Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000 12:29:39 -0700 (PDT) From: Tom <tom@uniserve.com> To: Lyndon Nerenberg <lyndon@orthanc.ab.ca> Cc: Rahul Dhesi <dhesi@rahul.net>, freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Freebsd vs. UPS Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.05.10009261218470.28540-100000@shell.uniserve.ca> In-Reply-To: <200009261905.e8QJ5m132492@orthanc.ab.ca>
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On Tue, 26 Sep 2000, Lyndon Nerenberg wrote: > >>>>> "Rahul" == Rahul Dhesi <dhesi@rahul.net> writes: > > Rahul> I recommend against APC UPSs for three reasons: short > Rahul> battery life, poor quality control (sometimes they fail > Rahul> after 2-3 months of use), and refusal to provide > Rahul> specifications for control of the UPS (thus no support for > Rahul> open software). > > Rahul> In this world of open software, the third factor above > Rahul> should be considered very strongly. -- Rahul > > Work around them. The serial port protocols seem to be pretty simple. One > option is to put a BSD box in between the UPS and whatever runs their > proprietary software. E.g. UPS serial port connects to BSD ttyd0, machine > with UPS software connects to BSD ttyd1. BSD box runs a simple full-duplex > byte copy program to connect the two ttys. You run watch(8) against the tty > devices to snoop the protocol, reverse engineer, document, then post to > the net. > > --lyndon The APC BackUPS protocol raises and lowers control pins on the RS-232 cable. It can barely be called a protocol. Of course the BackUPS units are designed for desktop use. The SmartUPS protocol does a lot more. As far as UPSes go, APC makes some decent stuff. They have a battery life calculator on their site. Some people think that a UPS with a high VA rating have a long battery life. Run-length is based on the number and size of batteries. I like the XL version APC UPS that allow additional battery packs to be added. The APC SmartUPS 1000XL is nice UPS. Tom Uniserve To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
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