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How is the operating system able to know the battery level?
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Even if we remove the default OS and install a new one it can interact with the battery. Are there some drivers for it? How does it work?
battery operating-systems
edited 11 mins ago
Braiam
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green
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up vote
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down vote
favorite
Even if we remove the default OS and install a new one it can interact with the battery. Are there some drivers for it? How does it work?
battery operating-systems
edited 11 mins ago
Braiam
4,00631850
asked 6 hours ago
green
472
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green is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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up vote
8
down vote
favorite
up vote
8
down vote
favorite
Even if we remove the default OS and install a new one it can interact with the battery. Are there some drivers for it? How does it work?
battery operating-systems
edited 11 mins ago
Braiam
4,00631850
asked 6 hours ago
green
472
New contributor
green is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Even if we remove the default OS and install a new one it can interact with the battery. Are there some drivers for it? How does it work?
battery operating-systems
battery operating-systems
edited 11 mins ago
Braiam
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asked 6 hours ago
green
472
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edited 11 mins ago
Braiam
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asked 6 hours ago
green
472
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edited 11 mins ago
Braiam
4,00631850
edited 11 mins ago
Braiam
4,00631850
edited 11 mins ago
Braiam
4,00631850
4,00631850
asked 6 hours ago
green
472
New contributor
green is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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asked 6 hours ago
green
472
asked 6 hours ago
green
472
472
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green is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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New contributor
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
12
down vote
As a complement to the other answer, how does the software running on the computer know what the battery level is? It asks the battery.
Most laptop batteries are smart batteries that have their own microcontroller or "fuel gauge" ASIC, which the host can communicate with over SMBus. People have reverse engineered some examples.
The SMBus may or may not be exposed directly to the operating system in a way that allows the administrator to query it directly. There are various programs like OpenHardwareMonitor or Speccy or lm-sensors that can interrogate the bus to find out about the hardware.
answered 5 hours ago
pjc50
5,0911726
great explanation to understand the basic concept in general! Although I would ad quotation marks around the word "asks".
– Albin
4 hours ago
There is no conflict with my answer : SMBus is a component that is managed by ACPI for mobile computers in which it exists.
– harrymc
4 hours ago
This smart battery interface can also be exposed through more standard means, such as USB. For instance, many UPSs have a USB port on them that, when plugged into the computer, tells the computer how much power is left and displays it just like a laptop does.
– TheHansinator
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
8
down vote
The operating system interfaces with the firmware of an embedded controller
that is part of the
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI).
Wikipedia defines it as :
In a computer, the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) provides an open standard that operating systems can use to discover and configure computer hardware components, to perform power management by (for example) putting unused components to sleep, and to perform status monitoring. First released in December 1996, ACPI aims to replace Advanced Power Management (APM), the MultiProcessor Specification, and the Plug and Play BIOS (PnP) Specification.[1] ACPI brings the power management under the control of the operating system, as opposed to the previous BIOS-centric system that relied on platform-specific firmware to determine power management and configuration policies.
Internally, ACPI advertises the available components and their functions to the operating system kernel using instruction lists ("methods") provided through the system firmware (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) or BIOS), which the kernel parses. ACPI then executes the desired operations (such as the initialization of hardware components) using an embedded minimal virtual machine.
The answer is then that a circuit or micro-chip is embedded in the motherboard,
that itself contains a micro operating system which makes available some services
via the computer firmware - UEFI or BIOS. It controls many aspects of
power and device management.
The computer operating system has a system driver that is dedicated to interfacing
with ACPI. Once ACPI is activated, it takes exclusive control of all aspects of
power management and device configuration.
In many aspects ACPI is an operating system behind your operating system,
except that it comes with the motherboard and is not under your control.
There have been voices likening it to a Trojan horse and calling it
a security risk.
It may be disabled, but some computers may not boot without it,
and advanced power management is then in any case disabled as well.
For more information about its use in Windows see the article
Battery and power subsystem hardware design.
answered 5 hours ago
harrymc
240k10250532
1
I might be wrong but it sounds like the last paragraph's description completely confuses ACPI with SMM and/or with Intel's ME/AMT. ACPI is mostly a static data structure, with small amounts of bytecode that the OS itself has to interpret, whereas ME is the actual system.
