I would like to switch my computer on and off as I would a light bulb.

Switching it ON is okay. But switching it OFF is not. Things go wrong if you just cut its power off, or so they inform me.

Therefore, I propose a UPS-OS combo which will monitor the power line coming in and switch the computer on and off in sympathy with the power switch. When power is lost because I turned it off, the OS will execute the necessary shutdown sequence to power the computer off safely. If the power is gone because of an outage it will keep right on.

It will allow me to just cut the power to my den and walk away if I am going to be gone some time, as I used to do in my pre-computer days.
-- neelandan, Aug 17 2004

The manual technique used at the Kito Place. http://www.kunarion...mputer_Shutdown.jpg
So simple, even Frankenstein could do it. [Amos Kito, Oct 04 2004, last modified Jul 16 2005]

Very, very baked. Just buy a UPS with a serial/USB/Ethernet port. Connect the port to your PC and load the included software. Every UPS management software has an option to automatically trigger shutdown based on the status of mains power.
-- krelnik, Aug 17 2004


Well, better UPS units have connections and bundled software which can gracefully shut down unattended computers. If switched off by switched outlets (I love those, and have one or 2 in every room), the UPS will scream bloody murder. You can turn off the alarm on most UPS's.
-- bobad, Aug 17 2004


On another tack: if PC's systems could be built with instant power off, and instant resume (at least to operating system running status - I don't expect that all the memory could be dumped in the event of an instant power failure), it might save a great deal of time. But even lap-tops take time to "suspend", and I think they consume power whilst suspended.
-- Ling, Aug 17 2004


//consume power whilst suspended//
While in "suspend" or "standby" mode, yes. If you choose the "hibernate" option, your state is saved to disk. Takes a little longer to write everything to disk, but you can lose power for a month and still come back right where you were.
-- krelnik, Aug 17 2004


+ from me - brilliant idea, i love it
-- awesomest, Aug 17 2004


There is one point here, which you annotators have missed. The UPS should monitor the power line and distinguish between a power outage and a switch-off

Power outage:- Keep right on, until the battery runs out, then scream bloody murder and shut the compy down.

Switch off:- Shut down the computer pronto and don't make as much as a li'l peep.
-- neelandan, Aug 18 2004


Doesn't a typical UPS shut down immediately? I'd hope it's designed to just save/close all programs and shut the thing off. Being the last resort, you don't want it to wait until the battery is weak.

I don't use automatic power strips anymore (electronic switches). One had a tendancy to switch on & off rapidly, and was busy doing that when I came home one day.
-- Amos Kito, Aug 18 2004



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