How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

I see how to turn Bluetooth off -- but don't see a similar option for Wifi.

When using the N800 as an MP3 player, I'd like to turn wireless off to increase battery life, and to avoid wireless radiation (since the health issues are still not resolved).

For my use, the ideal setup would be for the wifi to turn off automatically when it's not being used, and to reconnect when it's needed.

Thanks in advance.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

The n800 has an offline mode, where both the wireless and the bluetooth are off.

The easiest way to invoke it is to press the power switch briefly - it is one of the four options you are given.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

Offline mode is your friend.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

Isn't the wireless transceiver turned off when it's not connected to an AP? After all, it doesn't need to arbitrarily receive data. Unlike bluetooth, it doesn't need to accept ad-hoc inbound requests.

Of course, I could be talking via my sphincter here.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

You're correct, when it's not connected it's off. And even when connected it'll stay in power-savings mode most of the time, with very very little radiation. Even when active it'll only transmit up to 100mW (a phone can easily transmit much more). However, in wi-fi ad-hoc mode it doesn't go into power savings mode though afaik.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

Exactly pixel,

when the chips are not in use they are turned off (and are automatically turned on when needed, such as automatic searching of wifi spots and so on).
So the best solution here is to simply leave it as is.

Transmissions happen only when there is communication (i.e. browsing, e-mail, IM...).

The only complaint is the, with this setting, it sometimes goes on-line even if I don't want it to. At times I would like to force it to stay offline and leave the bluetooth on for sending or receiving files from a cellphone or computer.

What I did notice is that the tablet really tries is best to be as often on-line as possible (if I put it in offline mode it annoys me by asking to switch onto on-line more. Just shut-up. Let me know, if you really want to, that you can't go on-line, but do not leave that annoying OK button there!).

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

Yep, that's a general complaint I can agree with.. there are too many 'ok' buttons. I told you to <insert operation here>, just go on with it, don't ask again, please.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

I think I will file an enhancement request tomorrow in the bugzilla and post it so people can vote for it.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

having lost battery power often I have learned to shut down all internet apps and put the thing in offline mode whenever I'm moving around and don't expect to use the tablet. the constant searching mode is bad on the power. Mine gets really warm when that happens.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

I haven't tried the offline mode yet, but, one thing I'd like to see and think would be logical, is a simple on/off menu option under the bluetooth and the wifi icon in the menu bar.

When you turn bluetooth off, you have to go hunt it down in the control panel to start it back up.

There are times when you just want things to be off and/or secure.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

That happened to me at work. My hospital has a wifi 'guest' mode (that doesn't work for the N800) and after several hours making patient rounds, my N800 was sucked dry! This was with OS2007. I've been turning it off, but next week I'll try letting it go into standby with BT and wifi shut down and see what happens.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

I have my bluetooth set as invisible, and the wifi to not connect automatically. I used to put it in offline, but this is quicker. When I want to connect via my phone, it just works (I use a 5 minute idle timeout on packet-data), and for connecting to wifi I manually select to connect. When I'm done I just disconnect. I'm getting 2-3 days out of it at the moment, with probably an hour total browsing during the day, and another hour or 2 in the evenings.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

i wish my wlan card on my laptop did the same lol
if im not near a network, instead of shutting down, it boosts the radiation to the max to search for APs

lol, battery life goes from 8h to 2.5h

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

OK, I could of swore someone came up with a gui/button to do this but the crippled search features of this forum and google search pulled nothing up but this thread when searching for turn off wireless bluetooth.
Does anyone else remember the gui?

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

There's a GUI for swichOnBT but nothing for switch off BT. I wonder how hard it would be to also make a switchOffBT? or even a toggle based on what's already been done? Anybody with programming experience able to comment?

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

Upon further investigation there is a gui for switchonbt
https://garage.maemo.org/projects/switchonbt/
so with the offline mode and the BT keys it looks like we are covered.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

I think there is another approach that saves power and doesn't make you do anything to turn WiFi on and off (that is, it's automatic). In the Connectivity Control Panel, I have Connect automatically to WLAN; Search Interval as Never; and WLAN Idle Time as Unlimited. I think that makes the tablet not seek wifi on its own when I'm not using the browser. But when I launch the browser, it looks for WiFi and finds it. (Sometimes it launches the browser and doesn't find the home page on its first try, because the connection hasn't been established yet, but after "trying again" the connection continues to work fine.)

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the settings, but I think it's saving power by not seeking WiFi, but still making it available when, and only when, I need it.

One caveat: once I've launched the browser, the WiFi stays on, even if I close the browser. So this is useful for power-saving only between the time you boot your NIT and launch your browser.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

I think you can click on the bluetooth icon to switch off the bluetooth, isnt it? Other wise I can add an off or toggle option for switchonbt

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

Interesting results from a scenario I tested out today. At my office I get my wireless from a high end Nortel distributed system on our main floor. I am in the basement. When I bring the n800 into work the battery is dead by 3:00 even if I did not use it much. I was thinking it was using alot of power to get to the antennas on the lobby floor. I'm also right next to our 2500 phone PBX. I brought in a router from home and set it up in my office. Today I was connected to that AP and I still had a filled battery icon at the end of the day.


To answer the above question, Yes you can turn off BT from the BT icon in the status bar.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

I frequently find my n800 searching for AP's when I leave a few of my saved ones. This really drains the entire battery by the time im aware, anyone else have problems with this?

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

A toggle option would be great! A single tap for on or off is always better 3-5 taps. :D

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

I have added the Toggle option for switching On and Off Bluetooth.
I have not tested it yet in any device, so have not released it officially.

Its available for download from the link below
http://switchonbt.garage.maemo.org/s....0.2.armel.deb

switchOnBt will try to switch on Bluetooth, (hci0) if it returns that it is already on, Bluetooth will be switched off.

Could some one try it out and check if it works :o.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

Works great here!! Thanks a bunch! This is awesome! :D

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

according to everything I've read, offline mode turns off wireless and bluetooth. I see less battery drain when I do this.

Re: How to turn wireless receiver/transmitter off?
 

You can edit individual connections, under the advanced options, and set the max power to 10mW instead of 100mW, and also check the option for max power savings. That should make a difference, but I don't know if those settings carry over to new connections it finds. I have those set for most connections, but my tablet still runs down quickly when moving. I usually go to offline mode when I don't need an active connection.