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From: paryavi@cis.ksu.edu (Saiid Paryavi)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: PowerKey
Message-ID: <1991Apr9.035903.22270@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu>
Date: 9 Apr 91 03:59:03 GMT
References: <1991Apr8.192721.26602@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu>
Sender: news@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu (The News Guru)
Organization: Kansas State University, Dept. of Computing and Information Sciences
Lines: 43

In article <1991Apr8.192721.26602@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> rhumphre@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Robert P. Humphrey) writes:
>	Has anybody out there used or is currently using PowerKey by
>Sophisticated Circuits?  Supposedly it will allow you to turn on a Mac
>SE with the switch on the ADB keyboard on the back.  The ad says you
>can program powerups, or call your computer to turn it on.  There are
>four surge protected outlets on it to plug in printers, modems, etc.
>	Has anyone used this product?  Can you program powerdowns
>also?  It looks like a good deal if it works as advertised.
>	And, is anyone out there willing to part with one?
>
>	Thanks in advance,
>	Bob

PowerKey is a fine product.  It definately does all the above mentioned
tasks gracefully.  You can turn on your Mac from the keyboard, and when you
select shut-down in the Special menu, it actually shuts the machine off.
You can also program it for powerups and powerdowns.  The way it handles
powerups is to use its own internal clock and when the scheduled power-on
time is reached, it simply switches on all the surge protected ports.  To
schedule powerdowns, it is a little bit more tricky!  You will have to use
Quickeys Light software that comes with the PowerKey.  You make a macro
to select the shut-down command from the Special menu and schedule PowerKey
to execute that macro at a certain time.  In fact, you can schedule any
event or chain of events using PowerKey and Quickeys macros.  Therefore, 
you can effectively schedule your Mac to powerup at a certain time, perform
some operations, and then shut down.

There is only one thing that bothered me!  The PowerKey ad is misleading by
saying you can powerup the Mac remotely using a modem.  It turns out, PowerKey
by itself does not do this.  You will need to buy an optional cable, called
PowerKey remote to be able to perform remote powerups.

Overall, I like PowerKey alot, I just wish the remote cable came with it.

As for prices, MacAvenue has the lowest price that I have found at $64 +
$2 shipping.  PowerKey remote cable option will sell for about $40 extra.


--
Saiid Paryavi                      			CIS Department
Internet:  paryavi@harris.cis.ksu.edu			Nichols Hall, KSU
UUCP:      {rutgers, texbell}!ksuvax1!harry!paryavi	Manhattan, KS  66506