Waking frontlineSMS computer from standby / sleep when sms received

[Nick Henwood]

Hi
I am using Mac os 10.5
and have a Motorola v220 connected by USB.

Is there a way to prompt my computer to wake up from sleep (standby) when a text is received?

(The reason why I want to is so that FrontlineSMS will then relay the message to our blog - and it would be great for this functionality to work around the clock - but I don't want to leave the computer awake 24/7.)

Thanks
Nick

[kiwanja]

Hi Nick

Glad to hear you're up and running.

Right now I can't think of any clever way you could do this (I don't actually know of any Mac programs which are able to automatically wake the computer when an event is triggered, but that's not to say one doesn't exist).

If one of the developers has any idea they'll get back to you, but I think this will be a non-starter (if FrontlineSMS isn't actually running - which is won't be in sleep mode - it can't do anything). Maybe there's some clever way of getting around this, like a general utility for the Mac which will wake it for 5 mins every couple of hours, giving FrontlineSMS a chance to poll the phone? Not sure.

Of course, if the phone is off and/or disconnected from FrontlineSMS, it will pick up any messages that arrived since it last polled the device, so you won't lose messages if you turn things on in the morning. This won't be any use if you want messages to post real-time, of course.

Ken

[Nick Henwood]

Hi Ken,
yes, the texts I receive are posted real-time to a trial blog take a look at

http://chgn.posterous.com

I'll think along the lines of a 5min wake up every hour...
thanks for your thoughts.
Nick

[kiwanja]

Very cool, Nick - great work!

Looking forward to seeing how this goes.

Cheers. \o/

[Phil Marnell]

I added a response, then re-read the item and took that response out.

But what about this:
http://xlife.zuavra.net/index.php/60/
Using Wake-On-LAN WOL/PME to power up your computer remotely

That was downstream from this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN

...and this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-Ring
...a special signal is sent over phone lines to the computer through its dial-up modem, telling it to fully power-on and begin operation...

Wonder if that's in the AT command set? Could the 'event' at the phone become the signal to the PC to wakeup?

[Phil Marnell]

from sourceforge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wolviaphp/

"This application (a couple of PHP-scripts) allows webusers to wake up WOL-enabled remote hosts."

[Nick Henwood]

Phil - just to say - many thanks for your help and ideas. I'll follow them through.

(I've been away for a trip to Nepal - which explains my not responding before).

Yours,
Nick

[Ben Whitaker]

Hi Nick,

this isn't the sort of thing that will be supported on many PC's, as it depends on the BIOS supporting a "wake on serial" or "wake on USB" function.

This definately exists on some PC and laptop BIOS set-ups, but not on all.

Why are you against leaving the PC awake all of the time?
As suggested below, it is possible to make many PC's wake up at a fixed time frequency, check the phone for messages, then deal with them, then shut down.
That would be more widely supported.

[Nick Henwood]

Hi -
I'm presently using an old Macintosh computer (Running 10.5) - and I haven't found the automatic wake up feature you mention - but will look some more.

I guess I'm hoping that letting it go to sleep will save power and ware and tear...

thanks
Nick

[Ben Whitaker]

Hi Nick,

I don't think those reasons are strong enough for us to put any time into this request centrally, but other forum users may have some advice.

I'd add that in most cases you would save wear and tear by not switching the PC on and off.

(My longest serving PC's are just left running, in some cases without good ventilation)

[Paul]

I haven't tried this, just stumbled across it. He uses Mac Automator to wake the computer remotely.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20090626025416657