Does anyone know how much "juice" an Airport card consumes?
I've got a portable (new iBook) with an Airport card. I'm wondering if turning it off (via the Airport app in the Apple menu) will make a difference in battery life.
Also, does anyone know why this isn't under Location Manager or Energy Saver or Extension Manager control? Is there any way to shut power to the Airport card off besides doing it "manually" (ie, using the app in the Apple Menu)? Or is it just not worth the trouble?
Thanks,
Chip
In article czempel-E00380.13171226092001@redacted.invalid, Chip Zempel czempel@redacted.invalid wrote:
Does anyone know how much "juice" an Airport card consumes?
I've got a portable (new iBook) with an Airport card. I'm wondering if turning it off (via the Airport app in the Apple menu) will make a difference in battery life.
I've found that it can make a significant difference in battery life with my 2000 iBook. By nature, RF transmission is very expensive battery power-wise, even when it's just a few hundred milliwatts.
Also, does anyone know why this isn't under Location Manager or Energy Saver or Extension Manager control? Is there any way to shut power to the Airport card off besides doing it "manually" (ie, using the app in the Apple Menu)? Or is it just not worth the trouble?
That's been a deficiency of Airport networking in Classic MacOS (through 9.2.1). However, OS X does exactly what you want: When you select a location that doesn't use Airport networking, the Airport card is turned off.
Thanks,
Chip
On 26 September 2001 at 13:17, "Chip Zempel" czempel@redacted.invalid wrote:
Also, does anyone know why this isn't under Location Manager or Energy Saver or Extension Manager control? Is there any way to shut power to the Airport card off besides doing it "manually" (ie, using the app in the Apple Menu)? Or is it just not worth the trouble?
Ive spent a lot of time lately doing AppleScript hacking with the Location Manager, and this one is actually easy. Open the script editor and with it open the dictionary for the Airport Scripting application, usually found in the Scripting Additions folder in the system folder. You will notice that the card class has a property power, so the commands
tell application "AirPort Scripting" set the power of the card to false end tell
should control the card without having to run the Airport application.
To make it work transparently with Location Manager, save your script as a classic applet (I'm assuming you're still in 9.x) and in your locations that don't connect via Airport (I have one called Earthlink, for example, that I use for PPP when travelling), tick the AutoOpen items box and add your applet to the list of items, and close and save. Now, after Location Manager switches everything else it will run your little applet last and strangle the power to your card. You can write another little one to power the card back on again when you switch the location back, add lines to join the relevant networks, and all the other stuff you do when you switch locations.
I used a similar hack to switch SMTP servers between home and office so that I didn't have to think about my outgoing mail anymore. This one is set to run in Entourage at application startup, but there's no reason you couldn't make it an auto open application in the Location Manager the same way. The only reason I didn't is that I don't always want to launch Entourage when I switch locations.
I hope this helps. I got some assistance a week or two ago with a problem I was having from this newsgroup and it feels good for my karma to be able to offer some advice back.
Sincerely,
Mitchell
In article B7D7A739.790E%mitchell@redacted.invalid, Mitchell Burnside Clapp mitchell@redacted.invalid wrote:
On 26 September 2001 at 13:17, "Chip Zempel" czempel@redacted.invalid wrote:
Also, does anyone know why this isn't under Location Manager or Energy Saver or Extension Manager control? Is there any way to shut power to the Airport card off besides doing it "manually" (ie, using the app in the Apple Menu)? Or is it just not worth the trouble?
Ive spent a lot of time lately doing AppleScript hacking with the Location Manager, and this one is actually easy. Open the script editor and with it open the dictionary for the Airport Scripting application, usually found in the Scripting Additions folder in the system folder. You will notice that the card class has a property power, so the commands
tell application "AirPort Scripting" set the power of the card to false end tell
should control the card without having to run the Airport application.
To make it work transparently with Location Manager, save your script as a classic applet (I'm assuming you're still in 9.x) and in your locations that don't connect via Airport (I have one called Earthlink, for example, that I use for PPP when travelling), tick the AutoOpen items box and add your applet to the list of items, and close and save. Now, after Location Manager switches everything else it will run your little applet last and strangle the power to your card. You can write another little one to power the card back on again when you switch the location back, add lines to join the relevant networks, and all the other stuff you do when you switch locations.
I used a similar hack to switch SMTP servers between home and office so that I didn't have to think about my outgoing mail anymore. This one is set to run in Entourage at application startup, but there's no reason you couldn't make it an auto open application in the Location Manager the same way. The only reason I didn't is that I don't always want to launch Entourage when I switch locations.
I hope this helps. I got some assistance a week or two ago with a problem I was having from this newsgroup and it feels good for my karma to be able to offer some advice back.
Sincerely,
Mitchell
Mitchell - just to make your karma feel even better - thank you VERY much! (AppleScript to the rescue!)
Chip
In article czempel-E00380.13171226092001@redacted.invalid, Chip Zempel czempel@redacted.invalid wrote:
Is there any way to shut power to the Airport card off besides doing it "manually" (ie, using the app in the Apple Menu)?
Airport control strip module.
Simon.