Most Windows installations will lack the GTK runtime, which is a prerequisite for running BatteryCat. The installer package includes all necessary libraries, etc. from the GTK runtime to run the application. Just download and run it and it will install the GTK libraries together with the BatteryCat application. If you already have a GTK+2 runtime installed you may choose do download just the application. This does not have to be installed. Just doubleclick the .exe file and off it goes. After installing you might experience the fonts very tiny. This is caused by GTK. You can fix this by creating a file .gtkrc-2.0 in you %USERPROFILE% directory (e.g. "C:\Documents and Settings\your_user_name"):
style "win32-font"
{
font_name = "tahoma 9"
}
class "*"
style "win32-font"
You might want to change the font name and size.
BatteryCat now (version 1.0) comes additionally as a portable application, which means that it is not necessary to install anything. All needed libraries from the GTK runtime are bundled in the BatteryCat_portable.zip archive. Just unpack it to a USB thumb drive and start the "start_batterycat.exe" program. BatteryCat is run without any interference with your system.
If your computer runs
Linux or another Unix-like OS you probably have GTK already
installed. BatteryCat uses GTK+2, any recent version will be OK.
Check your package management if unsure.
For BatteryCat download
the source
tarball and unpack it. Build the application by running 'make'
from the command line. A simple Makefile is supplied, which will work
in most environments.
Background
information:
Each battery has a certain 'design capacity' i.e. it
is designed and manufactured with a certain capability of storing
electrical energy. When your computer runs off the battery electrical
energy is retrieved from the battery. At some point most energy is
consumed and the battery has to be recharged. Recharging simply means
that electrical energy is put into the battery for later retrieval.
Unfortunately the charging/discharging process is not ideal such that
(and due to other reasons) the usable capacity declines with time.
With older-generation NiCd and NiMh chemistry the number of charging
cycles often was the limiting factor for the battery life time. With
modern Li-Ion and Li-Polymer batteries the number of
charging/discharging cycles is not so prominent any more. But still
batteries loose capacity with aging. Aging is fastest when the
battery is fully charged and at elevated temperatures (e.g. when you
have it in your laptop and mostly work off AC supply ...)
The
battery capacity is often expressed in mAh (1000th of Amperes times
hours), or sometimes in mWh (1000th Watts times hours). 1000mAh means
the battery can supply the current of 1A (1000mA) for one hour.
Depending on the model and application laptops draw about 1.5 to 3A
current from the battery. So you can estimate that a 4400mAh battery
can supply your laptop with energy for about 2 hours (or more or
less, depending on your computer model).
BatteryCat not only shows
you the current value of the capacity but it also lets you create a
history so you can monitor the development of your computer's
battery.
The BatteryCat main
window is split in three sections (from top to bottom):
- the
current charge state in relation to the current capacity
- the
current capacity in relation to the design capacity
- information
about the current power state
When clicking on
File/History (CTRL-H hotkey) the History Window open next to the main
window. You can see the recent saved capacity values. Clicking on
'Save' saves the current battery capacity along with the current
date. 'Remove' lets you remove the selected row. Close the Window
with the window close method of your window manager (mostly the 'x'
in the top right corner).
The history date is stored as a set of
comma separated values. The location of this file in Windows is:
%USERPROFILE%\batterycat\batterycat.csv. Under a UNIX-like OS the
location will be: $HOME/.batterycat/batterycat.csv.
Clicking Options/Options in the menu bar opens the 'Options" window. Following Options are available:
BatteryCat may fail to read the design capacity from the battery. In such a case you may enter the design capacity manually. Note that you have to check the "Custom Battery Capacity" Checkbox first.
This defines the time after which BatteryCat reads the current values from the battery. The default is every 10 sec.
Clicking 'Save' in the options panel saves the options to the BatteryCat config file, which is: %USERPROFILE%\batterycat\batterycat.ini in Windows and $HOME/.batterycat/batterycat.conf in UNIX/Linux.
This runs the default www browser and opens the online help. Currently the help is available only in English.
This shows you the Logo and version number.
31-Oct-2011 first released version
28-Dec-2011 added online help, minor fixes
20-Mar-2012 internal version
22-Jul-2012 switch build
environment to Code::Blocks
provide Makefile for Windows
add
support for FreeBSD, Mac OSX, Win9x
add installed/portable mode
21.Dec.2012: fix error that window closes at cmdline help (win32 version)
14.Mar.2013: add display
of current charge to window title
use g_timeout_add() instead of
custom timer object
28.Apr.2013: add NLS, available languages: German, French