Comments on: Suspend in motion

By: G-lant

G-lant — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:04:58 +0000

Hey this seems like an amazing idea. But I have one question. Im getting my new Mac laptop soon, will this work with Mac?

By: Johannes Geiger

Johannes Geiger — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 05:32:24 +0000

This is creat idea. I've tryed to find a solution for FSC Notebooks. Google gives me these helpfull links:
http://nich.spaces.live.com/?_c11_BlogPart_BlogPart=blogview&_c=BlogPart&partqs=amonth%3d3%26ayear%3d2007
http://geekswithblogs.net/dirksblog/articles/54935.aspx (german)
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/En-US/library/aa363216.aspx

finaly with that Information it was posible to write/modify a simple sample code.

/* Reads Acceleration Sensor Values out of FSC Liefebook T4215
and perhaps other FSC Notebooks that work with Shock Sensor
Utility ( FJSSGUI.exe + FJSSDMN.exe )
Sensor Description:
http://www.fujitsu.com/sg/services/computing/pc/einfo/shock-sensor/

Thanks to Nicholai Yu who did de reverse engineering:
http://nich.spaces.live.com/?_c11_BlogPart_BlogPart=blogview&_c=BlogPart&partqs=amonth%3d3%26ayear%3d2007
and MSDN for their example source which I've just modified a little bit.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/En-US/library/aa363216.aspx

To Port this to other HDD Sensors try http://www.rohitab.com/apimonitor/ and monitor
the DeviceIoControl calls from an existing Sensor App.

Note: This code is only tested on one maschine.
!!!!!!Use it on your own risk!!!!!! and report if it works.
Sorry about my bad english, have fun with the app.
(I hope sombody built some nice tools or games like a port of this
http://www.weiblespiele.de/images/79050.jpg for tablet PC ;)

Some Keywords for Google:
Shock Sensor Utility, hdd, harddisk, shock, Fujitsu, source, c,
accelerometer, acceleration, motion, gyro, tilt, pan, protection
*/

#include
#include
#include

BOOL GetAccel(char *AccValue)
{
HANDLE hDevice; // handle to the drive to be examined
BOOL bResult; // results flag
DWORD junk; // discard results

hDevice = CreateFile(TEXT("\\\\.\\PhysicalDrive0"), // drive
0, // no access to the drive
FILE_SHARE_READ | // share mode
FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
NULL, // default security attributes
OPEN_EXISTING, // disposition
0, // file attributes
NULL); // do not copy file attributes

if (hDevice == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) // cannot open the drive
{
return (FALSE);
}

bResult = DeviceIoControl(hDevice, // device to be queried
0x220208, // operation to perform

By: Kori

Kori — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:20:08 +0000

That can be but not sure!

By: Brien Schultz

Brien Schultz — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 08:58:01 +0000

Oh, and towards the convo on this running on Linux, Apple, etc. …This program is so simple I could easily write it in C, C++, Java, etc. so I don’t think platforms will be a problem. I just need to get specs on all the APIs/drivers for accelerometers.

By: Brien Schultz

Brien Schultz — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 08:54:49 +0000

I LOVE how linux does hardware. They did things right a long time ago.

By: Burnzee

Burnzee — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 02:51:00 +0000

Great Idea. Pity I can’t get it to work. Got Toshiba Satellite A100 running Xp. Only eight months old.

By: Brien Schultz

Brien Schultz — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 07:32:06 +0000

Ok, so I finally got binaries and source uploaded. This is ALPHA!!! It might not work properly, I haven't tested it properly yet.

Binaries for ZIP people...
http://www.suite304.com/BedTimeAlpha.zip

And for the WinRAR people...
http://www.suite304.com/BedTimeAlpha.rar

Source for my .Net homies...
http://www.suite304.com/BedTimeSource.zip

If you want to help me make this better I'd appriciate it. This version is very basic and simple (as you will see).

By: Mikoangelo

Mikoangelo — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 01:56:31 +0000

Why, oh why, not just set a sleep timer to ~3 minutes if the lid is closed?

And what if I were to close the lid, and put the computer over in the corner of $somewhere, only to forget it for a couple of hours? Problem unsolved!

By: Trimzulu

Trimzulu — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 01:17:19 +0000

You guys are missing the point. He DOESN’T want the laptop sleeping when he just shuts the lid. A lot of people use their laptops as their primary computers. I shut my screen a lot while still running applications in the background. Sleeping would kill those, this lets me not sleep all the time while still being able to pick up my laptop and go without worrying about the battery being dead when I get there.

By: Patman

Patman — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 00:41:42 +0000

yeah i wouldnt say that linux is the best OS out there, but it ain’t some crack-dealin’ weed-smokin’ pimp! I think that because of its 3rd party capabilities Linux isnt that bad (granted of course that you have Windows XP or Vista on your computer as well.)

sure beats Mac’s iCrap series!

By: japroach

japroach — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 00:05:04 +0000

"it seems kind of counterintuitive. why not just make it go to sleep after a preset time when it is closed? how does the motion sensor help?"

I don't really get the point of it either. OK you close the lid and its moving, so it sets a 5min timer to go to sleep (long enough to get somewhere within the house).

Now you close the lid later but its not moving, should it sleep then as well? Seems like it should.

The idea and execution is cool, but it isn't exactly a "brilliant" hack.

By: Eliot

Eliot — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:57:20 +0000

I’m still in charge over here, but I work fulltime at Netscape.com and just come over to fill in for Will from time to time.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:24:54 +0000

#8: What about the Mono Project? I haven’t got that up and running yet, as I just switched to Ubuntu a few weeks ago, but it may well work on Linux with some tweaking…

By: momotarosan

momotarosan — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:24:35 +0000

here is a blog on the use of accelerometer for controlling Google Maps http://bulknews.typepad.com/blog/2006/06/control_google_.html

By: YoYo-Pete

YoYo-Pete — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 20:41:39 +0000

This is a really great product. ::Applause::

My suggestion is to add a feature that allows it to go into Hibernation instead of sleep. As sleep does use power and it will drain over time.

P.S. I have to agree with #3. I still havent figured it all out as a developer, but from a system viewpoint, it's supposed to make everything easier.

#4, it requires Dot.Net Framework, so no linux.