– grawity
5 hours ago
1
@grawity: Don't think so. You may find a similar discussion in the Wikipedia ACPI article.
– harrymc
5 hours ago
1
I don't see much discussion in there beyond a few quotes from one Shuttleworth's one blog post, and after reading both pages I'm not convinced in the slightest – it seems to me that he just lumps everything that comes with the system under the "ACPI" name, be it the BIOS or the Intel ME or whatever. As far as I know, out of all the garbage that comes with a modern system, ACPI is probably the only part that doesn't run on its own, and certainly not under the OS.
– grawity
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
12
down vote
As a complement to the other answer, how does the software running on the computer know what the battery level is? It asks the battery.
Most laptop batteries are smart batteries that have their own microcontroller or "fuel gauge" ASIC, which the host can communicate with over SMBus. People have reverse engineered some examples.
The SMBus may or may not be exposed directly to the operating system in a way that allows the administrator to query it directly. There are various programs like OpenHardwareMonitor or Speccy or lm-sensors that can interrogate the bus to find out about the hardware.
answered 5 hours ago
pjc50
5,0911726
great explanation to understand the basic concept in general! Although I would ad quotation marks around the word "asks".
– Albin
4 hours ago
There is no conflict with my answer : SMBus is a component that is managed by ACPI for mobile computers in which it exists.
– harrymc
4 hours ago
This smart battery interface can also be exposed through more standard means, such as USB. For instance, many UPSs have a USB port on them that, when plugged into the computer, tells the computer how much power is left and displays it just like a laptop does.
– TheHansinator
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
12
down vote
As a complement to the other answer, how does the software running on the computer know what the battery level is? It asks the battery.
Most laptop batteries are smart batteries that have their own microcontroller or "fuel gauge" ASIC, which the host can communicate with over SMBus. People have reverse engineered some examples.
The SMBus may or may not be exposed directly to the operating system in a way that allows the administrator to query it directly. There are various programs like OpenHardwareMonitor or Speccy or lm-sensors that can interrogate the bus to find out about the hardware.
answered 5 hours ago
pjc50
5,0911726
great explanation to understand the basic concept in general! Although I would ad quotation marks around the word "asks".
– Albin
4 hours ago
There is no conflict with my answer : SMBus is a component that is managed by ACPI for mobile computers in which it exists.
– harrymc
4 hours ago
This smart battery interface can also be exposed through more standard means, such as USB. For instance, many UPSs have a USB port on them that, when plugged into the computer, tells the computer how much power is left and displays it just like a laptop does.
– TheHansinator
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
12
down vote
up vote
12
down vote
As a complement to the other answer, how does the software running on the computer know what the battery level is? It asks the battery.
Most laptop batteries are smart batteries that have their own microcontroller or "fuel gauge" ASIC, which the host can communicate with over SMBus. People have reverse engineered some examples.
The SMBus may or may not be exposed directly to the operating system in a way that allows the administrator to query it directly. There are various programs like OpenHardwareMonitor or Speccy or lm-sensors that can interrogate the bus to find out about the hardware.
answered 5 hours ago
pjc50
5,0911726
As a complement to the other answer, how does the software running on the computer know what the battery level is? It asks the battery.
Most laptop batteries are smart batteries that have their own microcontroller or "fuel gauge" ASIC, which the host can communicate with over SMBus. People have reverse engineered some examples.
The SMBus may or may not be exposed directly to the operating system in a way that allows the administrator to query it directly. There are various programs like OpenHardwareMonitor or Speccy or lm-sensors that can interrogate the bus to find out about the hardware.
answered 5 hours ago
pjc50
5,0911726
answered 5 hours ago
pjc50
5,0911726
answered 5 hours ago
pjc50
5,0911726
answered 5 hours ago
pjc50
5,0911726
5,0911726
great explanation to understand the basic concept in general! Although I would ad quotation marks around the word "asks".
– Albin
4 hours ago
There is no conflict with my answer : SMBus is a component that is managed by ACPI for mobile computers in which it exists.
– harrymc
4 hours ago
This smart battery interface can also be exposed through more standard means, such as USB. For instance, many UPSs have a USB port on them that, when plugged into the computer, tells the computer how much power is left and displays it just like a laptop does.
– TheHansinator
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
great explanation to understand the basic concept in general! Although I would ad quotation marks around the word "asks".
