[gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

Howdy,

Newegg just had a sale on a really nice UPS.  I got one.  Anyway, it has
both serial and USB connections.  I have a question about these.  I
could use either one but not sure if it matters.  Does the USB
connection offer any additional features over the serial connection?  I
could use USB but would rather use serial since nothing else I have is
serial but I have a bit of USB devices.  Also, I never disconnect the
serial cable from either the system or the UPS when either is in use. 
Sort of defeats the purpose I guess.  Since it also has screws to make
sure the serial cable doesn't come undone, the serial has one
advantage.  I'm not sure what would happen if it looses the connection
all of a sudden.  Does it do like NORAD and assume power is out?  lol 

So, since I already have everything set up for serial connections,
should I just keep using it or does the USB have more goodies? 

Thanks.

Dale

:-)  :-) 


P. S.  Crap, there goes my uptime again.  :-@ 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[J. Roeleveld]

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Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:

>Howdy,
>
>Newegg just had a sale on a really nice UPS.  I got one.  Anyway, it
>has
>both serial and USB connections.  I have a question about these.  I
>could use either one but not sure if it matters.  Does the USB
>connection offer any additional features over the serial connection?  I
>could use USB but would rather use serial since nothing else I have is
>serial but I have a bit of USB devices.  Also, I never disconnect the
>serial cable from either the system or the UPS when either is in use. 
>Sort of defeats the purpose I guess.  Since it also has screws to make
>sure the serial cable doesn't come undone, the serial has one
>advantage.  I'm not sure what would happen if it looses the connection
>all of a sudden.  Does it do like NORAD and assume power is out?  lol 
>
>So, since I already have everything set up for serial connections,
>should I just keep using it or does the USB have more goodies? 
>
>Thanks.
>
>Dale
>
>:-)  :-) 
>
>
>P. S.  Crap, there goes my uptime again.  :-@ 
>
>-- 
>I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood
>or how you interpreted my words!

Dale.

It depends on the UPS wether or not you get different functionality between serial or USB. You would need to check the manual and support for the UPS by NUT (or whichever tool you use)

How UPS software responds to a connection failure depends on how you configure it.

In other words. You haven't provided enough information on the UPS to give any meaningfull answers :)

Which UPS and which UPS software are you using?

--
Joost
-- 
Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

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Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

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J. Roeleveld wrote:
> Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>     Howdy,
>
>     Newegg just had a sale on a really nice UPS.  I got one.  Anyway, it has
>     both serial and USB connections.  I have a question about these.  I
>     could use either one but not sure if it matters.  Does the USB
>     connection offer any additional features over the serial connection?  I
>     could use USB but would rather use serial since nothing else I have is
>     serial but I have a bit of USB devices.  Also, I never disconnect the
>     serial cable from either the system or the UPS when either is in use. 
>     Sort of defeats the purpose I guess.  Since it also has screws to make
>     sure the serial cable doesn't come undone, the serial has one
>     advantage.  I'm not sure what would happen if it looses the connection
>     all of a sudden.  Does it do like NORAD and assume power is out?  lol 
>
>     So, since I already have everything set up for se
>      rial
>     connections,
>     should I just keep using it or does the USB have more goodies? 
>
>     Thanks.
>
>     Dale
>
>     :-)  :-) 
>
>
>     P. S.  Crap, there goes my uptime again.  :-@ 
>
>
> Dale.
>
> It depends on the UPS wether or not you get different functionality
> between serial or USB. You would need to check the manual and support
> for the UPS by NUT (or whichever tool you use)
>
> How UPS software responds to a connection failure depends on how you
> configure it.
>
> In other words. You haven't provided enough information on the UPS to
> give any meaningfull answers :)
>
> Which UPS and which UPS software are you using?
>
> --
> Joost
> -- 
> Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. 


Ooops.  I thought I put the model.  It's a CyberPower 1350AVR.  My old
UPS is a CyberPower 1250AVR but it is about 10 years old.  I have one
working plug left on the back of it.  I literally wore the plugs out.  lol

According to the book, and the box, the new one uses powerpanel which is
the same as I use on the old UPS.  Since it uses the same
drivers/software, I figure it will work like my old one does.  Then
again, this is newer so that's why I ask.  My old one has LEDs on it
where this one has a display with more info than my old one. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842102070

I don't yet have the UPS hooked up to the puter.  I'm letting the
battery charge overnight first.  It says it is fully charged but still. 
Also, if it is going to blow up or something, I'd rather it do all that
before I plug my rig up to it.  o_O

Thanks.

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!


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Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[J. Roeleveld]

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Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:

