Power-Off Safety Features?
 

Hi.

Can anyone tell me if there is a way to have linux ignore the power button if it's just pressed once (by curious children perhaps)? Ideally I'd like to have it function only if held down for a time.

Regards, Brett

PS: When running Window$ 98 on the same machine, it brings up the shutdown dialog when the power button is pressed.

On my machine, and the one I had before it, that setting is available through the BIOS setup. On both machines, I could choose to have the power button either place the computer on standby (which normally doesn't hurt anything...) or power it off.

In case you don't know how to check for this, when you first boot, there should be a message on the screen telling what key to press to enter the BIOS setup. From there, go to power management (probably) and make the selection you want.

P. S. Hope that the curious child doesn't press the button for more than a second or two, because on both my machines, pressing it for three or four seconds resulted in power-off regardless of the setting! :)

The BIOS setup on my machine is pretty rudimentary, with all 20-something settings on the main menu. I wonder if all Dells are like this. Part of the problem is that this system is so fragging quiet, people just hit the power button thinking it's off, without checking the blinkenlichten.

Power/Reset buttons make Linux scared.

Actually, I've found that power failures (and a couple of inadvertent power-offs by yours truly!) have caused absolutely no damage to my Linux system. The file system seems more robust than Windows' system. When I was using Windows, I had real problems a couple of times after power failures and other "unclean" shutdowns, but never yet with Linux. Maybe I'm just lucky.

Anyway, I now have a battery-backup unit that gracefully shuts the computer down normally if the power fails. One of the best purchases I ever made. Exactly a week after I installed it, a storm knocked out power but the computer shut down just as if I'd logged out and given the poweroff command.

But a backup power source does no good if the computer switch shuts the machine off instantly.

I don't know about the Dell machines--I would have thought they had a pretty sophisticated BIOS setup, given their excellent reputation... Are you certain there are no sub-menus under the 20 or so commands? That's how mine works.

I wonder if you couldn't obtain the operating manual from the Dell website and see if there's an option for the switch feature you want. Like you, I've always preferred that the power switch should put the computer in standby rather than power it off with one brief push, just for an extra margin of safety.

If I had a child that might want to investigate the power switch, and I couldn't change the BIOS setting, I think I'd fashion some kind of cover for it, superglue it in place, and shut off power when needed by pulling the plug (recommended by many experts anyway as the only truly effective protection against lightning damage).

Hope you can get what you want done! :)