How many of you are waiting for the CNX-P1900??? - Page 4

MikeH · 05-03-2005, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Why didn't you make it to attach 3 units?

Basically we ran out of room in the chassis. When you get one you'll see it's pretty well packed. Most people will have a solution for their monitor power. Lillis come with the egg (not the best, but works) and Xenarcs can apparently run directly from the car battery (as least this is what I'm told).

I have also posted a Lilli egg hack (http://www.carnetix.com/lilli_usb_mo..._usb_mod_1.htm) if you want to mod you egg to run at 5V for USB devices.

shizzle · 05-03-2005, 08:00 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by MDLarson

Guys, it's probably time to stop posting in this particular thread, as the P1900 has arrived. Carnetix has it's own support forum that includes one specific to the P1900. Either post there or create a new thread here.

Good call. You, however, have used an unneeded apostrophe.

maxipad96 · 05-03-2005, 10:55 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by MikeH

However, the P1900 includes a programming header that would allow you to reprogram the PIC microprocessor (using a $10 PIC programmer) to include other Mac-specific features, like a 6 second power down pulse. I will be releasing a firmware update in the next few weeks that includes this option. That way you can choose between a short pulse (sleep) and a long pulse (shutdown). Does this sound like it would do the job for you?

This is not the correct way to power up/shutdown a mac. You are essentially pulling the power plug from the cpu. It is a "forced" shutdown. No apps are closed and the hard-drive is not prepared to shutdown. This will result in majorly increased startup times and a screwed up HD if you ask me. I do not see that as a reasonable shutdown solution and if I was the one offering the p1900 as a product, I would NOT recommend doing this. Telling people that this is OK is incorrect information. The right solution for our problem is through programming to tell the computer to run a shutdown sequence when the power button is pressed.

MikeH · 05-03-2005, 11:02 AM

maxipad96,

Ouch!

I am NOT a Mac expert. Nor am I telling people that this is a great and final solution. I am merely posting what I find out by talking to people (like you) on the forum. I am VERY open to all suggestions for the best way to accomplish what we all want...a reliable Mac min car installation. Please help us come up with the best, and correct solution. I am all ears.

...in harmony...

maxipad96 · 05-03-2005, 11:40 AM

Hey man.. I'm all about peace and harmony.

I have the p1900 sitting in my basement ready to install. I can't wait for this weekend so don't take it as a knock on your product. I will probably for now be manually shutting down my mini.

I just don't want people to start thinking its OK to hold the power button down for 6 secs in order to shutdown. I've owned 4 macs in my life. Over time shutting your cpu down this way will cause problems.

Thanks for coming up w/ a DC power solution for the mac. It's gonna work great in my setup. I just hope somebody can reprogram the power button. I will ask my mac techies here at the office, but it's beyond me.

This is quoted from an OSX handbook I have

"Turning Power On/Off

The best way to turn ON your Mac is to use the power button just above the number pad on the upper right of your keyboard. On the new flat screen iMacs, the power button is located in the left back side of the base. Just press it once to turn on your computer. On QuickSilver Macs, the power button is on the tower.

The best way to turn OFF a Mac, is to go to the Apple menu (on the Apple menu bar) and select Shut Down. In the dialog box that appears, choose Shut Down.

Occasionally, your computer may "crash" or "freeze," meaning the computer will stop responding to the mouse or the keyboard. You can try to Force Quit by holding down the APPLE +OPTION+ESC keys on your keyboard. In OS X, you can also click on the Apple Menu and select Force Quit. A window will appear with a list of open applications. Select the one that froze and click on the Force Quit button .

If your computer is completely frozen and force quit doesn't work, hold down the power button for several seconds until the computer shuts down completely. Bear in mind that this should be used only as a last resort when the computer freezes and not as a regular shutdown procedure."

shizzle · 05-03-2005, 02:31 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by maxipad96

Hey man.. I'm all about peace and harmony.

I have the p1900 sitting in my basement ready to install. I can't wait for this weekend so don't take it as a knock on your product. I will probably for now be manually shutting down my mini.

I just don't want people to start thinking its OK to hold the power button down for 6 secs in order to shutdown. I've owned 4 macs in my life. Over time shutting your cpu down this way will cause problems.

Thanks for coming up w/ a DC power solution for the mac. It's gonna work great in my setup. I just hope somebody can reprogram the power button. I will ask my mac techies here at the office, but it's beyond me.