– Albin
4 hours ago
There is no conflict with my answer : SMBus is a component that is managed by ACPI for mobile computers in which it exists.
– harrymc
4 hours ago
This smart battery interface can also be exposed through more standard means, such as USB. For instance, many UPSs have a USB port on them that, when plugged into the computer, tells the computer how much power is left and displays it just like a laptop does.
– TheHansinator
2 hours ago
great explanation to understand the basic concept in general! Although I would ad quotation marks around the word "asks".
– Albin
4 hours ago
great explanation to understand the basic concept in general! Although I would ad quotation marks around the word "asks".
– Albin
4 hours ago
There is no conflict with my answer : SMBus is a component that is managed by ACPI for mobile computers in which it exists.
– harrymc
4 hours ago
There is no conflict with my answer : SMBus is a component that is managed by ACPI for mobile computers in which it exists.
– harrymc
4 hours ago
This smart battery interface can also be exposed through more standard means, such as USB. For instance, many UPSs have a USB port on them that, when plugged into the computer, tells the computer how much power is left and displays it just like a laptop does.
– TheHansinator
2 hours ago
This smart battery interface can also be exposed through more standard means, such as USB. For instance, many UPSs have a USB port on them that, when plugged into the computer, tells the computer how much power is left and displays it just like a laptop does.
– TheHansinator
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
8
down vote
The operating system interfaces with the firmware of an embedded controller
that is part of the
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI).
Wikipedia defines it as :
In a computer, the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) provides an open standard that operating systems can use to discover and configure computer hardware components, to perform power management by (for example) putting unused components to sleep, and to perform status monitoring. First released in December 1996, ACPI aims to replace Advanced Power Management (APM), the MultiProcessor Specification, and the Plug and Play BIOS (PnP) Specification.[1] ACPI brings the power management under the control of the operating system, as opposed to the previous BIOS-centric system that relied on platform-specific firmware to determine power management and configuration policies.
Internally, ACPI advertises the available components and their functions to the operating system kernel using instruction lists ("methods") provided through the system firmware (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) or BIOS), which the kernel parses. ACPI then executes the desired operations (such as the initialization of hardware components) using an embedded minimal virtual machine.
The answer is then that a circuit or micro-chip is embedded in the motherboard,
that itself contains a micro operating system which makes available some services
via the computer firmware - UEFI or BIOS. It controls many aspects of
power and device management.
The computer operating system has a system driver that is dedicated to interfacing
with ACPI. Once ACPI is activated, it takes exclusive control of all aspects of
power management and device configuration.
In many aspects ACPI is an operating system behind your operating system,
except that it comes with the motherboard and is not under your control.
There have been voices likening it to a Trojan horse and calling it
a security risk.
It may be disabled, but some computers may not boot without it,
and advanced power management is then in any case disabled as well.
For more information about its use in Windows see the article
Battery and power subsystem hardware design.
answered 5 hours ago
harrymc
240k10250532
1
I might be wrong but it sounds like the last paragraph's description completely confuses ACPI with SMM and/or with Intel's ME/AMT. ACPI is mostly a static data structure, with small amounts of bytecode that the OS itself has to interpret, whereas ME is the actual system.
– grawity
5 hours ago
1
@grawity: Don't think so. You may find a similar discussion in the Wikipedia ACPI article.
– harrymc
5 hours ago
1
I don't see much discussion in there beyond a few quotes from one Shuttleworth's one blog post, and after reading both pages I'm not convinced in the slightest – it seems to me that he just lumps everything that comes with the system under the "ACPI" name, be it the BIOS or the Intel ME or whatever. As far as I know, out of all the garbage that comes with a modern system, ACPI is probably the only part that doesn't run on its own, and certainly not under the OS.
– grawity
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
8
down vote
The operating system interfaces with the firmware of an embedded controller
that is part of the
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI).
Wikipedia defines it as :
In a computer, the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) provides an open standard that operating systems can use to discover and configure computer hardware components, to perform power management by (for example) putting unused components to sleep, and to perform status monitoring. First released in December 1996, ACPI aims to replace Advanced Power Management (APM), the MultiProcessor Specification, and the Plug and Play BIOS (PnP) Specification.[1] ACPI brings the power management under the control of the operating system, as opposed to the previous BIOS-centric system that relied on platform-specific firmware to determine power management and configuration policies.
