MyBattery is a utility program designed specifically for portable Macintosh computers. It provides you with information about your PowerBook batteries and system. Its features include:
窶｢ User-customizable display. You decide what information you want to see.
窶｢ Displays information about internal batteries, including charging status, charge level and battery voltage.
窶｢ Estimate of useful battery time remaining. It uses a historical estimation that "learns" from your PowerBook usage patterns.
窶｢ Displays power-related system information like hard drive status, AppleTalk status, and modem status.
窶｢ History window which displays recent battery charge history.
窶｢ Support for multiple batteries, accommodating different capacity batteries.
窶｢ Menu bar displays, for easy viewing of battery status and other system information.
MyBattery窶冱 most popular feature is its ability to estimate how much battery time you have left. Using a historical estimation technique, MyBattery monitors your PowerBook usage, and updates its estimates accordingly.
MyBattery is shareware!
MyBattery is a shareware product. If you find it useful, please consider paying the shareware registration fee. Not only will you help to support my efforts, but by becoming a registered user, I will provide you with a secret password that will fully activate all of MyBattery's advanced features. Please see the "Registration form" chapter in this manual for more information.
Why register?
While your unregistered copy is fully functional, some of the more advanced features are only available in registered copies:
窶｢ Menu bar displays,
窶｢ History window,
窶｢ Support for multiple batteries,
窶｢ Ability to customize battery names,
窶｢ Electronic mail notification of future releases.
Features that are only available in registered copies are marked as such in the manual.
Compatibility
The temperature readings currently do not work on the PowerBook G3 Series ("Wall Street") PowerBooks.
Requirements
MyBattery will run on any notebook Macintosh, as long as it is running System 7 or later.
MyBattery was designed as a stand-alone application for two reasons - to minimize the possibility of conflicts with other programs (with CDEV窶冱 or INIT窶冱, there窶冱 always a risk), and to allow you maximum flexibility with free RAM. If you need more memory, simply quit MyBattery (with a CDEV or INIT, you窶冤l have to reboot, wasting time and battery power).
PowerPC and 68K Versions
Two versions of MyBattery are provided. The 68K version should be used on PowerBooks that use the 68000, 68030 or 68040 microprocessor. The PPC version should be used on PowerBooks that use a PowerPC microprocessor.
If you have a PowerPC PowerBook, you can use the 68K version, but it won't run as fast or as efficiently.
Installing MyBattery
MyBattery is designed to run all the time, so that it can collect the historical information it needs to make its remaining time estimates. The easiest way of automatically running MyBattery every time you turn on your PowerBook is to place an alias of it in your "Startup Items" folder. To do this...
1) Copy the folder containing MyBattery and its associated documentation to its permanent home on your hard drive. Most people have a "Utilities" folder that they like to put utility programs in.
2) Open the MyBattery folder.
3) Click on the appropriate MyBattery (68k or PPC) icon once to select it.
4) Under the "File" menu in the Finder, choose "Make Alias". An alias will be created.
5) Open your System Folder, then open the Startup Items folder.
6) Move the alias into the Startup Items folder.
The next time you restart your PowerBook, MyBattery will run automatically.
Files Created by MyBattery
MyBattery will create several files in your Preferences folder...
MyBattery Preferences - contains your preferences for MyBattery, such as the position of the windows and which items are displayed.
MyBattery Data - the historical data MyBattery has collected.
MyBattery Link - a temporary file that allows other utilities of mine to share MyBattery's information. For example, my Battery Control Strip Module can display MyBattery's estimate if MyBattery is running.
