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Linux Power Management

post #1 of 7
9/2/10 at 11:26pm
Thread Starter 
Hello! Long time no see!

I recently bought a Lenovo X201. I tried installing Ubuntu on it, but one thing shocked me: horrible power management performance. Powertop, module tweak, I did a lot... and still the same thing: heat and short battery.

So, with a bit more heat and much lower battery time (like 30% shorter at least), I was wondering if Linux still didn't catch up, or at least more than what I saw. After all, it's arguably the most standard hardware out there... intel GPU/CPU, standard everything. And my previous notebook was not a good reference anyway (hot and old 15,4")...

Any recommendations? Powertop comes to a point that it won't give me any other suggestion (I believe that continuously asking for USB autosuspend means I ran through it all).

How do you guys use your notebook with Linux? Don't you miss a better battery life and less heat?

Thanks!

ps.: about Thinkpads... well, second to none IMO. I never dropped a notebook before. But I did on the first day with this. It completely crashed on the floor and nothing happened. Sure the battery popped out, but no damage. Not even a scratch (really)! Wow. Now I only miss Ubuntu for the perfect hardware + software duo.
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post #2 of 7
9/3/10 at 10:31am
Not sure about the heat, I don't experience it on my eMachines running Suse. Never paid attention to battery life since my comp's battery is a miss anyway.

Have you read this? A good one I think.

cheers ...
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post #3 of 7
9/3/10 at 10:46am
Did the laptop come with M$ windows on it? If so install Ubuntu as a dual boot using the WUBI installer.... This sets Ubuntu as a folder rather than within a partition, and if not needed can uninstalled easily.... Then you can mess about with it until you get it right.... (yes I know digressing a bit)...

Have you done all the updates? And have you checked Ubuntu's laptop support list - they may have posted a workaround on this...?

I have installed it in all my laptops with the only issues being newer wifi cards, which are generally sorted with an update (hard wire LAN)... Battery usage is usally noticeably better, as is suspend and hibernation ( which I still yet to get windows to do correctly).. But as yours is a new machine, it may still require tweaking... 10.10 is due for full release soon, that may do the trick...
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post #4 of 7
9/11/10 at 6:22pm
Thread Starter 
I've heard about WUBI. Seems a good idea until I have the time to sit, relax and then read everything that was posted (quite busy lately, you can guess by the reply).

Thank you both.
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post #5 of 7
9/21/10 at 11:08pm
After reading about WUBI in this thread I started doing some research on it. From what I've been reading, it seems as though this may be of interest to a Linux newbie but not of much use for anyone else.

For one thing the entire OS resides within the host Windows NTFS partition in what amounts to a virtual drive system created within the host.

This scenario reveals several weak points the worst of which being the NTFS file system itself. Most Linux and BSD Distros have for many years used journaling file systems with their added safety and redundancy as a default during installation. NTFS is particularly vulnerable to improper shutdown and file corruption as any longtime Windows user knows from experience.

The other critical thing as far as it relates to the OP, is that only standby or suspend to RAM are supported. Hibernation doesn't work primarily because the Windows boot-loader is used to bootstrap the system. Furthermore, from what I gather if there is an improper shut-down you must first successfully boot back into Windows before being able to access Ubuntu again.

Again, I think it's great to have another tool to convert others to the wonderful world of Linux, but this is only a short term option to be used by a newbie.

With all of the excellent non-destructive partitioning tools available within any modern Linux Distro installation routine, it just doesn't make sense to use it (WUBI) for anything other than demonstrations.

I hope this helps

Ciao
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post #6 of 7
11/30/10 at 4:10pm
Thread Starter 
Update.

These months have been interesting. I managed to put down to 9-13 watts of use when doing basically nothing and trivial work. Heat still built up, fan ran most of the time. I guess Windows is using less power, especially when idle (that is something anyone could tell).

1) needing mobility more than anything, 2) noticing that Linux is impracticable for full-time use right now for me, and that 3) my needs align with Ubuntu that much more than with Windows, I'm doing: A) Windows for the mobility, light work ("office et al"), and Ubuntu for my specific needs on a Virtual Machine.

Until I see some improvement, that will --- unfortunately --- need to work out for me. :\

Best regards!
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post #7 of 7
4/22/11 at 11:11am

If you have a relatively recent x86 laptop, odds are it supports either Advanced Power Management (APM) or Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI). ACPI is the newer of the two technologies and puts power management in the hands of the operating system, allowing for more intelligent power management than is possible with BIOS controlled APM. This is most useful for battery-powered laptops. You can only have one power management interface in control of your machine at a time, so it's important you decide which method best suits your situation.

 

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