Re: [Apcupsd-users] Question about apctest

[Adam K. <akr...@ro...>]

On Tue, Jul 12, 2005 at 02:56:19PM +0100, Russel Winder wrote:
> Yes I did have a blank DEVICE setting since that was what the file said
> was the right thing to do to get auto-detection.  I put fixme in as you
> suggest and it works exactly as you predicted.  Clearly a known bug :-)

A blank setting is indeed the preferred choice, but the apctest bug
throws a wrench in the works. All that will be solved in 3.10.18,
though.

> As well as differences in status, there seem to be significant
> differences in the apctest menu between serial connection and USB
> connection.  For serial I get:
> 
> 1) Query the UPS for all known values
> 2) Perform a Battery Runtime Calibration
> 3) Abort Battery Calibration
> 4) Monitor Battery Calibration progress
> 5) Program EEPROM
> 6) Enter TTY mode communicating with UPS
> 7) Quit
> 
> whereas for USB I get:
> 
> 1) Test kill UPS power
> 2) Perform self-test
> 3) Read last self-test result
> 4) Change battery date
> 5) View battery date
> 6) View manufacturing date
> 7) Quit
> 
> so it seems that different bits of functionality are offered through the
> different connection types.  Bizarre.

It's actually not bizarre at all. The serial and USB connections are
completely and totally different protocols. The serial connection has
been around for many, many years and is quite well understood. USB, on
the other hand, is much newer, nearly undocumented, and varies wildly
from one APC model to the next. The options apctest presents for USB are
simply the things we know how to do over that type of connection. 

> ====  Output from the USB connected machine =======================
<snip>
> ==== Output from the serial connected machine ======================
<snip>

Hmm... There are actually fewer differences than I expected. In most
cases I think it's simply a matter of updating the USB code to add the
missing items to its volatile data list. I'm in the process of
significantly updating the USB drivers in 3.11.x; I'll see about
bringing the USB data more in line with serial.

--Adam