laptop battery discharge: assistance requested

[Paul <debian-user@lookmumnohands.net>]

I'm interested in how laptop batteries report their charge and discharge.  I'd like to collect some data, so I'm asking for your assistance.

I've written a script that uses the "acpi" program to collect some information.  I'd like you to run my script, unplug your laptop, let it run until it needs a charge and then plug it in.  When your laptop has charged, email me the log file.

Likely you'll already have the dependencies but just in case:
    aptitude install acpi xz-utils

Get my logger script from:
    http://lookmumnohands.net/laptop-battery-discharge.tar.gz

Download, open a shell, extract (tar xfz ...), chdir, and execute ./viagra (yes, we are interested in "how long we can keep it up", with apologies to the trademark owner :-)  Unplug the cable, let your laptop discharge as much as you can, then let the unit charge back up.  Type Ctrl-C into the shell, and it will then compress the logfile and print a message where to email the compressed log.  (It does create a random ID for your system - but otherwise there is no personally identifiable data - review the log before you send.)

I'll report back with the results to anyone interested.  Thanks - and long live Debian!

--
Paul.