>J. Roeleveld wrote:
>> Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>     Howdy,
>>
>>     Newegg just had a sale on a really nice UPS.  I got one.  Anyway,
>it has
>>     both serial and USB connections.  I have a question about these. 
>I
>>     could use either one but not sure if it matters.  Does the USB
>>     connection offer any additional features over the serial
>connection?  I
>>     could use USB but would rather use serial since nothing else I
>have is
>>     serial but I have a bit of USB devices.  Also, I never disconnect
>the
>>     serial cable from either the system or the UPS when either is in
>use. 
>>     Sort of defeats the purpose I guess.  Since it also has screws to
>make
>>     sure the serial cable doesn't come undone, the serial has one
>>     advantage.  I'm not sure what would happen if it looses the
>connection
>>     all of a sudden.  Does it do like NORAD and assume power is out? 
>lol 
>>
>>     So, since I already have everything set up for se
>>      rial
>>     connections,
>>     should I just keep using it or does the USB have more goodies? 
>>
>>     Thanks.
>>
>>     Dale
>>
>>     :-)  :-) 
>>
>>
>>     P. S.  Crap, there goes my uptime again.  :-@ 
>>
>>
>> Dale.
>>
>> It depends on the UPS wether or not you get different functionality
>> between serial or USB. You would need to check the manual and support
>> for the UPS by NUT (or whichever tool you use)
>>
>> How UPS software responds to a connection failure depends on how you
>> configure it.
>>
>> In other words. You haven't provided enough information on the UPS to
>> give any meaningfull answers :)
>>
>> Which UPS and which UPS software are you using?
>>
>> --
>> Joost
>> -- 
>> Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. 
>
>
>Ooops.  I thought I put the model.  It's a CyberPower 1350AVR.  My old
>UPS is a CyberPower 1250AVR but it is about 10 years old.  I have one
>working plug left on the back of it.  I literally wore the plugs out. 
>lol
>
>According to the book, and the box, the new one uses powerpanel which
>is
>the same as I use on the old UPS.  Since it uses the same
>drivers/software, I figure it will work like my old one does.  Then
>again, this is newer so that's why I ask.  My old one has LEDs on it
>where this one has a display with more info than my old one. 
>
>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842102070
>
>I don't yet have the UPS hooked up to the puter.  I'm letting the
>battery charge overnight first.  It says it is fully charged but still.
>
>Also, if it is going to blow up or something, I'd rather it do all that
>before I plug my rig up to it.  o_O
>
>Thanks.
>
>Dale
>
>:-)  :-) 
>
>-- 
>I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood
>or how you interpreted my words!

Software is MS Windows only according to that site.
What are you using on Linux?

Sometimes the software on the UPS gets changed. This might mean it is not compatible anymore.
-- 
Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

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Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

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J. Roeleveld wrote:
>
>
> Software is MS Windows only according to that site.
> What are you using on Linux?
>
> Sometimes the software on the UPS gets changed. This might mean it is
> not compatible anymore.
> -- 
> Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. 


I haven't connected the UPS yet so I'm still using my old UPS and nut
software.  It has a Linux version on the CD but no mention of Gentoo,
just rpm and deb.  I tried to install this once before and I never got
the software to work right.  I think it was the init scripts that caused
trouble. 

I looked at the nut website and it says the new UPS uses usbhid-ups
which appears to need to be connected to the UPS by USB.  I'll try the
serial cable first, see what if anything it reports, then try USB and
see if it reports the same thing.  The old UPS uses powerpanel drivers
within nut.  That is sort of confusing since they call the Linux drivers
the same as the windows software. 

Looks like I'm going to have to test this to see if it works or not.  If
it does, may need to report it to the people on the nut website.  I
would prefer serial if it works the same myself. 

Thanks much. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!


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Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Paul Hartman]

On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 10:24 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> Howdy,
>
> Newegg just had a sale on a really nice UPS.  I got one.  Anyway, it has
> both serial and USB connections.  I have a question about these.  I
> could use either one but not sure if it matters.  Does the USB
> connection offer any additional features over the serial connection?  I
> could use USB but would rather use serial since nothing else I have is
> serial but I have a bit of USB devices.  Also, I never disconnect the
> serial cable from either the system or the UPS when either is in use.
> Sort of defeats the purpose I guess.  Since it also has screws to make
> sure the serial cable doesn't come undone, the serial has one
> advantage.  I'm not sure what would happen if it looses the connection
> all of a sudden.  Does it do like NORAD and assume power is out?  lol
>
> So, since I already have everything set up for serial connections,
> should I just keep using it or does the USB have more goodies?

I would be surprised if there is any difference. Usually the UPS just
spits out a heartbeat of the same information every X seconds.

I have a newer-model Cyberpower UPS and it works fine with NUT, so
you're probably okay there. If you already have serial port set up and
working then you've already got the hard part taken care of.

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

Paul Hartman wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 10:24 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Howdy,
>>
>> Newegg just had a sale on a really nice UPS.  I got one.  Anyway, it has
>> both serial and USB connections.  I have a question about these.  I
>> could use either one but not sure if it matters.  Does the USB
>> connection offer any additional features over the serial connection?  I
>> could use USB but would rather use serial since nothing else I have is
>> serial but I have a bit of USB devices.  Also, I never disconnect the
>> serial cable from either the system or the UPS when either is in use.
>> Sort of defeats the purpose I guess.  Since it also has screws to make
>> sure the serial cable doesn't come undone, the serial has one
>> advantage.  I'm not sure what would happen if it looses the connection
>> all of a sudden.  Does it do like NORAD and assume power is out?  lol
>>
>> So, since I already have everything set up for serial connections,
>> should I just keep using it or does the USB have more goodies?
> I would be surprised if there is any difference. Usually the UPS just
> spits out a heartbeat of the same information every X seconds.
>
> I have a newer-model Cyberpower UPS and it works fine with NUT, so
> you're probably okay there. If you already have serial port set up and
> working then you've already got the hard part taken care of.
>
>


I think I am going to try USB first, see what it does and what info it
gives.  Then go back to serial and compare.  If it does as you and me
think it will, I'm going to stick with serial.  If for no other reason
than it frees up a USB port plus it is very hard to accidentally unplug
my serial cable since it has the screws to hold it in. 

I still have not hooked this thing up yet.  We have storms predicted
here over the next couple days so I figure I will get a chance to switch
whether I want to reboot or not.  :/  I live close to the end of the
power lines, phone lines and everything else including the road.  If
anything happens, we lose the connection.  There are lots of trees
between here and town. 

I'll post the results when I get switched over.  Then we have a answer
to the question. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[J. Roeleveld]

On Mon, September 17, 2012 8:48 pm, Dale wrote:
> I still have not hooked this thing up yet.  We have storms predicted
> here over the next couple days so I figure I will get a chance to switch
> whether I want to reboot or not.  :/  I live close to the end of the
> power lines, phone lines and everything else including the road.  If
> anything happens, we lose the connection.  There are lots of trees
> between here and town.
>
> I'll post the results when I get switched over.  Then we have a answer
> to the question.

