Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (3318 mails)

[Jon Clausen <jon@xxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 08 Jan, 2008 at 12:39:09 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:

> The Tuesday 2008-01-08 at 06:47 +0100, Jon Clausen wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 07 Jan, 2008 at 16:40:48 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> >
> > > It would be possible to design one. The device only needs to monitor the
> > > presence of power in the usb power line coming from the laptop, and 1mA
> > > would be enough to trigger the base of a transistor that would in turn
> > > power up the device. It could even be designed around an 
> > > optocoupler/triac
> > > to power up the AC side of the device.
> > >
> > > You just pay an engineer, and he'll do appropriate wonders :-)
> >
> > Too late, it's been done;
> >
> > http://www.elsparefonden.org/public-and-commerce/products/energy-saving-equipment/Elspareskinne
>
> Better:
>
> <http://www.elsparefonden.org/public-and-commerce/products/energy-saving-equipment/Elspareskinne/facts-and-figures/how-the-elspareskinne-works>
>
> But that doesn't say how this particular piece works. Typically it would 
> use a relays to switch off the rest of the equipment, but a relays draws 
> significant power from the usb bus of a portable running on battery. What I 
> described were methods to do the same as already known to exist, but 
> designed for laptops.

riiiight... I didn't realize what you meant.

Elsparefonden is not a vendor of anything, it's a trust that does research
on, and gives advice about reducing powerconsumption in general. Hence the
above doesn't pertain to any *particular* device.

I guess that most of those thingies basically just use the power from the
USB to hold open (or closed) a relay, which turns on the mains. And that
power would come from the battery of a laptop.

http://www.elsparefonden.org/public-and-commerce/products/energy-saving-equipment/Elspareskinne/facts-and-figures/if-computer-cannot-turn-off-elspareskinne

suggests that the whole concept may become obsolete, if Wake-On-USB ends up
being the norm...

But I agree that a version designed for laptops would be good.

/jon
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