Arch Linux

leftism

Member

Registered: 2011-11-28

Posts: 11

Cpufreq or Cpupower?

Im running cpufreq with laptop-mode-tools, but i just read that cpupower is more updated than cpufreq. So i wonder what is the difference between them two? And is it possible to make laptop-mode-tools use cpupower instead of cpufreq?

Diaz

Member

From: Portugal

Registered: 2008-04-16

Posts: 366

Re: Cpufreq or Cpupower?

From what i know cpupower is where new development is being made and the objective is for it to control more options other than just frequency.

For now I don't think it does much besides controlling the frequency, but i'm using it and it works, so why not?

leftism

Member

Registered: 2011-11-28

Posts: 11

Re: Cpufreq or Cpupower?

Ok. But can laptop-mode-tools control cpupower the same way that it control cpufreq?

litemotiv

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2008-08-01

Posts: 5,026

Re: Cpufreq or Cpupower?

cpupower has controls for functions in newer cpu's like core-i5/i7, these are the extra options it provides:

# Utilizes cores in one processor package/socket first before processes are 
# scheduled to other processor packages/sockets.
# See man (1) CPUPOWER-SET for additional details.
mc_scheduler=1

# Utilizes thread siblings of one processor core first before processes are
# scheduled to other cores. See man (1) CPUPOWER-SET for additional details.
smp_scheduler=1

#  Sets a register on supported Intel processore which allows software to convey
# its policy for the relative importance of performance versus energy savings to
# the  processor. See man (1) CPUPOWER-SET for additional details.
#perf_bias=

If you have a core2duo or older you can generally choose either one. If laptop-mode-tools doesn't support it out of the box (i'm not sure), making it compatible would be a matter of changing a few lines in the acpi script.

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ᶘ ᵒᴥᵒᶅ

leftism

Member

Registered: 2011-11-28

Posts: 11

Re: Cpufreq or Cpupower?

I have an i5 processor so maybe i should upgrade.  But i need laptop-mode-tools so i wonder if cpupower is supported there also?

litemotiv

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2008-08-01

Posts: 5,026

Re: Cpufreq or Cpupower?

I have an i5 processor so maybe i should upgrade.  But i need laptop-mode-tools so i wonder if cpupower is supported there also?

Only one way to find out.

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ᶘ ᵒᴥᵒᶅ

bwat47

Member

Registered: 2009-10-07

Posts: 638

Re: Cpufreq or Cpupower?

I have an i5 processor so maybe i should upgrade.  But i need laptop-mode-tools so i wonder if cpupower is supported there also?

I use laptop-mode-tools as well, but it doesn't really do ALL that much to control cpufreq anyway. All it does for me is set cpufreq to use the ondemand govenor.

I just installed cpupower, and am using the daemon that comes with it to set the governor, and disabled cpufreq in LMT

Last edited by bwat47 (2012-02-17 01:28:44)

bwat47

Member

Registered: 2009-10-07

Posts: 638

Re: Cpufreq or Cpupower?

Just tested this with LMT. Seems to work fine. Commented out everything in the cpupower config file and left the LMT cpufreq and sched scripts on auto. Works just as it with with cpufrequtils. LMT sets the Governor to ondemand and tweaks the scheduler settings when on battery:
http://i.imgur.com/dDLIL.png
Battery sched setting: http://i.imgur.com/6mP1m.png
CPU sched setting:  http://i.imgur.com/9gzRv.png

cybertorture

Member

Registered: 2010-05-05

Posts: 339

Re: Cpufreq or Cpupower?

cpupower was introduced with kernel 3.1 and it is a replacement for cpufreq, so it is a good idea to switch to it (even for non core2)

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O' rly ? Ya rly Oo

leftism

Member

Registered: 2011-11-28

Posts: 11

Re: Cpufreq or Cpupower?

I will switch to cpupower then , hope it'll give some more battery time for me. Thanx for the help

leftism

Member

Registered: 2011-11-28

Posts: 11

Re: Cpufreq or Cpupower?

I installed cpupower , but i cant find howto make it run with laptop-mode tools or just change governor when computer is on ac power

EDIT:

I found out that laptop mode tools can run commands in exec-commands.conf and that fixed it for me. solved

Last edited by leftism (2012-02-22 19:26:13)

Prophecy67

Member

Registered: 2011-02-15

Posts: 6

Re: Cpufreq or Cpupower?

I installed cpupower , but i cant find howto make it run with laptop-mode tools or just change governor when computer is on ac power

EDIT:

I found out that laptop mode tools can run commands in exec-commands.conf and that fixed it for me. solved

Do pardon me then, But what have you noted exactly? The wiki lacks information about Cpupower and some extra/additional info from you would help me get it working via laptop-mode too.

Kind regards!