Dale,

A good way to test a new UPS is to use it to power a light and hook up the
USB/Serial/... to a computer to see what information you can get out of it
in the various "normal" situations of "plugged in" and "not plugged in"

You don't need to reboot your machine for that. :)

-- 
Joost

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

J. Roeleveld wrote:
> On Mon, September 17, 2012 8:48 pm, Dale wrote:
>> I still have not hooked this thing up yet.  We have storms predicted
>> here over the next couple days so I figure I will get a chance to switch
>> whether I want to reboot or not.  :/  I live close to the end of the
>> power lines, phone lines and everything else including the road.  If
>> anything happens, we lose the connection.  There are lots of trees
>> between here and town.
>>
>> I'll post the results when I get switched over.  Then we have a answer
>> to the question.
> Dale,
>
> A good way to test a new UPS is to use it to power a light and hook up the
> USB/Serial/... to a computer to see what information you can get out of it
> in the various "normal" situations of "plugged in" and "not plugged in"
>
> You don't need to reboot your machine for that. :)
>

I need to reboot when I plug the power cord up tho.  I have the UPS
plugged in and the battery is charged.  I even hooked it up to a older
rig that was given to me and the UPS works fine.  I just have not done
anything as far as hooking it to my main rig yet.  I also have not
hooked up the data part, just the power part.  I was running memtest on
the older rig to test some ram so no need trying to hook up the data
part on that.  ;-)  

Plus, aren't you supposed to only unplug/plug a serial cable when it is
off?  I'm not sure if they are sensitive to that but pretty sure they
were a long time ago. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[J. Roeleveld]

On Tue, September 18, 2012 9:03 am, Dale wrote:
> J. Roeleveld wrote:
>> On Mon, September 17, 2012 8:48 pm, Dale wrote:
>>> I still have not hooked this thing up yet.  We have storms predicted
>>> here over the next couple days so I figure I will get a chance to
>>> switch
>>> whether I want to reboot or not.  :/  I live close to the end of the
>>> power lines, phone lines and everything else including the road.  If
>>> anything happens, we lose the connection.  There are lots of trees
>>> between here and town.
>>>
>>> I'll post the results when I get switched over.  Then we have a answer
>>> to the question.
>> Dale,
>>
>> A good way to test a new UPS is to use it to power a light and hook up
>> the
>> USB/Serial/... to a computer to see what information you can get out of
>> it
>> in the various "normal" situations of "plugged in" and "not plugged in"
>>
>> You don't need to reboot your machine for that. :)
>>
>
> I need to reboot when I plug the power cord up tho.  I have the UPS
> plugged in and the battery is charged.  I even hooked it up to a older
> rig that was given to me and the UPS works fine.  I just have not done
> anything as far as hooking it to my main rig yet.  I also have not
> hooked up the data part, just the power part.  I was running memtest on
> the older rig to test some ram so no need trying to hook up the data
> part on that.  ;-)
>
> Plus, aren't you supposed to only unplug/plug a serial cable when it is
> off?  I'm not sure if they are sensitive to that but pretty sure they
> were a long time ago.

Not sure about Serial, I always did even when switched on when using
external modems in the past and never did have a problem there.

But if you want to see what USB gives as info, you could plug the
USB-cable into your computer and see what info you can get?

-- 
Joost

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

J. Roeleveld wrote:
> On Tue, September 18, 2012 9:03 am, Dale wrote:
>> J. Roeleveld wrote:
>>> On Mon, September 17, 2012 8:48 pm, Dale wrote:
>>>> I still have not hooked this thing up yet.  We have storms predicted
>>>> here over the next couple days so I figure I will get a chance to
>>>> switch
>>>> whether I want to reboot or not.  :/  I live close to the end of the
>>>> power lines, phone lines and everything else including the road.  If
>>>> anything happens, we lose the connection.  There are lots of trees
>>>> between here and town.
>>>>
>>>> I'll post the results when I get switched over.  Then we have a answer
>>>> to the question.
>>> Dale,
>>>
>>> A good way to test a new UPS is to use it to power a light and hook up
>>> the
>>> USB/Serial/... to a computer to see what information you can get out of
>>> it
>>> in the various "normal" situations of "plugged in" and "not plugged in"
>>>
>>> You don't need to reboot your machine for that. :)
>>>
>> I need to reboot when I plug the power cord up tho.  I have the UPS
>> plugged in and the battery is charged.  I even hooked it up to a older
>> rig that was given to me and the UPS works fine.  I just have not done
>> anything as far as hooking it to my main rig yet.  I also have not
>> hooked up the data part, just the power part.  I was running memtest on
>> the older rig to test some ram so no need trying to hook up the data
>> part on that.  ;-)
>>
>> Plus, aren't you supposed to only unplug/plug a serial cable when it is
>> off?  I'm not sure if they are sensitive to that but pretty sure they
>> were a long time ago.
> Not sure about Serial, I always did even when switched on when using
> external modems in the past and never did have a problem there.
>
> But if you want to see what USB gives as info, you could plug the
> USB-cable into your computer and see what info you can get?
>

Well, my old UPS is hooked to serial.  I also have to recompile nut with
the correct drivers.  I guess I could enable both drivers, old UPS and
new UPS, and see what that does.  Well, I'd have to edit my config file
too.  Sounds like time to backup /etc again, just in case.  ;-) 

Since we had some storms today, I was expecting at least one power
outage.  Since I wouldn't have minded this time, we have had good clean
power all day long.  The storms are mostly gone too.  Maybe another
raccoon will jump up on the high voltage transformer at the substation. 
It takes them about a hour to clean up the well done critter parts.  lol

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:51:49 +0200, J. Roeleveld wrote:

> > Plus, aren't you supposed to only unplug/plug a serial cable when it
> > is off?  I'm not sure if they are sensitive to that but pretty sure
> > they were a long time ago.  
> 
> Not sure about Serial, I always did even when switched on when using
> external modems in the past and never did have a problem there.

