Arch Linux

pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

Does Conky = Less Battery Life?

Simply put: Conky updates my screen every second with stats. A screen update every second uses CPU.

Should I worry?

skunktrader

Member

From: Brisbane, Australia

Registered: 2010-02-14

Posts: 1,543

Re: Does Conky = Less Battery Life?

Simply put: Conky updates my screen every second with stats. A screen update every second uses CPU.

Should I worry?

Test it and see.  There is a reason that conky includes this configuration variable update_interval_on_battery
On my eee, the difference between update_interval_on_battery = 1 and = 3 is about 55 minutes of battery

Last edited by skunktrader (2010-12-30 14:24:02)

nixpunk

Member

Registered: 2009-11-23

Posts: 271

Re: Does Conky = Less Battery Life?

Seems easy enough to test through comparison.

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,356

Re: Does Conky = Less Battery Life?

It does create lots of wakeups, so yes I believe it does. This lappie has a crappy battery though so I just keep it on the wire most of the time.

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Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

Website

Re: Does Conky = Less Battery Life?

I kill all conky instances I don't need when I'm on battery and need to keep running as long as possible.

I don't see how an extra process keeping your CPU busy all the time would not impact battery life?

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Got Leenucks? :: Arch: Power in simplicity :: Get Counted! Registered Linux User #392717 :: Blog thingy

pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

Re: Does Conky = Less Battery Life?

Yeah, it seems pretty obvious now...

Killing conky shaved about 1W according to powertop.

Too bad that was my clock.

I can either put a clock in my tint2 or just use the date command in a terminal, No big deal.