Internally, ACPI advertises the available components and their functions to the operating system kernel using instruction lists ("methods") provided through the system firmware (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) or BIOS), which the kernel parses. ACPI then executes the desired operations (such as the initialization of hardware components) using an embedded minimal virtual machine.
The answer is then that a circuit or micro-chip is embedded in the motherboard,
that itself contains a micro operating system which makes available some services
via the computer firmware - UEFI or BIOS. It controls many aspects of
power and device management.
The computer operating system has a system driver that is dedicated to interfacing
with ACPI. Once ACPI is activated, it takes exclusive control of all aspects of
power management and device configuration.
In many aspects ACPI is an operating system behind your operating system,
except that it comes with the motherboard and is not under your control.
There have been voices likening it to a Trojan horse and calling it
a security risk.
It may be disabled, but some computers may not boot without it,
and advanced power management is then in any case disabled as well.
For more information about its use in Windows see the article
Battery and power subsystem hardware design.
answered 5 hours ago
harrymc
240k10250532
1
I might be wrong but it sounds like the last paragraph's description completely confuses ACPI with SMM and/or with Intel's ME/AMT. ACPI is mostly a static data structure, with small amounts of bytecode that the OS itself has to interpret, whereas ME is the actual system.
– grawity
5 hours ago
1
@grawity: Don't think so. You may find a similar discussion in the Wikipedia ACPI article.
– harrymc
5 hours ago
1
I don't see much discussion in there beyond a few quotes from one Shuttleworth's one blog post, and after reading both pages I'm not convinced in the slightest – it seems to me that he just lumps everything that comes with the system under the "ACPI" name, be it the BIOS or the Intel ME or whatever. As far as I know, out of all the garbage that comes with a modern system, ACPI is probably the only part that doesn't run on its own, and certainly not under the OS.
– grawity
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
8
down vote
up vote
8
down vote
The operating system interfaces with the firmware of an embedded controller
that is part of the
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI).
Wikipedia defines it as :
In a computer, the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) provides an open standard that operating systems can use to discover and configure computer hardware components, to perform power management by (for example) putting unused components to sleep, and to perform status monitoring. First released in December 1996, ACPI aims to replace Advanced Power Management (APM), the MultiProcessor Specification, and the Plug and Play BIOS (PnP) Specification.[1] ACPI brings the power management under the control of the operating system, as opposed to the previous BIOS-centric system that relied on platform-specific firmware to determine power management and configuration policies.
Internally, ACPI advertises the available components and their functions to the operating system kernel using instruction lists ("methods") provided through the system firmware (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) or BIOS), which the kernel parses. ACPI then executes the desired operations (such as the initialization of hardware components) using an embedded minimal virtual machine.
The answer is then that a circuit or micro-chip is embedded in the motherboard,
that itself contains a micro operating system which makes available some services
via the computer firmware - UEFI or BIOS. It controls many aspects of
power and device management.
The computer operating system has a system driver that is dedicated to interfacing
with ACPI. Once ACPI is activated, it takes exclusive control of all aspects of
power management and device configuration.
In many aspects ACPI is an operating system behind your operating system,
except that it comes with the motherboard and is not under your control.
There have been voices likening it to a Trojan horse and calling it
a security risk.
It may be disabled, but some computers may not boot without it,
and advanced power management is then in any case disabled as well.
For more information about its use in Windows see the article
Battery and power subsystem hardware design.
answered 5 hours ago
harrymc
240k10250532
The operating system interfaces with the firmware of an embedded controller
that is part of the
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI).
Wikipedia defines it as :
In a computer, the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) provides an open standard that operating systems can use to discover and configure computer hardware components, to perform power management by (for example) putting unused components to sleep, and to perform status monitoring. First released in December 1996, ACPI aims to replace Advanced Power Management (APM), the MultiProcessor Specification, and the Plug and Play BIOS (PnP) Specification.[1] ACPI brings the power management under the control of the operating system, as opposed to the previous BIOS-centric system that relied on platform-specific firmware to determine power management and configuration policies.
Internally, ACPI advertises the available components and their functions to the operating system kernel using instruction lists ("methods") provided through the system firmware (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) or BIOS), which the kernel parses. ACPI then executes the desired operations (such as the initialization of hardware components) using an embedded minimal virtual machine.
