Can anyone figure out sleep?

DMB-RSX · 01-16-2005, 02:22 PM

How can we make the Mac go into hibernation mode when the car is switched off? I assume some sort of battery isolator would be used to seperate the car battery from the hibernation battery. Since the mac waking from sleep mode is instant, this would be the perfect solution for a car PC.

From what I understand, the mac also users very little power in sleep mode. My powerbook, for instance, uses about 1% of its battery life in 12 hours when sleeping.

If we could work out a system to do this, I will be willing to start coding a front end in Cocoa. My extensive experience with VB and C++ should make learning Cocoa a breeze.

cheers.

nFiniteTuning · 01-16-2005, 02:59 PM

Sleep is wonderful

gork · 01-17-2005, 10:47 PM

For sleep mode -- If you are repurposing a mac notebook for the task, my recommendation would be to put a relay on the lid switch connected to ignition. When ignition is on the lid is simulated "open" .. when the ignition is off the lid is simulated "closed".

For a mini mac or desktop install, the situation is a bit trickier. Since I haven't ever actually owned anything other than a mac laptop, I don't know if it would be possible to hijack the power button switch to handle suspend/resume like the PC shutdown controllers do.. I don't seem to think that it's possible on the mac to configure the behavior of this button.

I think we are going to end up needing a specially designed hardware device (probably usb) to handle the job.. I believe that the mac will respect ACPI wakeup requests from a compliant USB device (you can still power on a mac via a usb keyboard), and when the computer is running, there could be a driver that uses the device as a watchdog and suspends the computer whenever the device reads that ignition voltage is gone. This problem and the issue of the power supply are the two big hangups to getting the mac mini going in the car.. Hopefully we can get some things figured out soon!

Alric · 01-18-2005, 07:40 AM

The power switch should be a contact switch like any other PC. And then there's this:

System Preferences > Energy Saver > Options tab > "Allow power button to sleep the computer"

This option is not present in Powerbooks.

There is also an: "Automatically start after power failure"

gork · 01-18-2005, 08:19 AM

Does pushing the power button bring the computer back out of sleep? If so, it would be reasonable to assume that a regular PC-sytle shutdown controller would work fine.... except on a powerbook anyway, but there is the lid-switch/relay thing that should take care of that anyway...

Alric · 01-18-2005, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Does pushing the power button bring the computer back out of sleep?

Yes. Also, if you look at the Mini logic board there is what appears to be a jumper switch right next to the power plug.

Delivery_Guy · 01-18-2005, 09:25 AM

If you are using a Powerbook, or at least a Pismo, that's what I've tested this on, you can control sleep and wake just by having the power source turn on and off. Destin, the Pathintosh owner let me know of this feature and it is what he's using in his system. I don't have all the parts for my system yet, so I can only really go by what he's told me.

What you need to do to get this to work is start the laptop and quickly shut the lid, you also need an external monitor hooked up. You also need to have an external power source hooked up. This puts the laptop into a mode where it will go to sleep if the power source is lost. The part I haven't gotten to work yet is for it to wake from sleep when the power is restored, but Destin says it does. I think what's happening is his touch screen usb activity is waking the system when the screen powers up. I'll have to wait until I can get a screen to test that theory though.

Anyway, if someone wants to try this with a newer laptop, that'd be cool. Let me know how it works or if you need clearer directions.

thecapitalizt · 01-18-2005, 09:39 AM

From what I understand, touchscreen activity will not wake the system up because nothing is there to process the information. On all modern i/powerbooks plugging in the cord will not do anything to the sleep process.

Delivery_Guy · 01-18-2005, 09:44 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by thecapitalizt

From what I understand, touchscreen activity will not wake the system up because nothing is there to process the information. On all modern i/powerbooks plugging in the cord will not do anything to the sleep process.

Is that with starting it with the screen closed? Because on the Pismo, if you start it with the screen open, unplugging the power doesn't do anything either.

Also, in regards to touchscreen activity waking the system, how is it any different than a mouse click waking the system?

[edit]
Do you mean waking from sleep by plugging in the power when started with the screen closed, or just controlling sleep entirely with the power source? Seems like I'll have to get off my lazy butt and test my Ti for this behavior also.
[/edit]

gork · 01-18-2005, 10:25 AM

The TiBooks and 15/17" powerbook G4's rely on an open lid to ventalate (they dissapate some heat through the speaker grilles) so be careful running them with the lid closed. They may need extra cooling. It's my understanding that none of the newer notebooks will operate normally with the screen closed due to the heat problems, though there is a program called 'sleepless' that will let you do it if you really want to and can provide sufficient alternative cooling.

chipset · 01-18-2005, 11:31 AM

Be careful with the iBooks and PowerBooks. I own one of each. The iBooks are not meant to be run with the lid closed. The cooling will affect the machine and definately void your warranty, if you have one. There is a hack to allow this, but it is problematic.

I have a slightly dinged 12" PB that I am looking to install in my car. So, I will probably have the same issues.

thecapitalizt · 01-18-2005, 05:08 PM

no, pbooks work fine with the lid closed. If you have keyboard and mouse plugged into them while sleeping, i believe u can hit an f-key and it will wake up, using the external devices without the internal lcd on

Delivery_Guy · 01-18-2005, 05:57 PM

Well, I verified that my Ti 800 works the same as the Pismo as far as going into sleep when started with the lid closed and external power and monitor hooked up. As for the heat issues...I have no idea, so use your best judgment.