What Battery monitor do you recommend?

[Member DaveW]

Hi,
Please forgive, if this is a duplicate. I posted this topic. But after making an edit, it disappeared.

I’m running Antix 17 on an eeepc 900. It has a new 6600 mah battery, which keeps it going for a few hours. But, I would like more detail from a battery monitor.

At present, there is an graph bar icon on the right end of the bottom bar. It is green when charging, and yellow when discharging. (I don’t know what program drives this indicator. With Left or right click on icon, there is no popup info.) I also configured Conky to show battery status (charge/discharge, and percentage). Both show battery charge in 10% increments, until below 10%, when it goes to 1% increments.

I don’t know what program does the actual monitoring. The system includes acpid (but not acpi, apm, or upower).

I did install yacpi, which also reads in 10% increments. But it runs in a terminal window, and apparently must be polled periodically. So it is not a continual monitor.

Questions:
1. With the present system, is there a way to reconfigure, for 1% charge increments?
2. With the present system, is there a way to set a low battery alarm? (The eeepc seems to have a hardware alarm… an LED blinks when below 20% charge. But I haven’t found a way to set the limits.)

3. What Battery monitor do you recommend? Conky provides all the monitoring I need… except for more detail on the battery. So, I would avoid a monitor that depends on a whole suite of software.

Thanks, Dave

[Anonymous]

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Monitor Battery Capacity

Aptik Battery Monitor

Battery Status

[Anonymous]

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if you install the debian “acpi” package (its payload is only 46kb) and, test, from the commandline: acpi -b
you’ll see that it does provide suitably granular reporting of remaining battery percent.
This granular output can be put to use into the battery-related line of your .conkyrc
execi 500. . .blablah Batt: . . . acpi -b | grep -P -o ‘[0-9]+(?=%)’ . . . pct

For an audio alarm, a l’il bash script can handle the task. If you already have a long-running bash script (runs all session long), can avoid the overhead of spawning an additional shell for the new alarm script by including this snippet within that existing script.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
while true
do
    battery_level="acpi -b | grep -P -o '[0-9]+(?=%)'"
    if [ $battery_level -le 15 ]; then                  ### whatever threshhold you prefer
        mpv /home/demo/myaudio_file.ogg
    fi
    sleep 300              ### 300sec, aka 5 minutes
done

checking here (this is applicable to our conky version?) http://conky.sourceforge.net/variables.html
conky may natively be able to display: battery, battery_short, battery_percent, battery_bar, battery_time

[Forum Admin Dave]

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You could also execute the core line of that script via conky. However to avoid it playing on every conky refresh every second you would likely have to play with it a bit more.

Computers are like air conditioners. They work fine until you start opening Windows. ~Author Unknown

[Forum Admin rokytnji]

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Taskbar or Fluxbox slit I use batti-gtk. Works in JWM Taskbar also. xbattery is OK also.

https://antixlinux.com/forum-archive/batti-gtk-solved-t4662.html

Battery line in Conky on this laptop has

${execi 1000 acpi 2>/dev/null | grep -q . && echo "Batt: "}${execi 10 acpi -b 2>/dev/null | cut -d" " -f3,4 | sed 's/,$//'}

Misc ref:
https://antixlinux.com/forum-archive/battery-monitor-solved-t4968.html

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[Member DaveW]

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Wow! Thank you all for your quick response.

I have looked in to several of the suggested ideas. I have installed acpi and upower.
I also modified conkyrc to present battery charge level with color coded bar graph (copied the script give by Dave in https://antixlinux.com/forum-archive/batti-gtk-solved-t4662-s15.html

I might give batti a try, if I can find it.

Skidoo – For me, acpi is showing 10% steps. and also says rate information unavailable. upower also reports in 10% steps.
Perhaps there are config files somewhere, where the acpi or upower resolution can be adjusted?

The conky bar is set to turn red below 15%. But with 10% steps, it must get down to 10%.

Thank you all.

[Moderator BobC]

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I run xbattbar. I modified xbattbar to improve the output for conky to grab. I also have a script to popup and sound a low battery warning, which was an idea fron Dave.

If you search for xbattbar you can see my setup and that mroot originally posted the idea.

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/search/xbattbar/

• This reply was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by BobC.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by BobC.