You were lucky, it's like forgetting to look when you cross the road.
Getting away with it once doesn't mean it is safe.

Yes, I have blown a UART chip by hotplugging a serial cable, because I'd
got away with it before.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

I'm Pink, Therefore I'm Spam

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Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:51:49 +0200, J. Roeleveld wrote:
>
>>> Plus, aren't you supposed to only unplug/plug a serial cable when it
>>> is off?  I'm not sure if they are sensitive to that but pretty sure
>>> they were a long time ago.  
>> Not sure about Serial, I always did even when switched on when using
>> external modems in the past and never did have a problem there.
> You were lucky, it's like forgetting to look when you cross the road.
> Getting away with it once doesn't mean it is safe.
>
> Yes, I have blown a UART chip by hotplugging a serial cable, because I'd
> got away with it before.
>
>

That's what I was thinking.  I have busted a mobo by unplugging a PS/2
keyboard too.  I thought serial/parallel was the same.  I guess that is
one reason USB came along, hot plugging stuff. 

One would think that modern stuff would have some sort of protection. 
Odd. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Volker Armin Hemmann]

Am Dienstag, 18. September 2012, 04:50:30 schrieb Dale:

> One would think that modern stuff would have some sort of protection.
> Odd.
> 

indeed. The modern stuff with protection is called 'usb'.


-- 
#163933

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

Volker Armin Hemmann wrote:
> Am Dienstag, 18. September 2012, 04:50:30 schrieb Dale:
>
>> One would think that modern stuff would have some sort of protection.
>> Odd.
>>
> indeed. The modern stuff with protection is called 'usb'.
>
>

Well, I meant for the serial/parallel chips tho.  Surely it can't be
hard to at least keep them from blowing their fuse. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Michael Mol]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 2:30 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> Volker Armin Hemmann wrote:
>> Am Dienstag, 18. September 2012, 04:50:30 schrieb Dale:
>>
>>> One would think that modern stuff would have some sort of protection.
>>> Odd.
>>>
>> indeed. The modern stuff with protection is called 'usb'.
>>
>>
>
> Well, I meant for the serial/parallel chips tho.  Surely it can't be
> hard to at least keep them from blowing their fuse.

If it's TTL, no problem. If it's CMOS, it requires extra work (and
cost) in an environment where every penny off of a component is
important. Point is, RS-232 and IEEE-1284 weren't designed for
hotplug, and plug/unplug events are very, very rare. Manufacturers are
under no obligation to extend support beyond spec, and it doesn't make
sense for them to, given that USB is available where it's necessary.

USB, on the other hand, was explicitly designed to handle hotplug. It
even shows in comparison to the connectors it replaces; DB-25, DB-9
and Centronix connectors typiclaly have explicit mechanisms to retain
devices and prevent them from accidentally unplugging. DB-25 and DB-9
connectors didn't originally even come with thumbscrews; I've still
got some cables laying around that require the use of a small
screwdriver. No such manual step with USB, as it's an expected event.

-- 
:wq

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

Michael Mol wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 2:30 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Volker Armin Hemmann wrote:
>>> Am Dienstag, 18. September 2012, 04:50:30 schrieb Dale:
>>>
>>>> One would think that modern stuff would have some sort of protection.
>>>> Odd.
>>>>
>>> indeed. The modern stuff with protection is called 'usb'.
>>>
>>>
>> Well, I meant for the serial/parallel chips tho.  Surely it can't be
>> hard to at least keep them from blowing their fuse.
> If it's TTL, no problem. If it's CMOS, it requires extra work (and
> cost) in an environment where every penny off of a component is
> important. Point is, RS-232 and IEEE-1284 weren't designed for
> hotplug, and plug/unplug events are very, very rare. Manufacturers are
> under no obligation to extend support beyond spec, and it doesn't make
> sense for them to, given that USB is available where it's necessary.
>
> USB, on the other hand, was explicitly designed to handle hotplug. It
> even shows in comparison to the connectors it replaces; DB-25, DB-9
> and Centronix connectors typiclaly have explicit mechanisms to retain
> devices and prevent them from accidentally unplugging. DB-25 and DB-9
> connectors didn't originally even come with thumbscrews; I've still
> got some cables laying around that require the use of a small
> screwdriver. No such manual step with USB, as it's an expected event.
>

I know it would take extra work but one would think that some company
would do it then everyone else will follow.  I'm not saying the
communication part should work when you plug up something, just that it
shouldn't burn out a chip so that it never works again.  It should at
least have some forgiveness to the occasional accident of unplugging a
cable. 

Oh well, me thinking it isn't going to change it.  ;-) 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Neil Bothwick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 551 bytes --]

On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:30:52 -0500, Dale wrote:

> >> One would think that modern stuff would have some sort of protection.
> >> Odd.
> >>  
> > indeed. The modern stuff with protection is called 'usb'.

> Well, I meant for the serial/parallel chips tho.  Surely it can't be
> hard to at least keep them from blowing their fuse. 

