Copyright: 2002-2004 Èëüÿ "Darthman" Ïðîõîäöåâ


Default
Battery Eater Pro

Battery Eater

The Pro Version

Battery Eater: Advantages

System Requirements

Testing

Gauge

License Agreement


Battery Eater

Battery Eater is a testing tool intended to reveal the potential of a notebook battery pack. Battery Eater can measure the minimum operation time of a notebook (when all power-saving options are disabled) under conditions close to the maximum workload (Classic mode). You should be aware, though, that such conditions rarely occur during an ordinary use of a notebook and should be regarded as reflecting the minimum time the notebook can work on its battery. Battery Eater will show a result closest to the maximum possible in the "Idle" and in the "Reader's Test" mode (when all power-saving options are fully enabled).

Battery Eater also draws the battery discharge graph where you can see the dynamics of the charge level.


Advantages
Battery Eater: Advantages

•	Small size of the software;

•	Cost-free;

•	Easy and simple to use;

•	Multilanguage interface;

•	Flexible testing scheme;

•	Three test modes;

•	You can have the program running in the background just to measure time intervals and draw the charge level graph;

•	Full information about the key system components;

•	Benchmarking the performance of all computer's subsystems;

•	Keeping track of all attached batteries in real time.


License Agreement

The Author of the Software bears no responsibility for any data loss or damage, equipment malfunctioning, lost profits or savings as well as any other event ensuing from the use of the Software. Any distribution of the Software in a modified form is prohibited. The Author also prohibits selling this Software.

Your using this software implies your agreement with the above conditions.


Pro Version
The Pro Version

The Pro version of the software was developed with the help and advice from testers and people who actively use it in their work. The Pro version includes all the components of the standard version, and also: additional test modes, enhanced test settings, support of advanced software (DirectX 8.1, OpenGL 1.5), full information on your system, and automated output of the test results.


Requirements
System Requirements

Battery Eater was developed specifically for the Windows NT architecture, so it is not guaranteed to run correctly on computers with Windows 9x. Recommended operating systems: Windows 2000, Windows XP.

The Classic test mode requires that the graphics card drivers with support of OpenGL 1.0 are installed in the system (if the graphics card doesn't support OpenGL, it will be emulated by the CPU).

Battery Eater is intended for the use with portable computers, although its performance tests can be run on desktop systems (for example, to compare the notebook to a desktop PC).

The tested computer must have DirectX 8.0 installed (it is installed by default in Windows XP). Battery Eater has not yet been tested on systems without DirectX 8.0. You can download the DirectX software from the official Microsoft Corporation website (www.microsoft.com).


Test
Testing

•	Before beginning the tests, copy Battery Eater to your hard disk drive.

•	It is advisable that the name of the folder the program is copied to is in English letters.

•	Avoid launching the program from media other than hard disk drives.

·	·	·	·

To measure the time the notebook can work on its battery pack, you launch Battery Eater and wait until the battery is fully charged. (Even when the indicator shows a charge of 100%, the Charging status may be shown; it is due to a measurement error of the battery controller. Wait until the status changes to High Charge. It's now possible to run the tests. If the "Start the test on AC power disconnect" checkbox is checked, Battery Eater will start the test when the notebook disconnects from the wall outlet. If necessary, the test can be launched manually, by pressing the Shift+F3 keys. On the next startup (after the battery spends its charge and the notebook turns off), the utility will run automatically, inform you about availability of test results and show them in your default web-browser. The program doesn't require any user's intervention during the tests.

Battery Eater Pro offers three test modes:

•	Classic mode.

•	Reader's Test mode.

•	Idle mode.

·	·

Before the tests, to achieve trustable results, it is advisable to:

1) Disable the screen turning off by the timer.

2) Disable the screen-saver.

3) Disable the option of the notebook's entering the sleep mode when the charge level is below a certain mark. Notebooks from some manufacturers come with exclusive software that helps to control the power settings more flexibly, not allowing the notebook to switch to the sleep mode.

The Classic mode:

In its Classic mode, the test utility tries to create a pressure on all the hardware resources of the system to give out the minimum time the notebook can work on its battery pack.

In the Options tab, select the desired screen resolution and color depth, and check the option that allows outputting text full-screen.

The test results we receive in this mode under standard settings will be published on the website www.mobilepc.ru

The Reader's Test mode:

When in this mode, Battery Eater simulates a user reading text from the monitor. By default, a text of "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" is used, but you can change it for any other. Selection of an alternative text can be made by clicking the button that appears only in this test mode. The text should be in TXT or RTF formats. The results produced in this test mode are not published on the website.

The Idle mode:

When in this mode, the program does nothing. The purpose of this mode is to measure the time of autonomous work and produce a battery charge level graph when the system is idle or when the user works in other applications.

The results produced in this test mode are not accepted by the author, too.


Gauge

The Gauge is the battery charge level indicator. The program sits in the System tray, next to the Clock, and follows it everywhere. That is, if you change the position of this panel, the Gauge will change its position accordingly. The program does not appear in the Taskbar as a running application and doesn't interfere with your everyday work. The Gauge is more flexible compared to the standard charge indicator as it both draws and writes the charge level percent (with a precision of 0.1%).