[Member DaveW]

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BobC – Thanks for the xbattbar info. It looks like it provides similar info as the existing icon on my Taskbar… although you have configured xbattbar to trigger alarms.

I guess I would be satisfied with the Conky color bar graph… if acpi would read in 1% increments. (Perhaps the 10% steps are a limitation of the eeepc?) The color change is sufficient alarm (no audio needed).

Of course, Conky is sometimes covered by open windows. So, the small battery icon in the Taskbar is a backup.
Does anyone know what program is behind that icon… and whether it might be configurable (eg., for color change at low level)?
So far, all I know is that it is toggled on or off by a line in the Preferences file (TaskBarShowAPMAuto=1).

Also, do you know what config file might set the alarm level for the existing low battery warning LED (adjacent to keyboard, not on screen)?

The eeepc bios settings are pretty minimal. Unless I missed something, it looks like Power Monitoring is either on or off.

[Moderator BobC]

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DaveW, With minimal apps running, why not go to a terminal, and type

sudo ps_mem.py -s

and paste what it says here so we can see what programs are currently running if you aren’t sure.

My lowbattery alarm is running from a script, run from the conky, not from xbattbar. My mod to xbattbar was to provide better output to a log file /tmp/xbattbar.log that could be parsed by the conky-battery.sh script without needing to focus the mouse over the bar. I sent the revised code to the maintainer, asking for him to consider including it, but never got a reply, I don’t think.

PS: I am not a Linux coder, so my code is not likely optimal, lol, and I’m open to constructive criticism if it shows me how it should be done better.

From the .conkyrc

${color2}Batt: ${color}${battery_short BAT0}-${execi 10 conky-battery.sh}\
${if_match "${battery_short BAT0}" >= "D"}${if_match "${battery_short BAT0}" < "E"}${if_match ${battery_percent BAT0} <= 33}\
${if_match ${battery_percent BAT0} >= 1}${execi 10 lowbattery}${endif}${endif}${endif}${endif}

The conky-battery.sh script

#!/bin/bash

# conky-battery.sh - build battery string to return to conky
#   can't pass parm from conky, so get status byte from acpi -b (should be same as 1st char of battery_short), nothing comes back if not present

# requires: acpitool, xbattbar

# BobC - bcurrey99 at yahoo.com

FILE='/home/bobc/.conky-battery.tmp'
DFILE='home/bobc/.conky-battery_debug.tmp'
if [ -f $FILE ]; then
	printf "File $FILE exists." > $DFILE
else
	printf "File $FILE does not exist." > $DFILE
fi
today=<code>date '+%Y_%m_%d__%H_%M_%S'</code>;
printf "conky-battery.sh, Run $today \n" >> $DFILE
OUTPUT="$(acpi -b | tr '\n' ' ' | sed -e 's/Battery 0: //g')"
printf $OUTPUT >> $DFILE
STATUS1="$(acpi -b | tr '\n' ' ' | sed -e 's/Battery 0: //g' | cut -c1-1)"
if [[ -z "STATUS1" ]]; then
	STATUS1=N
fi
printf "STATUS1 =$STATUS1 \n" >> $DFILE
#C is displayed instead of charging, D for discharging, F for full, N for not present, E for empty and U for unknown
case $STATUS1 in
	F|E|U )
		printf "acpi bi output =" >> $DFILE
		acpi -bi | tr '\n' ' ' | sed -e 's/Battery 0://g' -e 's/, rate information unavailable//' -e 's/ Full, //' -e 's/ full / /' \
			-e 's/ design //' -e 's/last capacity //' -e 's/ capacity / = /' -e 's/100% =/Full, Cap/' -e 's/mAh,/mAh, Last Full/' \
			-e 's/Discharging,/Draining,/' > $FILE
		printf "" >> $DFILE
		;;
	N )
		printf "No Battery" > $FILE
		;;
	* )
		printf "xbattbar output =" >> $DFILE
		tail -n 1 /tmp/xbattbar.log | sed -e 's/^.*\(line\:.*min\.\).*$/\1/' -e 's/line\: //' > $FILE
		printf "" >> $DFILE
		;;
esac
cat $FILE >> $DFILE
cat $FILE

The lowbattery script

#!/bin/bash

# lowbattery - sends noisy error if battery low with option to shut down

# Idea (probably code too) came from Dave at antix - BobC - bcurrey99 at yahoo.com

play /usr/share/sounds/error.wav
play /usr/share/sounds/error.wav
play /usr/share/sounds/error.wav

MESSAGE="The System Battery is Extremely low! Shut Down Now?"
TITLE="BATTERY EXTREMELY LOW!"

