Checking the number of hours of use on a computer?

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Remember how the old techtool app could say how many hours a computer was used for? Is there any type app like that today?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    hobbeshobbes Posts: 1,252member
    Would something like this suit your purposes?
  • Reply 2 of 11
    Does "uptime" work in Terminal? It's what I always used on AIX.
  • Reply 3 of 11
    majormattmajormatt Posts: 1,077member
    No. I want the total number of hours the computer was ever, ever used. For example, I remember seeing 1800 hours of use on my performa 635CD for example.
  • Reply 4 of 11
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MajorMatt View Post


    No. I want the total number of hours the computer was ever, ever used. For example, I remember seeing 1800 hours of use on my performa 635CD for example.



    Huh? That's impossible.
  • Reply 5 of 11
    majormattmajormatt Posts: 1,077member
    Apparently it wasnt then. It seems the computer keeps a record of how many seconds have passed with the current lithium battery.
  • Reply 6 of 11
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    Well mine would be 24*365*3.3 years.



    I don't know where the machine would store this info unless it was in a part of the PRAM that doesn't get zapped.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MajorMatt View Post


    Remember how the old techtool app could say how many hours a computer was used for? Is there any type app like that today?



    Techtool's still available:



    http://www.micromat.com/



    You can also try the 'last' terminal command. Type the word last and hit return. Mine goes back about 3 weeks, the rest should be archived but I'm not sure where. This only lists login times though so if your machine isn't logged out or turned off, it won't be much good. I think the 'ac' command gives you accumulated login time, possibly in hours. If you do ac -p, it gives you the time per user.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    sc_marktsc_markt Posts: 1,402member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MajorMatt View Post


    Remember how the old techtool app could say how many hours a computer was used for? Is there any type app like that today?



    Type last in the terminal and it will show you the log in and out times. Note that it only records a few months or so of login's and logouts.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lundy View Post


    Well mine would be 24*365*3.3 years.



    I don't know where the machine would store this info unless it was in a part of the PRAM that doesn't get zapped.



    Or even simpler-- gets written to disk.



    This is trivial to implement, it's just not many people have any need for this since uptime is a far more relevant reading for most folks that care about usage data.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    Well, I was thinking of a location that wouldn't be able to be erased. That would be the purpose of an "hours of service" counter, like on a tractor or other work vehicle whose mileage isn't indicative of the amount of use.
  • Reply 11 of 11
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lundy View Post


    Well, I was thinking of a location that wouldn't be able to be erased. That would be the purpose of an "hours of service" counter, like on a tractor or other work vehicle whose mileage isn't indicative of the amount of use.



    There is no component on a computer that cannot be erased, reset or tampered-with given root privileges and/or physical access. Short of adapting a tamper resistant add on, you have to rely on things like root access to prevent accidental & unprivileged erasure. That's actually easier to do on disk than preventing the resetting of PRAM where you can just pull the battery for 15 sec.
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