Using ACPI

ACPI: Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
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# 16. Using ACPI

There are a few different applications/daemons you will want to install on your system: acpid (the daemon that will control your hardware states), and acpi (the interface to monitor events and states) are the base install. The acpi Debian package is only available in testing and is unstable. If you're running stable you won't be able to install it without playing around with apt and your `list.sources` file. You can probably also compile from source. If you do get acpi installed you can use it to monitor your system like this: acpi `-V`. The output will tell you about your system. Mine looks like this:

         Thermal 1: ok, 47.1 degrees C
         Thermal 2: ok, 45.1 degrees C
      AC Adapter 1: off-line <-- running off battery
      AC Adapter 1: on-line <-- running off AC power

Unfortunately, the `-V` "full version" doesn't work for me. Fortunately I can still look in each of the acpi files individually for information about my system. Check in the `/proc/acpi` directory for various things of importance. If I want to check my battery I read the following file like this: cat `/proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state`. The output is as follows:

    present:                 yes
    capacity state:          ok
    charging state:          discharging <-- running off battery
    present rate:            unknown
    remaining capacity:      3920 mAh <-- watch this number
    present voltage:         14800 mV

    present:                 yes
    capacity state:          ok
    charging state:          discharging
    present rate:            unknown
    remaining capacity:      3840 mAh <-- capacity getting smaller
    present voltage:         14800 mV

    present:                 yes
    capacity state:          ok
    charging state:          charging <-- AC adapter plugged in
    present rate:            unknown
    remaining capacity:      3840 mAh
    present voltage:         14800 mV

If I want information about my battery in general I check it out like this: cat `/proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info`

    present:                 yes
    design capacity:         3920 mAh
    last full capacity:      3920 mAh
    battery technology:      rechargeable
    design voltage:          14800 mV
    design capacity warning: 30 mAh
    design capacity low:     20 mAh
    capacity granularity 1:  10 mAh
    capacity granularity 2:  3470 mAh
    model number:            Bat0
    serial number:
    battery type:            Lion
    OEM info:                Acer

You're smart people. You can probably figure it out from here. :)

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