New category - Power Options

[shorthair]

Again, nothing striking, but it should be helpful. Let me know what you think.

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Power_Options

[ChadTower]

Good start.  Makes me think, though, that maybe we need a couple people to take on editors' roles and clean stuff up once in a while.

[shorthair]

Yeah. I've thought about it.

[Felsir]

I moved it from the front page to the "design considerations" section. Seems more appropiate there IMHO.

[JoyMonkey]

Good start.  Makes me think, though, that maybe we need a couple people to take on editors' roles and clean stuff up once in a while.

Is that what I'm supposed to be doing? Oh crud!

[ChadTower]

Well, you could do it, but I meant mostly grammar, and here specifically shorthair's spiffalicious wordification tendencetas.

[JoyMonkey]

I reworked the Power Options article. Pulling the plug without shutting down the computer properly is what most people are worried about, so it probably deserves at least a mention.
I thought this would already have been covered in the Wiki someplace 

[shorthair]

Yeah, good additions/corrections, particularly the images (which I thought about but don't know how to do that). The only thing that was taken out that I think is important is the powering-up part - how it might need to be hacked, whether it can operate like a Smartstrip, etc.

[ChadTower]

I reworked the Power Options article. Pulling the plug without shutting down the computer properly is what most people are worried about, so it probably deserves at least a mention.
I thought this would already have been covered in the Wiki someplace 

Yeah, that's good... the UPS option, it may be worth mentioning, does limit the OS possibilities down to which ones your given UPS will support.  They require OS drivers to perform the gracious shut down.  They're also not really designed to do that on a regular basis and it could really shorten the battery life of a lower end UPS (the type we'd use in a cab).

[Kaytrim]

Here is a link to a site with information on how to make your own smart strip type of power source.  http://home.bendcable.com/werstlein/  I used this basic information and info from another site http://spystyle.arcadecontrols.com/01/index81.htm to build my own.  Works perfectly.

[Space Fractal]

Yes it better to add links from Building page, since it basicly a tool.

Nice article elsewere and using such a thing my self to poweroff monitor and speaker automatic when the pc shutdown.

btw I just added back links.

[shorthair]

Yeah, that's good... the UPS option, it may be worth mentioning, does limit the OS possibilities down to which ones your given UPS will support.  They require OS drivers to perform the gracious shut down.  They're also not really designed to do that on a regular basis and it could really shorten the battery life of a lower end UPS (the type we'd use in a cab).

How's that?

[ChadTower]

How is what?

[shorthair]

The battery dying thing.

[ChadTower]

All batteries are not good for all applications. 

[shorthair]

Oh, I see. Any devices that have a sleep-type draw would be drawing on them while the unit is off (if it is in your particular case; it would be in mine), which means it'd have to be designed differently - say, the power switch placed after the batteries, or probably more effectively a master switch and a relief switch. Hm.

[DaOld Man]

I hacked a cheap power strip from walmart..
Check this out:
http://skennys-arcade.blogspot.com/2007/06/power-strip-hack.html

It is also very possible to "kill" a cheap power strip this way:
http://skennys-arcade.blogspot.com/2007/05/switching-power.html

Hope this helps..
--Skenny