How to programmatically find out if computer is on

Re:How to programmatically find out if computer is on by Galanwe on Saturday November 20, 2021 @08:51PM (#29293484)

For the sake of the argument, I think it's more of a shared capability of the motherboard _and_ the NIC, rather than the sole responsibility of the NIC.

I wonder if that could be implemented solely by the motherboard. After all, it could supply a small amount of power to the NIC while shutdown and embed a minimal NIC driver to monitor incoming packets without the need for the NIC to do the monitoring itself.

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Re:How to programmatically find out if computer is on by hackmiester on Saturday November 20, 2021 @09:11PM (#29293571)

I am not sure how this would meaningfully differ from the current state of affairs, where the NIC runs in a low power mode while the PC is off.

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Re:How to programmatically find out if computer is on by Galanwe on Sunday November 21, 2021 @01:40AM (#29294621)

Because currently you need support of WoL from both your NIC (to enter low power WoL monitoring mode) and your motherboard (to listen for WoL events from the NIC and trigger power on).

If the motherboard would embed a simplistic NIC/WoL driver then you could have WoL on any NIC, with the motherboard acting like any client. I suppose that would mean using the PCI lane and stuff to communicate with the NIC though which may defeat the purpose of a dedicated low power interface.

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