The problem is in the connectors, it's too easy to get a static discharge
when connecting them. USB has grounded shields over the connectors.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

I@love~my,;It's%made in Taiwa~##$ ` #@

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Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:30:52 -0500, Dale wrote:
>
>>>> One would think that modern stuff would have some sort of protection.
>>>> Odd.
>>>>  
>>> indeed. The modern stuff with protection is called 'usb'.
>> Well, I meant for the serial/parallel chips tho.  Surely it can't be
>> hard to at least keep them from blowing their fuse. 
> The problem is in the connectors, it's too easy to get a static discharge
> when connecting them. USB has grounded shields over the connectors.
>
>


Somewhat off topic, how about a monitor that uses the 15 pin connector? 
I try not to do those when something is powered up but have done it a
couple times.  Is that one safe to hotplug?  I never thought about that
until this came up. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Paul Hartman]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 3:21 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> Neil Bothwick wrote:
>> On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:30:52 -0500, Dale wrote:
>>
>>>>> One would think that modern stuff would have some sort of protection.
>>>>> Odd.
>>>>>
>>>> indeed. The modern stuff with protection is called 'usb'.
>>> Well, I meant for the serial/parallel chips tho.  Surely it can't be
>>> hard to at least keep them from blowing their fuse.
>> The problem is in the connectors, it's too easy to get a static discharge
>> when connecting them. USB has grounded shields over the connectors.
>>
>>
>
>
> Somewhat off topic, how about a monitor that uses the 15 pin connector?
> I try not to do those when something is powered up but have done it a
> couple times.  Is that one safe to hotplug?  I never thought about that
> until this came up.

VGA is not hot-pluggable by specification, but DVI and HDMI are hot-pluggable.

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Alan McKinnon]

On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:00:00 -0500
Paul Hartman <paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 3:21 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Neil Bothwick wrote:
> >> On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:30:52 -0500, Dale wrote:
> >>
> >>>>> One would think that modern stuff would have some sort of
> >>>>> protection. Odd.
> >>>>>
> >>>> indeed. The modern stuff with protection is called 'usb'.
> >>> Well, I meant for the serial/parallel chips tho.  Surely it can't
> >>> be hard to at least keep them from blowing their fuse.
> >> The problem is in the connectors, it's too easy to get a static
> >> discharge when connecting them. USB has grounded shields over the
> >> connectors.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > Somewhat off topic, how about a monitor that uses the 15 pin
> > connector? I try not to do those when something is powered up but
> > have done it a couple times.  Is that one safe to hotplug?  I never
> > thought about that until this came up.
> 
> VGA is not hot-pluggable by specification, but DVI and HDMI are
> hot-pluggable.

As someone who's done more electronics work than he ever should, any
device that can suffer electrical damage simply by being plugged and
unplugged from the thing it's supposed to be plugged into is a shoddy
design and really should be in the bin.

The only thing I ever found that was susceptible to this was ancient
RS232 kit, and the cause was always inadequate shielding and isolation.
In the last 10 years I only know of one product sold that has this
problem and sadly that's the first run of the Raspberry Pi... 

You can safely plug and unplug VGA all day long and be hit by lightning
more often than damage the monitor, repair techies have been doing it
for years. VGA connectors are shrouded, you are virtually guaranteed an
earth connection before any of the data pins make contact and you'll
never have a situation where 25V is trying to shake hands with 5V (that
was a major problem with RS232 stuff).

Of course, there's no guarantee the picture will show on the screen if
you hotplug VGA, but there's no inherent danger of damage either.

-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

Alan McKinnon wrote:
> As someone who's done more electronics work than he ever should, any
> device that can suffer electrical damage simply by being plugged and
> unplugged from the thing it's supposed to be plugged into is a shoddy
> design and really should be in the bin. The only thing I ever found
> that was susceptible to this was ancient RS232 kit, and the cause was
> always inadequate shielding and isolation. In the last 10 years I only
> know of one product sold that has this problem and sadly that's the
> first run of the Raspberry Pi... You can safely plug and unplug VGA
> all day long and be hit by lightning more often than damage the
> monitor, repair techies have been doing it for years. VGA connectors
> are shrouded, you are virtually guaranteed an earth connection before
> any of the data pins make contact and you'll never have a situation
> where 25V is trying to shake hands with 5V (that was a major problem
> with RS232 stuff). Of course, there's no guarantee the picture will
> show on the screen if you hotplug VGA, but there's no inherent danger
> of damage either. 

I have done that with monitors a few times, no problems but was
curious.  I have had that problem with a PS/2 keyboard tho.  That has
happened to me twice and I saw that with my own eyes.  I have heard of
people who have had the same thing happen so I only swap my keyboard
when my rig is off.  I don't want to build another rig.  ;-) 

New question about HDMI.  I have a pretty nice video card that has a 15
pin connector and HDMI.  Do I have to do anything special to use the
HDMI or does it just send the same signal to both connectors?  I have my
monitor hooked to the 15 pin connector but would like to hook my TV to
the HDMI connector.  Same signal on both is fine with me.  I would just
rather watch movies and such on my TV instead of my monitor.  I googled
a while back and just couldn't figure out how this works.  It seems to
me that it works different based on how it is set up or something.  My
card is Nvidia and it is a GT220 with 1Gb of ram.  It was donated so no
links or anything.

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Paul Hartman]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 7:33 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> New question about HDMI.  I have a pretty nice video card that has a 15
> pin connector and HDMI.  Do I have to do anything special to use the
> HDMI or does it just send the same signal to both connectors?  I have my
> monitor hooked to the 15 pin connector but would like to hook my TV to
> the HDMI connector.  Same signal on both is fine with me.  I would just
> rather watch movies and such on my TV instead of my monitor.  I googled
> a while back and just couldn't figure out how this works.  It seems to
> me that it works different based on how it is set up or something.  My
> card is Nvidia and it is a GT220 with 1Gb of ram.  It was donated so no
> links or anything.

If you use the nvidia-drivers package you should also emerge
nvidia-settings, which has a nice GUI that will let you configure the
multiple screens and decide how you'd like to treat them.