FLAG_FILE="/tmp/batterylow"

if [ ! -f $FLAG_FILE ]; then
	touch $FLAG_FILE
	yad --image='error' --text="$MESSAGE" #--button='ok:0' --button='cancel:1'
	case $? in
            0)    rm $FLAG_FILE && desktop-session -s    ;;
            1)    rm $FLAG_FILE && exit                  ;;
            *)    echo "Not an option" && exit                ;;
	esac
fi

• This reply was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by BobC.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by BobC.

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[Member DaveW]

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BobC – Thank you for the code for your xbattbar. I’ll work through it… and may do little experimentation.

Meanwhile, as you suggested… Here is what’s running. I understand some of it… but I don’t see whatever monitors the battery.

root@antix-eeepc:/home/my3epc# ps_mem.py -s
Private + Shared = RAM used Program

124.0 KiB + 43.0 KiB = 167.0 KiB /usr/sbin/ifplugd -i eth0 -q -f -u0 -d10 -w -I
136.0 KiB + 49.5 KiB = 185.5 KiB gnome-pty-helper
116.0 KiB + 83.5 KiB = 199.5 KiB /sbin/getty 38400 tty5
112.0 KiB + 88.5 KiB = 200.5 KiB /sbin/getty –noclear 38400 tty1
112.0 KiB + 91.5 KiB = 203.5 KiB /sbin/getty 38400 tty3
164.0 KiB + 41.0 KiB = 205.0 KiB /usr/sbin/acpid
124.0 KiB + 83.5 KiB = 207.5 KiB /sbin/getty 38400 tty2
168.0 KiB + 41.0 KiB = 209.0 KiB /usr/sbin/gpm -m /dev/input/mice -t exps2
116.0 KiB + 101.5 KiB = 217.5 KiB /sbin/getty 38400 tty6
124.0 KiB + 103.5 KiB = 227.5 KiB /sbin/getty 38400 tty4
192.0 KiB + 39.5 KiB = 231.5 KiB /usr/bin/icewm-session
248.0 KiB + 63.5 KiB = 311.5 KiB init [5]
84.0 KiB + 262.5 KiB = 346.5 KiB avahi-daemon: chroot helper
256.0 KiB + 108.5 KiB = 364.5 KiB /usr/sbin/cron
316.0 KiB + 120.0 KiB = 436.0 KiB dbus-launch –autolaunch 7827a888d6d3eac5755e3eb63c319158 –binary-syntax –close-stderr
176.0 KiB + 260.5 KiB = 436.5 KiB /bin/bash /home/my3epc/.desktop-session/startup
236.0 KiB + 241.0 KiB = 477.0 KiB /usr/bin/dbus-daemon –fork –print-pid 5 –print-address 7 –session
184.0 KiB + 302.5 KiB = 486.5 KiB avahi-daemon: running [antix-eeepc.local]
348.0 KiB + 152.0 KiB = 500.0 KiB /sbin/rpcbind -w
464.0 KiB + 48.0 KiB = 512.0 KiB /usr/sbin/rpc.idmapd
344.0 KiB + 226.0 KiB = 570.0 KiB /usr/bin/udevil –monitor
376.0 KiB + 230.5 KiB = 606.5 KiB /usr/bin/dbus-daemon –system
520.0 KiB + 328.5 KiB = 848.5 KiB /bin/bash /usr/bin/devmon –exec-on-drive desktop-defaults-run -fm “%d” –exec-on-disc desktop-defaults-run -fm “%d”
488.0 KiB + 379.0 KiB = 867.0 KiB /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gconf/gconfd-2
572.0 KiB + 386.5 KiB = 958.5 KiB /bin/bash /usr/local/bin/desktop-session
804.0 KiB + 245.5 KiB = 1.0 MiB /usr/bin/gnome-keyring-daemon –daemonize –login
840.0 KiB + 219.5 KiB = 1.0 MiB /sbin/rpc.statd
1.1 MiB + 67.5 KiB = 1.1 MiB udevd –daemon
804.0 KiB + 381.0 KiB = 1.2 MiB icewmbg
1.2 MiB + 37.5 KiB = 1.2 MiB /sbin/dhclient -4 -v -pf /run/dhclient.eth0.pid -lf /var/lib/dhcp/dhclient.eth0.leases -I -df /var/lib/dhcp/dhclient6.eth0.leases eth0
880.0 KiB + 456.5 KiB = 1.3 MiB icewmtray –notify
1.3 MiB + 83.0 KiB = 1.4 MiB /usr/sbin/rsyslogd
820.0 KiB + 704.5 KiB = 1.5 MiB /usr/lib/policykit-1/polkitd –no-debug
1.4 MiB + 330.5 KiB = 1.7 MiB bash
1.4 MiB + 531.0 KiB = 1.9 MiB /usr/sbin/console-kit-daemon –no-daemon
1.3 MiB + 746.0 KiB = 2.0 MiB /usr/bin/sudo -H -S -p GNOME_SUDO_PASS -u root — /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator
2.6 MiB + 427.5 KiB = 3.0 MiB /usr/sbin/cupsd -C /etc/cups/cupsd.conf -s /etc/cups/cups-files.conf
1.9 MiB + 1.9 MiB = 3.7 MiB volumeicon
2.5 MiB + 1.4 MiB = 4.0 MiB /usr/bin/slim -d
3.3 MiB + 977.5 KiB = 4.2 MiB icewm –notify
3.1 MiB + 1.3 MiB = 4.4 MiB conky
2.7 MiB + 2.9 MiB = 5.6 MiB gksu /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator
3.2 MiB + 2.8 MiB = 6.0 MiB /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator
4.6 MiB + 1.9 MiB = 6.4 MiB /usr/bin/python -O /usr/share/wicd/daemon/monitor.py
5.6 MiB + 1.0 MiB = 6.6 MiB /usr/bin/python -O /usr/share/wicd/daemon/wicd-daemon.py –keep-connection
4.1 MiB + 3.3 MiB = 7.5 MiB rox –pinboard=antiX-icewm
11.4 MiB + 3.7 MiB = 15.2 MiB /usr/bin/python -O /usr/share/wicd/gtk/wicd-client.py -t
14.4 MiB + 1.6 MiB = 16.0 MiB /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg -nolisten tcp -auth /var/run/slim.auth vt07
———————————
107.9 MiB