The answer is then that a circuit or micro-chip is embedded in the motherboard,
that itself contains a micro operating system which makes available some services
via the computer firmware - UEFI or BIOS. It controls many aspects of
power and device management.
The computer operating system has a system driver that is dedicated to interfacing
with ACPI. Once ACPI is activated, it takes exclusive control of all aspects of
power management and device configuration.
In many aspects ACPI is an operating system behind your operating system,
except that it comes with the motherboard and is not under your control.
There have been voices likening it to a Trojan horse and calling it
a security risk.
It may be disabled, but some computers may not boot without it,
and advanced power management is then in any case disabled as well.
For more information about its use in Windows see the article
Battery and power subsystem hardware design.
answered 5 hours ago
harrymc
240k10250532
answered 5 hours ago
harrymc
240k10250532
answered 5 hours ago
harrymc
240k10250532
answered 5 hours ago
harrymc
240k10250532
240k10250532
1
I might be wrong but it sounds like the last paragraph's description completely confuses ACPI with SMM and/or with Intel's ME/AMT. ACPI is mostly a static data structure, with small amounts of bytecode that the OS itself has to interpret, whereas ME is the actual system.
– grawity
5 hours ago
1
@grawity: Don't think so. You may find a similar discussion in the Wikipedia ACPI article.
– harrymc
5 hours ago
1
I don't see much discussion in there beyond a few quotes from one Shuttleworth's one blog post, and after reading both pages I'm not convinced in the slightest – it seems to me that he just lumps everything that comes with the system under the "ACPI" name, be it the BIOS or the Intel ME or whatever. As far as I know, out of all the garbage that comes with a modern system, ACPI is probably the only part that doesn't run on its own, and certainly not under the OS.
– grawity
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
1
I might be wrong but it sounds like the last paragraph's description completely confuses ACPI with SMM and/or with Intel's ME/AMT. ACPI is mostly a static data structure, with small amounts of bytecode that the OS itself has to interpret, whereas ME is the actual system.
– grawity
5 hours ago
1
@grawity: Don't think so. You may find a similar discussion in the Wikipedia ACPI article.
– harrymc
5 hours ago
1
I don't see much discussion in there beyond a few quotes from one Shuttleworth's one blog post, and after reading both pages I'm not convinced in the slightest – it seems to me that he just lumps everything that comes with the system under the "ACPI" name, be it the BIOS or the Intel ME or whatever. As far as I know, out of all the garbage that comes with a modern system, ACPI is probably the only part that doesn't run on its own, and certainly not under the OS.
– grawity
5 hours ago
1
1
I might be wrong but it sounds like the last paragraph's description completely confuses ACPI with SMM and/or with Intel's ME/AMT. ACPI is mostly a static data structure, with small amounts of bytecode that the OS itself has to interpret, whereas ME is the actual system.
– grawity
5 hours ago
I might be wrong but it sounds like the last paragraph's description completely confuses ACPI with SMM and/or with Intel's ME/AMT. ACPI is mostly a static data structure, with small amounts of bytecode that the OS itself has to interpret, whereas ME is the actual system.
– grawity
5 hours ago
1
1
@grawity: Don't think so. You may find a similar discussion in the Wikipedia ACPI article.
– harrymc
5 hours ago
@grawity: Don't think so. You may find a similar discussion in the Wikipedia ACPI article.
– harrymc
5 hours ago
1
1
I don't see much discussion in there beyond a few quotes from one Shuttleworth's one blog post, and after reading both pages I'm not convinced in the slightest – it seems to me that he just lumps everything that comes with the system under the "ACPI" name, be it the BIOS or the Intel ME or whatever. As far as I know, out of all the garbage that comes with a modern system, ACPI is probably the only part that doesn't run on its own, and certainly not under the OS.
– grawity
5 hours ago
I don't see much discussion in there beyond a few quotes from one Shuttleworth's one blog post, and after reading both pages I'm not convinced in the slightest – it seems to me that he just lumps everything that comes with the system under the "ACPI" name, be it the BIOS or the Intel ME or whatever. As far as I know, out of all the garbage that comes with a modern system, ACPI is probably the only part that doesn't run on its own, and certainly not under the OS.
– grawity
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
green is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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