Automating Shutdown at a scheduled time (because energy saver doesn't work unless you're logged in)
Step 1:
Download Cronnix. Cronnix is a utility to manipulate system as well as users' crontabs.
Note: The following can be accomplished by manipulating the /etc/crontab file with a text editor - but that's beyond the scope of this document, so let us continue.
| Step 2: Launch Cronnix. Then, select "Open System Crontab" from the "File" menu. Note: You can use the user crontabs for all sorts of tasks (ie. open a news web page every morning at 8:00). |
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Step 3:
Create a new cron job by clicking on the "New" button in the Cronnix toolbar
| Step 4: Setup the schedule to meet your requirements. The screenshot will shutdown the computer at 4:00 AM every day of every month, and every day of the week. Notice that there is no AM/PM setting. Use 24 hour time accounting. shutdown -h now is the command that will halt the computer. When completed, click "New". Note: This method will not ask if you want to save your work; the computer will turn off without giving any feedback at 4:00 AM. Note2: If you are implementing this in Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4.x), the $PATH variable is not configured in /etc/crontab, so you will need to put "/sbin/shutdown -h now" instead of just "shutdown -h now". |
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That's it. You're result should look very much like this. ==========> |
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