The role of a UPS (Uninterruptable
Power System) is to provide you with electrical power whatever
happens. Say there's a power outage in your area, the UPS will
enable you to continue working for a certain amount of time due
to its battery (up to 10 minutes usually depending on the
model). Its main function, however, is to allow you to save your
data and to cleanly close your machine, minimizing and even
avoiding data corruption and loss.
To launch the DrakUPS utility, open the Mandrakelinux Control Center in the hardware section and click on Set up a UPS for power monitoring.
Next you will be asked to whether you wish for DrakUPS to autodetect your UPS or to manually configure it. First try with auto-detection. If all goes well you should get a congratulation message.
If it doesn't work try to do it manually.
The next step is to choose your UPS model. Select the most appropriate one in the list of manufacturers and models.
Then DrakUPS will display some fields for you to fill. Assign a Name, Driver, and Port[7].
If all went well your UPS should now be configured and ready to help avoid bad power outage surprises.
[7] The Name and Driver fields should automatically be filled. Of course, you can change its name but we recommend you keep the driver name.