Arch Linux

kanim

Member

Registered: 2007-05-14

Posts: 104

Power usage arch vs ubuntu

i just installed the new ubuntu 8.10 with wubi  on my Dell XPS m1330 and i noticed that i have a dramatically longer battery life than in arch

i ran powertop on both and followed the tips

on ubuntu with full gnome/compiz/firefox/ and middle brightness i had 13,8 watt

on archlinux awesome wm/no-compositing/lowest brightness i have around 15,1 watt ( with gnome and compiz i get around 20 watt)

does somone know some patches they use to drop power usage couse it realy important to me as i us my notebook everyday at the university.

filou.linux

Member

From: Zurich

Registered: 2008-04-17

Posts: 87

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

I assume you already use cpufrequtils and laptop-mode. I read about undervolting the cpu, that should save power as well - never tried it though. If you are interested I found the ubuntu-related article here: http://ge.ubuntuforums.com/showthread.php?t=786402.

Any feedback is welcome (using a laptop too, but I never compared the battery life ;-) )

rebugger

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2007-10-28

Posts: 229

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

Never installed Ubuntu on my notebook, but Arch is working with 13,5W - after a bit tweaking (unloading modules, etc) ich have 12W - not tried untervolting, but won't need it.

filou.linux

Member

From: Zurich

Registered: 2008-04-17

Posts: 87

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

Can you go a bit more specific with "a bit tweaking"?

- Cpufrequtils (modules and daemon)
- laptop-mode (daemon)
- not loading modules (how to figure out? Other ways than try and error?)
- Do the things that are specified in powertop (sysctl.conf ...)

Did I miss something? Oh yeah, of course there is the great wiki article:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop

rebugger

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2007-10-28

Posts: 229

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

i have:
- cpufrequtils running (modules loaded and running daemon)
- backlight to lowest
- and:

echo 5 > /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode
echo 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs
echo 1 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/sched_mc_power_savings
echo 5 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/iwl3945/0000\:10\:00.0/power_level

#rmmod yenta_socket
#rmmod rsrc_nonstatic
#rmmod pcmcia
#rmmod pcmcia_core
rmmod ohci1394
rmmod ieee1394
rmmod uhci_hcd
#rmmod tg3

Unloading the modules is kind of "try & error" - tg3 is my eth0-device (so unloading it, if i dont need it), etc

Thats it. I have a travel-battery and get 11hrs after this tweaks. (internal: 4h, internal+travel: 11h)

filou.linux

Member

From: Zurich

Registered: 2008-04-17

Posts: 87

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

Ok, great, thanks. I'm gonna try those at home (Well some of the, I have ipw2200, gonna figure out myself).

Thanks

rebugger

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2007-10-28

Posts: 229

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

Just have a look right here: http://www.lesswatts.org/
Most of my tweaks are from there...

honahursey

Member

Registered: 2008-08-18

Posts: 32

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

Here is what I did to save power:

/etc/acpi/events/battery

event=battery BAT0 *
action=/etc/acpi/actions/power.sh

/etc/acpi/actions/power.sh

#!/bin/bash
if on_ac_power; then
# Reset to normal settings
  hal-disable-polling --enable-polling --device /dev/scd0 & # or whatever your CD drive is
  xbacklight -set 100 &
  xrandr --output TMDS-1 --auto &
  xrandr --output VGA --auto &
  echo crt_enable > /proc/acpi/ibm/video &
  echo dvi_enable > /proc/acpi/ibm/video &
  modprobe uhci_hcd &
  ethtool -s eth0 wol g &
  echo 0 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/iwl3945/0000:03:00.0/power_level &
  echo '28 25 21 15 2' > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/phc_vids
  echo 0 > /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode &
  echo 10 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio &
  echo 5 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio &
  echo 500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs &
  echo max_performance > /sys/class/scsi_host/host0/link_power_management_policy &
else
# Turn on power savings
  echo 5 > /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode &
  echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog &
  echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/sched_mc_power_savings &
  echo ondemand > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor &
  echo 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs &
  for i in /sys/bus/usb/devices/*/power/autosuspend; do echo 1 > $i; done &
  echo min_power > /sys/class/scsi_host/host0/link_power_management_policy &
  echo min_power > /sys/class/scsi_host/host1/link_power_management_policy &
  hal-disable-polling --device /dev/scd0 &
  xbacklight -set 50 &
  xrandr --output TMDS-1 --off &
  xrandr --output VGA --off &
  echo crt_disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/video &
  echo dvi_disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/video &
  rmmod uhci_hcd &
  ethtool -s eth0 wol d &
  echo 5 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/iwl3945/0000:03:00.0/power_level &
  echo '28 25 21 15 2' > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/phc_vids &
fi