[Moderator BobC]

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It looks to me like the battery monitor bar you are seeing is the tray icon one that comes with IceWM. On my HP laptop its dropping 2% at a time before the one on my conky drops. If yours is dropping 10% at a time, a workaround solution would be to test for a value <= 20% as an alarm point so that you know you get an alarm at 20% instead of waiting till too late. It might be possible to get a more accurate reading with one of the other programs available if it is checking something different in the system or doing it a different way.

There are many possible solutions.

If you want a popup window for it like I did, the lowbattery conky test and lowbattery script I posted might be useful. You would need to have whatever sound file you want played on the system, obviously. You wouldn’t need to load any other programs for that.

One thing you might want to experiment with is the acpi command used by skidoo, roki and myself as part of the basis of a solution.

You basically have to live within the limits of what your hardware is willing to provide, but it can still be made tolerable with a bit of creativity

[Member fatmac]

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I just use conky on this distro, but I use flit on another distro (TinyCore), you might like it.

Linux (& BSD) since 1999

[Member DaveW]

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Thanks to everyone, for your input.

I’m going to settle for the Conky bar display with color changes at defined levels. The basic battery indicator in the IceWM taskbar is a good backup, since it is not covered by open windows.

Although I would prefer to see battery level decline in 1% steps rather than 10%, it looks like this is a limitation of the eeepc 900. Acpi and upower have the same issue. Most battery monitors reference either acpi, upower or apm. (I did not try apm, since it is not supported by the current kernel.) So, I’m guessing this is the resolution that is possible with this computer. Its good enough.

Thanks again for all your helpful ideas!

[Author]

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