Power Management and OpenMoko - third power setting

[Andy Green]

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Somebody in the thread at some point said:

>> I'm not sure what the GUI UI is for actual suspend now, I thought it
>> was the "lock" thing, maybe that is busted.
> 
> Andy, I want to stress that in my observations of the power issues I am
> using the Trolltech version of the software.  If the OpenMoko software

Ah right, I don't know what "lock" means there.  On the GUI stuff I have
used here the verb "lock" seems to mean "suspend".

> has a suspend function that requires a definite action from the user,
> then that is fine.  In the case of the current phone, you might consider
> making that the "alternate" button, or make the key user configurable.

It can be extended to be configurable, I guess it will ship that folks
use the power button to come back from suspend typically, although there
are other sources.

>> These new "A5" boards will ship with a smart battery
> 
> Very kewl!  But I hope the battery is not private labeled "FIC", so you
> can not find a replacement in any reasonable store.  And I hope that the
> firmware is set up to use other "smart batteries" from other
> manufacturers that have much the same characteristics.

Currently the one I was given that is matched for production parameters
didn't have a label even, it's terminator style silver :-)  Generally,
the charging bit is a whole separate piece of hardware on its own that
doesn't integrate with the telemetry coming from the smart battery, so
the old style batteries will still work in terms of charging and
powering the phone, it is just the information about battery state will
be absent or less good.

If it is another smart battery also using HDQ (this 1-pin protocol to
talk to the chip in the battery), if it is the same bq27000 chip we use
then it should just work, otherwise a small driver will be needed.

> Another idea I had about "increasing the power life" was to suggest an
> option of a belt-battery/USB hub.  This would have its own battery
> charger, but would accept a standard power wart to plug into it, and
> would do a dual purpose of allowing more devices to connect to the phone
> at the same time through the USB hub but also allow the phone to
> recharge off the included battery through the USB cable while wearing it
> on your belt/strap (or having it on your desk).  This would be useful

Heh this is a hot topic right now, in essence this is "USB host mode
while accepting external power".  It may or may not be able to do this,
the phone expects to have to provide 5V for external USB devices in this
mode.  How the 5V SMPSU reacts to external 5V applied needs confirming.
 I think there is general agreement that we would like it to be able to
do this.

- -Andy
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