I guess you didn't see this email Brian, but Roger is using PowerTop already.
I don't know why he thanked me, cause I didn't really have anything to do with it. > Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:12:44 -0700 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [LinuxUsers] Powertop > > Thanks to Paul and Chris for suggesting Powetop for my Ubuntu laptop. > Since installing that, things have gone very well. I now get way more > battery life (like over three hours, though not as good as Windows 7 > supposedly gets on the same laptop) > > For those that don't know, after you install it and run it as root, it > checks your system to see what resources it might minimize. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerTOP > > From wikipedia, > > "PowerTOP is a software utility designed to measure, explain and > minimise a computer's electrical power consumption. It was released by > Intel in 2007 under the GPLv2 license. It works for both Intel and AMD > processors. > > PowerTOP analyzes the programs, device drivers, and kernel options > running on a computer based on the Linux and Solaris operating systems, > and estimates the power consumption resulting from their use. This > information may be used to pinpoint software that results in excessive > power use. Many open source and free software programs, such as Mozilla > Firefox [1][2], have been patched to reduce their power consumption > since the release of PowerTOP. This is particularly useful for laptop > computer users who wish to prolong battery life, and data center > operators, for whom electrical and cooling costs are a major expenditure. > > The original focus was on CPU sleep states, and showing the programs or > drivers responsible for "wakeups" which prevent CPUs entering sleep > states. A database of known problems automatically provides more user > friendly "tips" for specific sources of wakeups. However, it also shows > information on CPU frequency scaling. Over time the database has been > expanded to include tips on a wide range of power consumption issues. > > It is most effective on laptop computers. Laptops are specifically > designed to allow power use to be both monitored and controlled. In > particular, many laptop computers can measure the rate of battery use > (when not connected to mains power). PowerTOP uses this feature to > estimate power usage in Watts and battery life. This provides immediate > feedback on changes made e.g. disabling wireless networking when not used." > _______________________________________________ > LinuxUsers mailing list > [email protected] > http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers _________________________________________________________________ NEW mobile Hotmail. Optimized for YOUR phone. Click here. http://windowslive.com/Mobile?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_CS_MB_new_hotmail_072009
