menu choice (in the File menu) so that there is no check mark. You can drag the Screen Controls window anywhere you wish.
Clicking and dragging anywhere within the indicator level rectangles will adjust the brightness or contrast. The contrast adjustment is remembered by the computer. The brightness indicator adjusts the values you find in the Preferences... dialog beneath the Backlight Auto Toggle switch. If you are plugged into a charger when you adjust the brightness, the plugged-in value is changed. If you are running from battery power, the battery value will be changed. Also, the Backlight Auto Toggle switch is checked if it was off.
Shortcut: use the keys ‘9’, ‘0’ to adjust brightness and ‘-’, ‘=’ to adjust contrast. These keys function whether the Screen Controls are visible or not.
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Folder Synchronization
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BatteryMinder provides menu access to folder synchronization items created by its companion program, Synk 1.0, which should have been included in the distribution archive and uses the same registration code as BatteryMinder. Any items defined in Synk will show up in the “Sync” menu. If there are no items defined, the Sync menu will not appear at startup.
Simply select an item from the Sync menu and the companion program will be launched if not already running. It will be as though you had chosen the item from Synk’s own “Sync” menu. They share the same preference folder, called “BatteryMinder Files” that contains the volumes listed in the Servers menu as well as the sync items.
Refer to the manual of Synk 1.0 for more information on synchronization and backup.
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Some PowerBook Hints and Suggestions
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• If your battery is not charging (Duos or PB5xx), try my freeware program, ResetPwrMgr. It may clear up the problem. It can be found in the same Internet archives that you can find BatteryMinder.
• Battery life is greatest when the hard drive is kept from spinning and the backlight is as low as possible. Settings in the PowerBook control panel help you achieve this. Make sure you have the System Update 3.0 from Apple. It includes a superior PowerBook control panel than shipped with pre-Duo 270c PowerBooks.
• If your hard drive spins up after the computer is awoken from sleep, try increasing the RAM cache. I have mine set to 256K on a Duo 230 and hard drive spin up is greatly minimized.
• Hard drives live longer when left running indefinitely. This conflicts with the battery saving nature of the PowerBooks. But, if you are running from your charger, it makes sense to keep the hard drive running all the time. Set “Hard Disk Spins Down” to “never” in the PowerBook control panel for the Power Adapter setting.
• Keeping Appletalk, sound and your modem off uses less battery power because the System doesn’t need to pay them any attention.
• A large RAM disk gives you the greatest battery saving. If possible, startup from your RAM disk and keep all necessary files on it. If you drag your hard drive to the trash, it will no longer be accessed, bringing the greatest battery savings. To get the hard drive back on your Desktop, restart your PowerBook. SCSI Probe, a useful shareware program, can also be used to remount your hard drive.
• To avoid those cumbersome sleep warnings (that you are going to lose network connections), make sure you set the AutoRemounter control panel to “Remount shared disks” after sleep or always.
• The screen dimmer is really just useful when hooked up to networks or other activities that prevent a PowerBook from sleeping. It is a good idea to set the computer to sleep before or at the same time as the screen will dim for several reasons: (a) The battery is preserved much better with the computer asleep than the backlight simply dimmed. How much work will you get done with a dark screen? If your screen is dim, it may as well be asleep. (b) The backlight dimming will not ‘save’ your screen because the lcd panel is still powered. This is only accomplished by turning off the screen, as occurs during sleep or shutdown.
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About the Author
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Randall Voth publishes his wife’s piano teaching material. Their company is Pure Light Music. For him, programming computers has always been a dream and is now officially a reality. His next two projects are to write a 3-D Outliner for the Macintosh and subsequently use it to write a series of fantasy novels. The only thing that could sidetrack him is perhaps a large sum of money.
By the way, if you are intrigued by the idea of a 3-D Outliner, please email Randall Voth (hvoth@cln.etc.bc.ca) to see what is happening on this front.
