[Announce] Battery status app

[ag2]

I wrote a small app to display the remaining battery charge.

[user@nokia ~]$ battery-status
[Dec 29 22:57] 97.6%

There is also a mode for monitoring battery charge over time, switched on with the -d N flag. The command

battery-status -d 10 > /media/mmc1/battery.log &

logs the battery state to a media card every 10 minutes. This can be useful for rundown tests, i.e. running the monitor from a full charge until the device shuts off. My N810 can run maemo mapper with GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth on, and the screen off, for nearly 11 hours:

[user@nokia ~/apps]$ tail -f /media/mmc1/battery.log
----------------------
[Dec 29 23:02][00:00] 97.6%
[Dec 29 23:12][00:10] 96.0%
[Dec 29 23:22][00:20] 94.8%
[Dec 29 23:32][00:30] 93.2%
[Dec 29 23:42][00:40] 91.6%
[Dec 29 23:52][00:50] 90.0%
....
[Dec 30 08:42][09:40] 7.2%
[Dec 30 08:52][09:50] 5.6%
[Dec 30 09:02][10:00] 4.0%
[Dec 30 09:12][10:10] 2.4%
[Dec 30 09:22][10:20] 0.4%
[Dec 30 09:32][10:30] 0.0%
[Dec 30 09:42][10:40] 0.0%

Note: Because battery-status relies on DBus signaling, running it has the unfortunate side effect of activating the battery applet. I will try to find a workaround for this.

http://nitapps.com

[R-R]

Cool, finally a solution! Thanks!

...But for some reason on an N800 with OS2008, it just freezes when i do the command alone instead of giving the time left and going back to the prompt.

And with -d 1 it prints the ------------ line and then does nothing... Any idea?

EDIT: Oh yes... unplug the device first haha, cheers ;-)

[migs]

Originally Posted by ag2

I wrote a small app to display the remaining battery charge.

[user@nokia ~]$ battery-status
[Dec 29 22:57] 97.6%

There is also a mode for monitoring battery charge over time, switched on with the -d N flag. The command

battery-status -d 10 > /media/mmc1/battery.log &

logs the battery state to a media card every 10 minutes. This can be useful for rundown tests, i.e. running the monitor from a full charge until the device shuts off. My N810 can run maemo mapper with GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth on, and the screen off, for nearly 11 hours:

[user@nokia ~/apps]$ tail -f /media/mmc1/battery.log
----------------------
[Dec 29 23:02][00:00] 97.6%
[Dec 29 23:12][00:10] 96.0%
[Dec 29 23:22][00:20] 94.8%
[Dec 29 23:32][00:30] 93.2%
[Dec 29 23:42][00:40] 91.6%
[Dec 29 23:52][00:50] 90.0%
....
[Dec 30 08:42][09:40] 7.2%
[Dec 30 08:52][09:50] 5.6%
[Dec 30 09:02][10:00] 4.0%
[Dec 30 09:12][10:10] 2.4%
[Dec 30 09:22][10:20] 0.4%
[Dec 30 09:32][10:30] 0.0%
[Dec 30 09:42][10:40] 0.0%

Note: Because battery-status relies on DBus signaling, running it has the unfortunate side effect of activating the battery applet. I will try to find a workaround for this.

http://olya.com/maemo/

Well since you're into writing apps, I would like to suggest an app that allows for a Bluetooth mouse and cursor for OS2008. Imagine the possiblities.. Thanks, Mike

[gemniii42]

Originally Posted by migs

Well since you're into writing apps, I would like to suggest an app that allows for a Bluetooth mouse and cursor for OS2008. Imagine the possiblities.. Thanks, Mike

Especially a bluetooth finger mouse!
/edit - note that the one linked is not actually BT

[albright]

battery-status is a good idea. Unfortunately, on my brand
new n810 it only generates an error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/battery-status", line 5, in <module>
    import dbus, dbus.service, dbus.glib
ImportError: No module named dbus

Any idea what's going on?

[dblank]

Originally Posted by albright

battery-status is a good idea. Unfortunately, on my brand
new n810 it only generates an error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/battery-status", line 5, in <module>
    import dbus, dbus.service, dbus.glib
ImportError: No module named dbus

Any idea what's going on?

Sounds like you're missing the python dbus module.
install python2.5-dbus

[dblank]

I've been checking battery status every minute for a few hours now, and notice it drops .4% about every half hour or so, when I'm not actively using it.

Anyone else see any fairly regular big drops when not using the tablet?

[PinCushionQueen]

Hmmm... I just came across an interesting possible bug with the logging. I've set up battery-status to log every 30 mins. It last logged at 10:53 = 91.2%. I immediately ran the instant battery-status and at it read 10:54 = 82.8%. Any idea why there's a difference between the two? Which one is correct? For the logging mode does it read at the beginning of the time period rather than the end? I was using WiFi just prior to checking the status so that could account for the big drop if logging mode is giving a reading at the beginning of the time period.

Thanks again for this, BTW

[albright]

Sounds like you're missing the python dbus module.
install python2.5-dbus

No such application is available. Oh, I see it listed in
gronmayer's listing but after deleting and reinstalling
the maemo extra repository (watching out for the little
spelling mistake that necessitates the "temp fix" - what
crap) there is no such package in my listing as
python2.5-dbus ..

However, installing the monster package python2.5-
runtime did the trick ...

So what is the relation between the dbus package and
the runtime package?

[ag2]

Originally Posted by albright

battery-status is a good idea. Unfortunately, on my brand
new n810 it only generates an error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/battery-status", line 5, in <module>
    import dbus, dbus.service, dbus.glib
ImportError: No module named dbus

Any idea what's going on?

My bad. I've added the python2.5-dbus dependency.