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

Paul Hartman wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 7:33 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>> New question about HDMI.  I have a pretty nice video card that has a 15
>> pin connector and HDMI.  Do I have to do anything special to use the
>> HDMI or does it just send the same signal to both connectors?  I have my
>> monitor hooked to the 15 pin connector but would like to hook my TV to
>> the HDMI connector.  Same signal on both is fine with me.  I would just
>> rather watch movies and such on my TV instead of my monitor.  I googled
>> a while back and just couldn't figure out how this works.  It seems to
>> me that it works different based on how it is set up or something.  My
>> card is Nvidia and it is a GT220 with 1Gb of ram.  It was donated so no
>> links or anything.
> If you use the nvidia-drivers package you should also emerge
> nvidia-settings, which has a nice GUI that will let you configure the
> multiple screens and decide how you'd like to treat them.
>
>

I have that installed but I guess I have to plug it up to be able to do
anything related to settings.  I need to try this one day.  It could be
that HDMI has a better picture somehow. 

Thanks for the info tho.  At least now I know where to set this up. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Mark Knecht]

On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 2:49 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> Paul Hartman wrote:
<SNIP>
>> If you use the nvidia-drivers package you should also emerge
>> nvidia-settings, which has a nice GUI that will let you configure the
>> multiple screens and decide how you'd like to treat them.

Actually, I believe with the newest nvidia-drivers packages
nvidia-settings is now part of that package so no need to emerge it
specifically anymore.

mark@slinky ~ $ eix -Ic nvidia
[I] dev-util/nvidia-cuda-sdk (4.2{tbz2}@09/01/12): NVIDIA CUDA
Software Development Kit
[I] dev-util/nvidia-cuda-toolkit (4.2{tbz2}@09/01/12): NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit
[I] x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers (304.48{tbz2}@09/14/12): NVIDIA X11
driver and GLX libraries
Found 3 matches.
mark@slinky ~ $ equery files nvidia-drivers | grep nvidia-settings
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/95-nvidia-settings
/opt/bin/nvidia-settings
/usr/share/man/man1/nvidia-settings.1.bz2
mark@slinky ~ $

I think this has been true for awhile but I only recently ran across it.

HTH,
Mark

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Paul Hartman]

On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 5:09 PM, Mark Knecht <markknecht@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 2:49 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Paul Hartman wrote:
> <SNIP>
>>> If you use the nvidia-drivers package you should also emerge
>>> nvidia-settings, which has a nice GUI that will let you configure the
>>> multiple screens and decide how you'd like to treat them.
>
> Actually, I believe with the newest nvidia-drivers packages
> nvidia-settings is now part of that package so no need to emerge it
> specifically anymore.
>
> mark@slinky ~ $ eix -Ic nvidia
> [I] dev-util/nvidia-cuda-sdk (4.2{tbz2}@09/01/12): NVIDIA CUDA
> Software Development Kit
> [I] dev-util/nvidia-cuda-toolkit (4.2{tbz2}@09/01/12): NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit
> [I] x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers (304.48{tbz2}@09/14/12): NVIDIA X11
> driver and GLX libraries
> Found 3 matches.
> mark@slinky ~ $ equery files nvidia-drivers | grep nvidia-settings
> /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/95-nvidia-settings
> /opt/bin/nvidia-settings
> /usr/share/man/man1/nvidia-settings.1.bz2
> mark@slinky ~ $
>
> I think this has been true for awhile but I only recently ran across it.

You're right, it is installed via the "tools" USE flag on nvidia-drivers now.

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

Paul Hartman wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 5:09 PM, Mark Knecht <markknecht@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 2:49 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Paul Hartman wrote:
>> <SNIP>
>>>> If you use the nvidia-drivers package you should also emerge
>>>> nvidia-settings, which has a nice GUI that will let you configure the
>>>> multiple screens and decide how you'd like to treat them.
>> Actually, I believe with the newest nvidia-drivers packages
>> nvidia-settings is now part of that package so no need to emerge it
>> specifically anymore.
>>
>> mark@slinky ~ $ eix -Ic nvidia
>> [I] dev-util/nvidia-cuda-sdk (4.2{tbz2}@09/01/12): NVIDIA CUDA
>> Software Development Kit
>> [I] dev-util/nvidia-cuda-toolkit (4.2{tbz2}@09/01/12): NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit
>> [I] x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers (304.48{tbz2}@09/14/12): NVIDIA X11
>> driver and GLX libraries
>> Found 3 matches.
>> mark@slinky ~ $ equery files nvidia-drivers | grep nvidia-settings
>> /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/95-nvidia-settings
>> /opt/bin/nvidia-settings
>> /usr/share/man/man1/nvidia-settings.1.bz2
>> mark@slinky ~ $
>>
>> I think this has been true for awhile but I only recently ran across it.
> You're right, it is installed via the "tools" USE flag on nvidia-drivers now.
>
>

I still have both installed here.  I'll get rid of the settings one and
see what happens.  This may explain why I have two entries in the K menu
tho.  There may be two versions installed, knowing me, I'm clicking on
the old one.  lol 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Adam Carter]

> You were lucky, it's like forgetting to look when you cross the road.
> Getting away with it once doesn't mean it is safe.
>
> Yes, I have blown a UART chip by hotplugging a serial cable, because I'd
> got away with it before.

I must have hot plugged serial connections on Sun, Cisco and Intel
boxes hundreds of times over the years and as far as i know have never
seen a failure. Typically, the same device would be hot plugged
multiple times so failures would have been noticed. I consider the
risk to be negligible.

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Neil Bothwick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 924 bytes --]

On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:55:30 +1000, Adam Carter wrote:

> > You were lucky, it's like forgetting to look when you cross the road.
> > Getting away with it once doesn't mean it is safe.
> >
> > Yes, I have blown a UART chip by hotplugging a serial cable, because
> > I'd got away with it before.  
> 
> I must have hot plugged serial connections on Sun, Cisco and Intel
> boxes hundreds of times over the years and as far as i know have never
> seen a failure. Typically, the same device would be hot plugged
> multiple times so failures would have been noticed. I consider the
> risk to be negligible.

