[mythtv-users] OT: UPS w/ Linux monitoring/auto shutdown software?

[Matt White]

Jeff Williams wrote:
> With the recent major blackout here in the northeast, I've finally gotten
> the idea that I'm going to put UPS's on all of my PC's (four of them now!).
 > I would imagine it can't be good for a Myth box to be suddenly kicked off
 > in the middle of a recording.  But I can't seem to find any information
 > on UPS models that include monitoring and shutdown software that's
 > compatible with Linux - I've checked Google (including Google groups) and
 > gone back through the archives of this list as well, in addition to 
looking
 > at the product web pages of various UPS models I'm interested in.
> 
> Are there any UPS manufacturers that support Linux with their software?  I
 > would assume there have to be, with all the corporate Linux customers out
 > there - but I don't want to spend a fortune either, only looking for 4-5
 > minutes of backup time (just enough to shut down in an orderly fashion).
 > Failing that, is there such a thing as a freeware UPS monitoring 
application
 > that will work with various manufacturers' UPS's?  As you can see, I'm
 > pretty new to the whole UPS thing - never owned one before.

As a number of other people have noted, there are quite a few 
manufacturers that have some linux support.  Personally, I've been 
buying APC for years - we use them at work, and I'm really impressed
with how well they work.  The powerchute software, on the other hand,
is not exactly the best thing in the world, in my opinion.

I'm using (both at work and at home) a package called "Network UPS
Tools" (NUT).  It supports a BUNCH of different kinds of UPS, and does
most (if not everything) of what powerchute will, but it also supports
network use.  It also does away with the "one UPS, one computer" concept
that powerchute encourages - you can have multiple machines running on
a single UPS (as long as it has the capacity, of course), and each will
monitor the UPS via a daemon on the machine that the UPS is connected to.

Anyways, you can check it out, along with a list of compatible UPSs,
at http://www.exploits.org/nut/

It's even in the portage tree on Gentoo...

-- 
Matt White                          whitem at arts.usask.ca
Arts and Science Computer Labs      University of Saskatchewan

All of my buddies were green with envy as we headed for the parkin' lot
Me with that long-legged girl on my arm, just thinkin' 'bout you-know-what
	- Confederate Railroad..."Momma Ain't Home Tonight"