Menus and Indicators

This chapter describes the menus and indicators available in MyBattery.

The File menu

Open/Close MyBattery window

Opens or closes the main MyBattery window.

MyBattery in background on launch

If this menu option is selected, MyBattery will place itself in the background when launched.  This is especially handy if you have configured MyBattery to run at startup.

Temperature Scale

On PowerBooks capable of measuring their internal temperature, this lets you set the temperature scale used for all displays.  You can select from either Fahrenheit, centigrade, or Kelvin.  The appropriate scale is then used for the main dialog displays, as well as the History window.

Register

Brings up registration dialog.

Quit

Exits MyBattery.

The Editor menu

Open/Close Editor

Opens or closes the editor window.

When the editor is open, the display item submenus will be available.

Display Items Submenus

The bottom of this menu is composed of submenus which let you select various display items.  The actual items available are different for each PowerBook model.  Please see the tables at the end of the MyBattery Editor chapter for more information.

The Battery menu

The items on this menu are available for single-battery PowerBooks.  If you have a PowerBook 500 series, these menu items are not available.

Battery #1 through Battery #4

On single-battery PowerBook models, it will let you select which battery is currently in use.  Or, if you have the Autoswitch batteries option selected, these will indicate the battery currently in use.

Autoswitch batteries

If you are using a PowerBook Duo, selecting this choice will allow MyBattery to automatically switch the battery you are using.  MyBattery does this by reading the serial number of the currently installed battery.

If you are using a PowerBook 100 with an external battery, selecting this choice will automatically switch the battery between an internal battery and an external battery, as defined in the Setup Batteries dialog.

External Possible

If you are using a PowerBook 100 series, this option will let MyBattery recognize if an external battery is attached to the AC adapter port.  It is disabled on all other PowerBook models.

Setup Batteries

If you are using a single-battery PowerBook (PowerBook 100 series or Duo), choosing this menu option will bring up the Setup batteries dialog.  This dialog is described in more detail in the Configuring MyBattery chapter.

The History menu

The items on this menu control the History dialog.

Display history window

Shows the history dialog.  This dialog shows the battery charge history for the past 9 hours.  On some PowerBook models, it can also show internal temperature and power consumption data.

Display power usage

This option isn't available on all PowerBook models.  If it is, then you can record and display the power consumption.  Please note that this feature doesn't work reliably on PowerBook 500's.

Display temperature

This option isn't available on all PowerBook models.  If it is, then you can record and display the internal PowerBook temperature.

Record charging measurements

If selected, measurements will be recorded while the AC adapter is attached.  If unselected, only readings taken without an AC adapter will be recorded.

Reset history on AC

If selected, the history measurements will be reset when the AC adapter is removed.

Reset history now

Choosing this menu option will reset the history measurements.

The MenuBar menu

This menu lets you select the icon to be displayed in the left or right side of the menu bar.  Some of the icon options are not available on some PowerBook models.

Battery Icons

The icons shown below are used to indicate the current battery status.

System Icons

The icons shown below are used to indicate the status of various parts of the PowerBook.

Note that not all icons are available on all models of PowerBooks.  For example, the CPU speed icons are not available on the Duo 280/280c or PowerBook 500 series.  See the charts at the end of Chapter 2 (The MyBattery Editor) to see which indicators are available for your model of PowerBook.