I used to think the same way, until the risk turned out to be less
negligible than I thought. It's entirely your choice whether you continue
to take that risk, but I don't think it is fair to tell others it is
safe to do so.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

She's fine, upstanding, and wonderful laying down.

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Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Paul Hartman]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 4:09 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:
> Yes, I have blown a UART chip by hotplugging a serial cable, because I'd
> got away with it before.

The strangest thing I fried via hotplug was an Ethernet card via cat5
cable insertion! It made a little electrical "pop" sound and that was
the end of that.

Actually, I nearly fried myself once when hotplugging coaxial cable TV
wire into my television while everything was powered on. The shock
launched me -- caused me to launch myself, probably -- up into the air
and against a door, fully upright, from a seated position on the
floor. In case anyone is concerned: the TV was unharmed. :)

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Michael Mol]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 12:17 PM, Paul Hartman
<paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 4:09 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:
>> Yes, I have blown a UART chip by hotplugging a serial cable, because I'd
>> got away with it before.
>
> The strangest thing I fried via hotplug was an Ethernet card via cat5
> cable insertion! It made a little electrical "pop" sound and that was
> the end of that.
>
> Actually, I nearly fried myself once when hotplugging coaxial cable TV
> wire into my television while everything was powered on. The shock
> launched me -- caused me to launch myself, probably -- up into the air
> and against a door, fully upright, from a seated position on the
> floor. In case anyone is concerned: the TV was unharmed. :)

These weren't at the same locale, were they? That sounds like really
electrical ground.

-- 
:wq

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Michael Mol]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 1:02 PM, Michael Mol <mikemol@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 12:17 PM, Paul Hartman
> <paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 4:09 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:
>>> Yes, I have blown a UART chip by hotplugging a serial cable, because I'd
>>> got away with it before.
>>
>> The strangest thing I fried via hotplug was an Ethernet card via cat5
>> cable insertion! It made a little electrical "pop" sound and that was
>> the end of that.
>>
>> Actually, I nearly fried myself once when hotplugging coaxial cable TV
>> wire into my television while everything was powered on. The shock
>> launched me -- caused me to launch myself, probably -- up into the air
>> and against a door, fully upright, from a seated position on the
>> floor. In case anyone is concerned: the TV was unharmed. :)
>
> These weren't at the same locale, were they? That sounds like really
> electrical ground.

*like a really bad electrical ground. (htf?)


-- 
:wq

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Volker Armin Hemmann]

Am Dienstag, 18. September 2012, 13:03:15 schrieb Michael Mol:
> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 1:02 PM, Michael Mol <mikemol@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 12:17 PM, Paul Hartman
> > 
> > <paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 4:09 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> 
wrote:
> >>> Yes, I have blown a UART chip by hotplugging a serial cable, because I'd
> >>> got away with it before.
> >> 
> >> The strangest thing I fried via hotplug was an Ethernet card via cat5
> >> cable insertion! It made a little electrical "pop" sound and that was
> >> the end of that.
> >> 
> >> Actually, I nearly fried myself once when hotplugging coaxial cable TV
> >> wire into my television while everything was powered on. The shock
> >> launched me -- caused me to launch myself, probably -- up into the air
> >> and against a door, fully upright, from a seated position on the
> >> floor. In case anyone is concerned: the TV was unharmed. :)
> > 
> > These weren't at the same locale, were they? That sounds like really
> > electrical ground.
> 
> *like a really bad electrical ground. (htf?)

na, it's fine. He grounded the equipment through his body well. Always 
remember: humans are replaceable. A kick ass TV is not.
-- 
#163933

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Paul Hartman]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 12:03 PM, Michael Mol <mikemol@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 1:02 PM, Michael Mol <mikemol@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 12:17 PM, Paul Hartman
>> <paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 4:09 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:
>>>> Yes, I have blown a UART chip by hotplugging a serial cable, because I'd
>>>> got away with it before.
>>>
>>> The strangest thing I fried via hotplug was an Ethernet card via cat5
>>> cable insertion! It made a little electrical "pop" sound and that was
>>> the end of that.
>>>
>>> Actually, I nearly fried myself once when hotplugging coaxial cable TV
>>> wire into my television while everything was powered on. The shock
>>> launched me -- caused me to launch myself, probably -- up into the air
>>> and against a door, fully upright, from a seated position on the
>>> floor. In case anyone is concerned: the TV was unharmed. :)
>>
>> These weren't at the same locale, were they? That sounds like really
>> electrical ground.
>
> *like a really bad electrical ground. (htf?)

The ethernet incident happened at work, which should be grounded,
however it was in a cubicle... a cubicle that would give you the
tingles if you touched its metallic edges.

The TV was at my parents' house in the 1980's, an old home that
certainly does not have grounded electrical outlets. Plus I was
probably scooting around tall carpet in socks or something prior to
it. :)

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Michael Mol]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 2:06 PM, Paul Hartman
<paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 12:03 PM, Michael Mol <mikemol@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 1:02 PM, Michael Mol <mikemol@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 12:17 PM, Paul Hartman
>>> <paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 4:09 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:
>>>>> Yes, I have blown a UART chip by hotplugging a serial cable, because I'd
>>>>> got away with it before.
>>>>
>>>> The strangest thing I fried via hotplug was an Ethernet card via cat5
>>>> cable insertion! It made a little electrical "pop" sound and that was
>>>> the end of that.
>>>>
>>>> Actually, I nearly fried myself once when hotplugging coaxial cable TV
>>>> wire into my television while everything was powered on. The shock
>>>> launched me -- caused me to launch myself, probably -- up into the air
>>>> and against a door, fully upright, from a seated position on the
>>>> floor. In case anyone is concerned: the TV was unharmed. :)
>>>
>>> These weren't at the same locale, were they? That sounds like really
>>> electrical ground.
>>
>> *like a really bad electrical ground. (htf?)
>
> The ethernet incident happened at work, which should be grounded,
> however it was in a cubicle... a cubicle that would give you the
> tingles if you touched its metallic edges.
>
> The TV was at my parents' house in the 1980's, an old home that
> certainly does not have grounded electrical outlets. Plus I was
> probably scooting around tall carpet in socks or something prior to
> it. :)

