I don't really know, but I think power consumption for the IrDA stuff
is very small compared to things like the CPU and LCD backlight.

    -- Lennart

Steve Bellovin wrote:

>After googling a bit, I found how to use irdaatach and irs (from
>pkgsrc/commds/birda) to let me hotsync my palmpilot via my IR port.
>But -- if I run those commands out of, say, rc.local, do they consume
>laptop power?  In other words, is there any harm in letting them run?
>I have no other applications that might conflict with jpilot, so that's
>not an issue.
>
>  
>