Laptop speedstep control

molinero · 2004-10-03 17:14:43

Hi

I tried to figure this out myself for some time - but havn't suceeded. I have a Acer Travelmate 291, and everything is working great. I am using the comp in school and I would like the fan to run less often.

I just can't seem to find out how I do that.

Exactly what I want is battery saving, dynamic switching, full power modes. In Windows I used some tool to set the mode. How do I do that in Arch - and do I really have to compile the kernel myself?? Because I have done that before without any success.

Your help would be appriciated

dtw · 2004-10-03 17:29:18

i know this may not help explicitly may but it may be useful to know. The i8k utilities that are built in to most stock Arch kernels allow the use of apps that let you control the speed of the fans etc.

you may need a kernel recompile - i can only suggest you google like mad - prolly not helpful

soniX · 2004-10-03 18:01:57

http://www.medhurst.de/main/acer/acer.html does discuss this a little bit, and might give some other hints on using linux on your machine.

molinero · 2004-10-03 20:06:50

The link provided some information, but not how to get it working.

I guess that cpufreq is already enabled in my kernel. I have: /lib/modules/2.6.8.1/kernel/drivers/cpufreq

But I do not have: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq

I can load the cpudyn deamon at boot but the cpufreqd fails - what does that mean?

Maybe there is something I do not understand.

I guess that what I need is the functionality of cpudyn - but how do I get it to work

molinero · 2004-10-03 20:16:01

And by the way - everywhere I read, it says that I have to enable cpufreq in my kernel - but when I look with "make menuconfig" it looks like this:

[*] CPU Frequency scaling
< > /proc/cpufreq interface (deprecated)
Default CPUFreq governor (performance) --->
--- 'performance' governor
<M> 'powersave' governor
<M> 'userspace' governor for userspace frequency scaling
[*] /proc/sys/cpu/ interface (2.4. / OLD)
<M> CPU frequency table helpers
--- CPUFreq processor drivers
<M> ACPI Processor P-States driver
[ ] /proc/acpi/processor/../performance interface (deprecated)
<M> AMD Mobile K6-2/K6-3 PowerNow!
<M> AMD Mobile Athlon/Duron PowerNow!
<M> AMD Opteron/Athlon64 PowerNow!
<M> Cyrix MediaGX/NatSemi Geode Suspend Modulation
<M> Intel Enhanced SpeedStep
[ ] Use ACPI tables to decode valid frequency/voltage pairs (EXPERIMENTAL)
<M> Intel Speedstep on ICH-M chipsets (ioport interface)
<M> Intel SpeedStep on 440BX/ZX/MX chipsets (SMI interface)
<M> Intel Pentium 4 clock modulation
[ ] Relaxed speedstep capability checks
<M> Transmeta LongRun
<M> VIA Cyrix III Longhaul

Doesn't /proc/cpufreq(deprecated) mean that is is not used anymore?

dtw · 2004-10-03 21:09:40

yeah - looks like it has been modularised to specifc CPUs, doesn't it?

molinero · 2004-10-04 13:37:02

Hey - I figured it out myself

If others have the Acer Travelmate 291 (or maybe others) - here is what to do
Pacman cpudynd
load the speedstep-centrino, cpufreq_powersave, cpufreq_userspace and freq_table modules
start the cpudyn and acpid deamons
Now go to: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~nino/Linux/cpudyn.html and read how to use cpudyn
Job is done - thanks

iphitus · 2005-03-07 08:33:10

try cpufreqd, its the other option to cpudyn. it comes by default with a config that slows the computer when cpu usage is slow and speeds it when cpu usage increases. puts it full when on power, drops it on battery, etc.

LB06 · 2005-03-07 09:06:55

iphitus wrote:

try cpufreqd, its the other option to cpudyn. it comes by default with a config that slows the computer when cpu usage is slow and speeds it when cpu usage increases. puts it full when on power, drops it on battery, etc.

Another option is to load cpufreq_ondemand (and echo ondemand to /sys/.../scaling_governor, which is more or less a kernelspace implementation of dynamic cpu frequencies afaik. I haven't figured out whether it works 'better' than any of the userland tools.

STiAT · 2005-03-09 07:33:55

Another option is to load cpufreq_ondemand (and echo ondemand to /sys/.../scaling_governor, which is more or less a kernelspace implementation of dynamic cpu frequencies afaik. I haven't figured out whether it works 'better' than any of the userland tools.

I've tried this now. I've the feeling the fan works less, but is there any possibility in linux to see which speedstep is used at the moment, just to ensure it's working?

I mean, i've looked up /etc/cpuinfo, which tells i'm running on step 6 with 1695 MHz ... what wouldn't be what i wanted.

[edit]
Sorry for the posting, i just figured out that in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq are several files, also showing the current rate, min and maxrate. There i could see i'm currently running on 600 MHz... what is definitely nice.
[/edit]

// STi

iphitus · 2005-03-09 08:15:06

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq

Arch Linux

#1 2004-10-03 17:14:43

Laptop speedstep control

#2 2004-10-03 17:29:18

Re: Laptop speedstep control

#3 2004-10-03 18:01:57

Re: Laptop speedstep control

#4 2004-10-03 20:06:50

Re: Laptop speedstep control

#5 2004-10-03 20:16:01

Re: Laptop speedstep control

#6 2004-10-03 21:09:40

Re: Laptop speedstep control

#7 2004-10-04 13:37:02

Re: Laptop speedstep control

#8 2005-03-07 08:33:10

Re: Laptop speedstep control

#9 2005-03-07 09:06:55

Re: Laptop speedstep control

#10 2005-03-09 07:33:55

Re: Laptop speedstep control

#11 2005-03-09 08:15:06

Re: Laptop speedstep control

Board footer