Hi, I think "idleness percentage" is easier to understand for users than
> time of using HLT versus total FDAPM loaded time
in general :-). Displaying TOTAL time is a bit complicated in NASM but would
be a nice extra ("uptime" display).Only with the resident module you have an idleness percentage - the module invokes HLT (and if possible the related APM func) whenever some wait style function is called (e.g. wait for key). It counts during how many clock ticks the "invoke HLT" happens. The HLT is supposed to save energy. Works for me for AMD K6-2 and Cyrix/STS/IBM 6x86 M1, but I do not know about pre-486 / ... whether it makes any difference. I am told that QEMM does not allow the DOS vm86 task to HLT, so FDAPM has no effect if QEMM loaded (only affects some QEMM versions on some CPUs it seems!?). If even HOTBOOT worked for you then probably the hot / int 19 boot (just reload OS, do not redo BIOS init) simply crashed for you, or QEMM translated it into a coldboot... Strange that spinning down disks sometimes works and sometimes hangs? You said your BIOS has no APM, so it must have been FDAPM itself which did the spin down!? The spin down stuff writes to the IDE controller directly and is very simple, so probably no surprise if it is not too reliable. Funny that it spins down CD-ROM as well :-). By the way, harddisks spin up by themselves on demand, so SPINUP command is not really needed. > Nice program. :) Thanks :-). Hmmm... why are we discussing this on freedos-kernel? Maybe because of QEMM or because I wondered on how old hardware FDAPM can run (in theory: on all hardware, but some options break, e.g. VGAOFF if you have no VGA and battery information if you have no APM etc. - not to mention the attempt to SPINDOWN without IDE...)??? Ah. Now I remember. The "FDAPM saves no energy because HLT has no effect in combination with certain hardware and QEMM versions...". For my PCs I can usually hear the power supply fan going to lower speed (it adjusts speed depending on temperature) after a short while if FDAPM works and saves energy. No big change but you can hear it. Do not attempt to measure power consumption directly unless you really have proper tools and knowledge for that. You could break your hardware or yourself otherwise, which is definitely bad. Take no risks. Eric ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: GNOME Foundation Hackers Unite! GUADEC: The world's #1 Open Source Desktop Event. GNOME Users and Developers European Conference, 28-30th June in Norway http://2004/guadec.org _______________________________________________ Freedos-kernel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-kernel
