There are a number of things that will cut down on your usable battery life. The guess that the UART uses more power when active is correct. Also any sounds you have enabled cut down life. Hard disk usage does. If you can cause you screen to blank out it will save a lot of power. Also eject any and all PCMCIA cards you don't actually need at the time. (They consume power even when not in use.) If you really feel a need to run 24 hours on a charge, I have several suggestions. 1. Make the processor run as slow as you can. Speed is the enemy. 2. Get as much memory as needed to avoid the hard drive. 3. Prepare to lug around either spare batteries or a huge single one. If you are carrying this around, I think you would be better off planning an 8 hour life span and have two batteries if needed. If your actually using your computer for more then 8 hours in the day chances are there is a power source you can tap. Consider that we have electricity in the house because it is cheaper and more convenient then having the number of batteries needed to swap them out. It is not because cords are cool. -- Kirk Wood Cpt.Kirk at 1tree.net ------------------ Seek simplicity -- and distrust it. Alfred North Whitehead
