Re: UPS anyone?

[Brian White <bcwhite@pobox.com>]

>  APC general comments (http://www.apcc.com/)
> 
>   - Brian White <bcwhite@pobox.com> has a Back-UPS Pro and it works with
>     the genpower Debian package and the apc-pnp cable.  He doesn't think
>     the Back-UPS works with apcd (no smart signalling) or with standard
>     genpower (different cable signals) but he says he could be wrong.

All models of APC from the Back-UPS Pro to the Matrix-UPS have the same
interface and will work with the custom "apc-advanced" (which I designed)
or the "apc-pnp" (standard cable from APC) cables.  Both cables have the
same dumb-signalling abilities but obviously the "apc-pnp" cable also
supports the smart-signalling modes.

One further note: The APC UPSs default to dumb-signalling on power-up
but retain whatever state they were last put in until they are next
power cycled.  Thus, if you have a dual-boot system with windows and
use the standard APC software, when you boot back to linux, genpower
won't be able to talk dumb-signal to the UPS.  If you write an "R"
to the serial port it will go back to dumb-signalling, but my quick
attempts to write a program to do such failed.

I believe "apcd" require the older black smart-signalling cable to work,
but could be wrong.  APC units used to come with both cables, but newer
ones may only come with the Plug'n'Play cable.

                                          Brian
                                  ( bcwhite@pobox.com )

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