Quote: Originally Posted by shizzle

That would be sweet if maybe someone with some mac savvy could make it happen! Hope is on the way!
Im probably gonna try the sleeping 'shutdown' control avenue, and just shut it down (manually) when I wont be driving for a while... I mean, I dont know what else to do untill this gets worked out.

I'm in complete agreement.

MikeH, you should definitely update the manual to include this info.
From the manual:

Quote:

From the "features:"
Compatible with Mac Mini including startup/shudown and sleep mode
2.1 Mac mini Application The P1900 is well suited to power the Mac mini in an automotive application. The Mac mini requires an input of +18.5VDC at a maximum power consumption of 85 watts, well within the range of the P1900. The Primary Output of the P1900 will be used to power the Mac, while the secondary can be used to power either your LCD screen or a USB hub for your USB peripheral devices. The P1900 Startup/Shutdown Controller (SSC) can be used to automatically start/stop the Mac mini when you start and stop your car’s engine.
Since the P1900 SSC currently simulates a momentary button press (~500mSec), Sleep Mode is the only configuration currently supported (not Shut Down). However, the P1900 firmware is field upgradeable by the user with an inexpensive (~$10) PIC programmer. Information will be posted in the future that will allow you to upgrade your firmware to support the Power Down mode (6 second button press). See the U-Flash portion of our website for details on the PIC programmer hardware and free software.

The info is in the manual, but the features are on the website.

shizzle · 05-03-2005, 02:45 PM

Ahhhh, harmony.

MDLarson · 05-03-2005, 06:14 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by shizzle

Good call. You, however, have used an unneeded apostrophe.

Gah! You're right! Bad grammar usually bugs me too.

FireAnt · 05-04-2005, 06:18 PM

Since my p1900 does not shut down mine with the short press it sends to the button it eventually just kills the power after about 45 seconds. I have not experinced anything bad from this yet, but would really like for someone to write some code that will detect the power buttom press and shut this thing down proper. If I shut it down manually then when I turn off the key it will send a button press signal( thinking it is shutting it down) which will actually be starting it again. And then it will kill the power in 45 seconds during the restart. I've opted to just close my running programs and then let it kill the power for now.

Mike F.

Bugbyte · 05-04-2005, 07:03 PM

I've been doing a little bit of research on this. I don't have an answer but I do have some info.

First, the Mac uses Open Firmware to, among other things, control the behavior of power settings.

Second, the Open Firmware command "pmset" is used to control power settings. Here is a link to the man page for pmset: pmset

I read through it and I'm still unclear whether the "pmset powerbutton" entry will change the behavior of the mac to sleep on power button. I think it may simply duplicate what you can already set in the power settings control panel (either sleep or don't).

I've also found out that you can enter "sudo /sbin/shutdown -h now" on the terminal command line to shut the machine down. It would be easy enough to tie an Applescript to this entry but the trick would be to trigger the script. The code is:

tell application "Terminal"
do script "/Path/to/ShutdownScript.sh"
end tell

Where "ShutdownScript.sh" is a Unix shell script that has the command in it.

More simply, ou can also use the Applescript command: tell application "Finder" to shut down

What I haven't been able to do is figure out how to get notification that the power button has been pressed. There's sure to be a way to know this, but I haven't yet found it.

FireAnt · 05-04-2005, 09:22 PM

Any way to remap the sleep command so it actually shuts down? Just another approach

Mike F.

Bugbyte · 05-04-2005, 10:11 PM

I've found an SDK on the Apple developer's site that gives info on how to register for power events, including being informed when the sleep button is pressed. Still not sure I understand everything but this definately looks possible. I think I'll post the question on the Applescript developer's list and at least ask about where to find out the answer to this question.

shizzle · 05-05-2005, 07:42 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

I've found an SDK on the Apple developer's site that gives info on how to register for power events, including being informed when the sleep button is pressed. Still not sure I understand everything but this definately looks possible. I think I'll post the question on the Applescript developer's list and at least ask about where to find out the answer to this question.

Good idea... I was actually going to ask a friend or two of mine who are apple developers. Ill let you know if I find out anything helpful.

shizzle · 05-05-2005, 02:55 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

I've found an SDK on the Apple developer's site that gives info on how to register for power events, including being informed when the sleep button is pressed. Still not sure I understand everything but this definately looks possible. I think I'll post the question on the Applescript developer's list and at least ask about where to find out the answer to this question.

While your'e at it, could you start a thread here, or could someone else who can better articulate on the subject than I? With a good title we might find the answer from one of the bright individuals here on mp3car!