This launches a script upon ac power connect and disconnect that puts my laptop into lower power settings on battery, then returns it to 'normal' on ac.  Some of the stuff in the script are fairly specific to my laptop, just modify it to suit your needs.  e.g. replace:

 echo 5 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/iwl3945/0000:03:00.0/power_level &

with:

iwpriv eth1 set_power 5

kanim

Member

Registered: 2007-05-14

Posts: 104

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

on the ubuntuforums there is a page especialy for the m1330 and on ubuntu its possible to grop it down to 10,3 watt
and for sure i used the above mentioned twaeks on arch but i cannot drop it down anymore still always around 15 watt

i dunno what could be wrong with my setup..

fuku

Member

Registered: 2008-11-25

Posts: 2

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

how can i check how much watt my laptop uses?

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

Install and use powertop.

cu3edweb

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2007-10-07

Posts: 291

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

With full screen brightness on my dell vostro 1500 running pekwm, thunderbird, firefox, apache, mysql, mpd, and pidgin I am getting about 13 to 14 watts. If I dim the screen down all the way with all the same stuff running I get about 12 watts

If I shutdown apache, mysql and thunderbird I get about 11 watts. This is still with firefox, wicd, transmission, and pidgin running. I had ubuntu installed on this once and I seemed to get quite a bit less battery life.

kanim

Member

Registered: 2007-05-14

Posts: 104

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

cu3edweb might you share you powersaving tips ? i can' t realy believe it is 13 watt on full brightness 15-16 ok but 13 would be wow:) but i guess you have an intel graphiccard

fwojciec

Member

Registered: 2007-05-20

Posts: 1,411

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

No idea about Ubuntu, but in Arch this is how low my laptop (old Toshiba Satellite M35) goes in terms of power use while staying fully functional -- I could go lower if I started disabling hardware functionalities like wifi, usb, and so on.  Firefox is running in another tag, but hasn't been used for a while.  MPD is not running -- I only start it when I'm actually listening to music.  Window manager is wmii, but I also use Openbox a lot.  Most of power saving settings are done through laptop-mode-tools.  I'm using a custom kernel (vanilla + PHC patch for undervolting).  The main purpose of undervolting is actually to keep laptop's temperature under control, I don't know how much effect it has as far as saving power is concerned.  LCD is dimmed, but I always keep it that way, even on AC, because otherwise it is uncomfortably bright.  Battery, which was replaced and is about a year old now, lasts (realistically) for about 3 hours of normal use -- which is actually better than what this laptop could do when it was brand new and running Windows.

Screenshot with details:

Megamixman

Member

Registered: 2008-05-04

Posts: 73

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

uhmmm
make sure your have acpi-cpufreq loaded
powertop can' load modules and things like that. acpi-cpufreq is the module that controls cpu scaling which is generally significant.

L0cutus

Member

Registered: 2005-11-17

Posts: 24

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

Here is what I did to save power:

also i've done that script to handle the ac event, but unfortunately even all work on the script,
xbacklight doesn't
dunno why, since if i run the script manually, it does work perfectly, but when run by the event
it does nothing, any idea ?
I have a dell mini 9 netbook.

thanks.

Barghest

Member

From: Hanau/Germany

Registered: 2008-01-03

Posts: 563

Re: Power usage arch vs ubuntu

For me (any my Samsung NC10), the script only works if I run it manually

Last edited by Barghest (2008-12-04 13:57:36)