Newbie help

[Thomas Kaiser]

I did rise this question, because we were told to never use the 
powerswitch to turn off the computer (in the windows days long time 
ago). So, you have to go to "start->shutdown" (or whatever it is 
called). But don't touch the powerswitch!!

I know these days it is possible to cleanly shutdown the computer with 
hitting the powerswitch (thanks to ACPI). But why did it last so long in 
the INTEL word to have this (I don't wonna say feature, it's a must).

If I go for a ride with my bike, I turn the key to start up the engine. 
After I am back from my ride I go to "start->shutdown" on the nice 
TFT-panel on my bike???? No, I just turn the key.

So, If I turn on a device with the powerswitch it should not harm the 
device if I turn it off with the powerswitch!

I know Ubuntu does it that way what I like. But if you out there use 
something other than Ubuntu, and you CANNOT just hit the powersitch to 
shutdown your box without harm the system. Tell it to your OS maker or 
hardware maker!

In my opinion, I don't care if the OS has to save some data from RAM to 
disk or whatever it has to do. If I am finished with working, It should 
be possible to just hit the powerswitch and walk away. The system has to 
care about whatever it has to do NOT the user, start->shutdown and wait!

PS: Don't take my opinion too serious.

Thomas


Thomas Kaiser wrote:
> Why is it not possible to shut down the computer with the power switch?
> 
> My coffee machine has a power switch I press there to turn it on and I 
> press on the same switch to turn it off again. Shouldn't it be the same 
> with a computer? As far as I remember, on a Sun workstation you can just 
> press the power switch to shutdown the workstation. It is also possible 
> with with windowz XP. Just press the powerswitch and windowz XP will 
> shut down. How about Ubuntu? Can I just press the powerswitch and Ubuntu 
> shuts down cleanlly?
> 
> Thomas
> 
> squareyes wrote:
> 
>> Hi all,
>>  I live in a small town, and seem to be spending a lot of time helping
>> new Windows users. The week before last a fellow came to me asking for
>> help, his machine took for ever to start up. I went round and he had
>> been switching off at the power when he was finished, and it was running
>> a scandisk on a 160gig drive every time he switched on. I asked why and
>> he said the on/off switch didn't work when he pressed it(needs to be
>> held in for a few seconds for forced shutdown). I explained he needed to
>> shutdown correctly, no one had told him.
>>
>> With the above in mind and being a newbie myself to Ubuntu,I have
>> started making up a newbies help html, in the same style as the
>> unofficial guide(different background color), so they match, and would
>> appreciate any suggestions. I want to make it that simple that anyone
>> who has not even seen a computer before could use it, so am including
>> very basic screen shots.
>> Would be happy to hear any suggestions on/off list, and can send what I
>> have done so far minus the screen shots to anyone interested.
>> Thanks.
>> Take Care
>> Winton
>>
>>
>