Welcome to GBATTERY v 0.8

What does the name mean?
========================
My first intention was to make something similar to the Psion-U screen.
The only difference would be the Graphical representation, hence GBattery.


What does it do?
================
It shows how much power is left and how much time you have left to operate on batteries.
In addition you can set an alarm when power left drops below a specified level.

How to install?
===============
Just put it into your APP directory. The first time GBattery is started it will create
a small settings file in the OPD directory.

Updating old versions
=====================
A new version of gbattery can have a new setting file format, you should delete the old 
setting file GBAT.ODB before running a new version. Your settings will be lost and you 
should re-configure gbattery.

How it works
============
GBattery is initially intent to be used when operating on rechargeables. Nicads (and
other rechargeables) are suffering from self discharge. A typical Nicad cell has lost
all its power in about 3 months. GBattery will take into account this self discharge.

When Gbattery is active (either in foreground or background) it will at least read the
battery current once an hour (You can specify this interval under preferences) and trigger
an alarm when power has dropped under thespecified level (psion-l). 
When the alarm is triggered (threshold reached) the alarm will repeat itself. The
repeat interval can be specified under preferences.
The alarm trigger is graphically represented by a small bar above the 'Hours left' bar.

Above the "Average Usage" bar there is a small extra bar. This smal bar represent the short 
term (battery) power usage. This is average power usage since GBattery has started.
You can reset the short term power usage with psion-r. When wanted you can automatically reset
the short term power useage each cycle as defined in the psion-l screen (the 'Check batteries
every (min):' line).

Psion-f, refesh will force a recalculation and a screen update. Normally a recalculation
occurs once per 'check batteries every ..'(psion-l) minutes or any time the application is
switched to the foreground.

With psion-s you can change the scale of the (last two) bars.

Escape will send the application back to the background.

Chime feature
=============
New in this release is the chime feature. This will enable you to play a chime each full
hour. This feature is new and is more likely to have bugs.



Contact
=======
Please mail any comments to mbis@xs4all.nl