I've nothing to say but that you've given me ample entertainment
today. (and your boss was lucky you hadn't fried the network
switch...) :)

-- 
:wq

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[J. Roeleveld]

Paul Hartman <paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 4:09 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk>
>wrote:
>> Yes, I have blown a UART chip by hotplugging a serial cable, because
>I'd
>> got away with it before.
>
>The strangest thing I fried via hotplug was an Ethernet card via cat5
>cable insertion! It made a little electrical "pop" sound and that was
>the end of that.
>
>Actually, I nearly fried myself once when hotplugging coaxial cable TV
>wire into my television while everything was powered on. The shock
>launched me -- caused me to launch myself, probably -- up into the air
>and against a door, fully upright, from a seated position on the
>floor. In case anyone is concerned: the TV was unharmed. :)

How was the door afterwards? ;)

I think the biggest risk is from powerspikes due to bad earthing of the devices. 
-- 
Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[J. Roeleveld]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1070 bytes --]

Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:

>On Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:51:49 +0200, J. Roeleveld wrote:
>
>> > Plus, aren't you supposed to only unplug/plug a serial cable when
>it
>> > is off?  I'm not sure if they are sensitive to that but pretty sure
>> > they were a long time ago.  
>> 
>> Not sure about Serial, I always did even when switched on when using
>> external modems in the past and never did have a problem there.
>
>You were lucky, it's like forgetting to look when you cross the road.
>Getting away with it once doesn't mean it is safe.
>
>Yes, I have blown a UART chip by hotplugging a serial cable, because
>I'd
>got away with it before.
>
>
>-- 
>Neil Bothwick
>
>I'm Pink, Therefore I'm Spam

Probably.
Don't have any serial devices anymore. Don't even bother plugging in serial port brackets either on mainboards that support it either.

All the devices I have with a serial port (switches/ups) can also be configured using a network interface :)

-- 
Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

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Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

Dale wrote:
> Howdy,
>
> Newegg just had a sale on a really nice UPS.  I got one.  Anyway, it has
> both serial and USB connections.  I have a question about these.  I
> could use either one but not sure if it matters.  Does the USB
> connection offer any additional features over the serial connection?  I
> could use USB but would rather use serial since nothing else I have is
> serial but I have a bit of USB devices.  Also, I never disconnect the
> serial cable from either the system or the UPS when either is in use. 
> Sort of defeats the purpose I guess.  Since it also has screws to make
> sure the serial cable doesn't come undone, the serial has one
> advantage.  I'm not sure what would happen if it looses the connection
> all of a sudden.  Does it do like NORAD and assume power is out?  lol 
>
> So, since I already have everything set up for serial connections,
> should I just keep using it or does the USB have more goodies? 
>
> Thanks.
>
> Dale
>
> :-)  :-) 
>
>
> P. S.  Crap, there goes my uptime again.  :-@ 
>

OK.  I finally bit the bullet and did a shutdown.  I *had* over 30 days
of uptime too.  Grrrrr !!

Anyway, when I connected it to the serial port, it would rather rudely
cut off my puter after a couple minutes.  Click, off.  So, I hooked up
the USB cable so that I could get back to going again.  I'm going to
have to google on how to get this to work with the serial cable.  I
found the settings for USB but nothing for this driver and a serial
connection. 

This is the info I get from the UPS with a USB connection for those
interested. 

root@fireball / # upsc ups
battery.charge: 100
battery.charge.low: 10
battery.charge.warning: 20
battery.mfr.date: CPS
battery.runtime: 2100
battery.runtime.low: 300
battery.type: PbAcid
battery.voltage: 13.9
battery.voltage.nominal: 12
device.mfr: CPS
device.model:  CP 1350C
device.type: ups
driver.name: usbhid-ups
driver.parameter.pollfreq: 30
driver.parameter.pollinterval: 2
driver.parameter.port: auto
driver.parameter.productid: 0501
driver.parameter.vendorid: 0764
driver.version: 2.6.3
driver.version.data: CyberPower HID 0.3
driver.version.internal: 0.35
input.transfer.high: 140
input.transfer.low: 90
input.voltage: 124.0
input.voltage.nominal: 120
output.voltage: 124.0
ups.beeper.status: enabled
ups.delay.shutdown: 20
ups.delay.start: 30
ups.load: 16
ups.mfr: CPS
ups.model:  CP 1350C
ups.productid: 0501
ups.realpower.nominal: 298
ups.status: OL
ups.test.result: Done and passed
ups.timer.shutdown: -60
ups.timer.start: 0
ups.vendorid: 0764
root@fireball / #

I got to make some changes tho.  When it cut me off, it did NOT do a
clean shutdown.  It just cut off.  That ain't going to work for me.  o_O

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Re: [gentoo-user] UPS and serial or USB connections

[Dale]

One more update I guess.  I couldn't get this to work with serial.  The
driver for this thing appears to be USB only.  I might could get it to
work in dumb mode but I don't want that anyway.  So, if you buy a model
similar to CyberPower 1350AVRLCD, don't depend on using serial
connections. 

One other thing I don't like, it doesn't give me a internal temperature
measurement.  My old one did and I liked that.  I actually had a
external fan blowing air on the side where the vent holes are.  It would
be 100F even in a 70F room and it only 8 inches or so off the floor. 
That said, when in standby mode, it is cool to the touch so it seem to
be a cool runner.  It does have a fan that runs when it is running off
the batteries tho.  That makes me feel better.

Thanks to all for the replies. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!