Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

[ScottyK]

Our electric company is in the process of converting everybody over to a "smart" meter. This will allow them to charge you different rates for different periods of time.

I'm withholding my opinion of this because this is a family forum.

Peak times will be weekdays between 2pm and 7pm, where the rate will be 4x higher than the non-peak time.

Is there something in Kubuntu/KDE/Linux where I can schedule my computer to power itself down at say 1:45pm, and at 7:10 pm automatically turn itself back on?

I found this for shutting the computer down. Not sure if it's a one-time, or can I set up a reoccurring schedule.

http://theheatweb.com/kshutdown-sche...-windowslinux/

The motherboard in the computer is fairly new (within 3 years), so maybe there is some sort of "wake-on LAN" option?

I normally leave this computer on 24/7 because I like to download, and basically like sitting at it whenever I want. During the times the desktop is off I have a Notebook and Netbook that is charged at work.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

You can wake your computer from hibernation with rtcwake.

With power off I don't know if you can start it up automatically.

[Teunis]

Re: Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

When a computer supports Wake on Lan it's usually an option that can be set in the BIOS, so looking into the BIOS will probably tell you if it's possible.
And there's likely a cable from the network card to the power supply but I've seen network cards with support where the cable was not installed.
*ubuntu supports it.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

I would think the issue might be (along with what Teunis said) is what generates the Wake-On-LAN signal?

For example: I run a 21 computer network (mixed windows and linux) with dozens of external peripherals and all the hardware are switched off and on by a combination of WOL and "Smart" power strips. The power strips turn on and off the peripherals and the computers turn on using WOL - However: I still have to hit the button on the master server to "ignite" the system.

I think, unless your BIOS has auto-on settings or you have some external timer that applies connection to the power switch or sends the WOL signal, you can't wake up from power-off. I know laptops can do it but they have a battery.

[Detonate]

Re: Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

Hmmm, what if he had a UPS?

[Teunis]

Re: Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

A UPS is not exactly efficient.

But the mention of a power strip made me think of running the power supply through a simple timer switch, let it shut down completely just after the computer has shut itself down and then when it switches power back on the computer restarts.

At work we use logging systems that auto start after a power failure and I'm pretty sure what can be done in Windows can be done better in Linux 8)

[Snowhog]

Re: Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

I'd be inclined to agree with oshunluvr, the BIOS would have to have an 'auto-on' on power setting (my dad's new PC has such a BIOS setting). With this, you would also have to configure KDM for passwordless user login, otherwise the system would just be sitting at the KDM login screen waiting for you to type your password and press Enter.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

I just checked - my BIOS has a RTC (real time clock?) wake up feature. You can set date/hr/min/sec for the wake up

[oshunluvr]

Re: Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

Any electronics geeks out there want to tackle this one?

I've decided the solution is a 555 timer circuit. The ATX power switch is low voltage and amperage so someone should be able to design a simple circuit using a 555 timer to begin a countdown when power is off and ground the switch circuit after X amount of time.

Another option is if your router supports subnet based broadcasting you can turn it on from the internet with another computer.

[ScottyK]

Re: Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

Assuming my BIOS had a wake up feature (need to reboot and check that out), then I could set it up to automatically logon. I'm the only one who uses this computer and it's in a secure location.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

Correct and there's even a "re-login" option.

[maestrobwh1]

Re: Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

sudo apt-get install kshutdown

:-)


This will allow you to schedule a shutdown. As far as waking/starting it up you have to follow other advice.

[wizard10000]

Re: Automatic Shutdown and Power on of computer at scheduled times?

Another option is if your router supports subnet based broadcasting you can turn it on from the internet with another computer.

Without a static route between sender and receiver (or an infrastructure solution like 1E WakeUp) I'm afraid WOL packets aren't routable - no broadcast packet is.

Each router through which the packet passes needs to know where to send the packet as it's addressed to x.x.x.255 and routers normally discard broadcast packets.