On Mon, Jan 21, 2008 at 10:45:58PM -0700, Michael L Torrie wrote: > Charles Curley wrote: > > On Mon, Jan 21, 2008 at 10:44:43AM -0700, Michael L Torrie wrote: > >> This thread has been enlightening, to say the least. But not super > >> encouraging. What I'm getting from this thread is that suspend to ram > >> is possible on some laptops. But it may require some assembly. > > > > Ubuntu 7.10 just fell into place on my Thinkpad R51 > > (http://www.charlescurley.com/Lenovo.R51.html), including > > suspending. While I haven't tried suspending to RAM, suspending to > > hard drive works just fine. > > You've inadvertently confirmed what I am coming to fear. That > suspending doesn't just work. As you experience, hibernating to disk > works for the vast majority of users on most laptops (or even desktops). > Mainly because it has nothing much to do with power management. > Suspending, in my mind, means suspend to RAM (sleep). I would be > interested to hear of your experiences with this.
Well, that's what you get for drawing a conclusion on insufficient data. I was silent on suspend not because it doesn't work but because I had not done the experiment since installing Ubuntu 7.10. In fact it has worked in the past with various Fedora (see my writeup). For the halibut, I just did the experiment by closing the lid. Suspend works just fine and dandy, wireless network and all. > > After using my powerbook for 4 years or more, I don't know how anyone > lives without it, or stands for anything other than fast suspend and > resume. Well, I guess you don't know me. One of my concerns is battery life. My usual MO for unplugged use is to move the laptop from point A to B. If I suspend, I use battery power. If I hibernate, I don't. Usually the time taken is of minor concern because I have other things to do while the laptop is hibernating or resuming. > Powering on and off the entire laptop (which is what hibernate > aka suspend to disk still involves) is time consuming. In this day and > age we should expect/demand that our machines go to sleep very quickly > and awake, ready for work, in the state we last left them, in just a > second or two. And I think I can legitimately demand this from linux on > a thinkpad, of all machines. I find it really odd how many of the folks > I've talked to think hibernation is good enough. Maybe some folks aren't in all that much of a hurry. > > Works fine on AMD machines, for the most part. > > > Actually it runs just fine while plugged in, which means it is good > > preparation for running on battery. While plugged in, right now my > > processor is running at 600 MHz 97% of the time, and 95% in C2 state, > > whatever that means. > > It runs fine, but can't give you a CPU electricity use estimate when the > AC is plugged in. Ah, that makes sense. > > Idling the CPU down to the lowest speed when not needed is indeed a very > good thing. The bigger the C number (like C4), the less power the CPU > uses in that state, but the longer it takes the CPU to return to a state > where it can process instructions, or something to that effect. I read > somewhere that on laptops, you should shoot for most of your time in the > C3 state when you are trying to max out battery life. See the powertop > FAQ on this. Well, then I must be doing something right, even if inadvertently. > > It turns out that lots of common software, including firefox, > gaim/pidgin, and even gvim can, without correct settings and even > patches, sap your battery. See > http://www.lesswatts.org/projects/powertop/known.php for tips. That makes sense. Most applications are written with desktops, not laptops, in mind. Also see the tips & tricks section. -- Charles Curley /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign Looking for fine software \ / Respect for open standards and/or writing? X No HTML/RTF in email http://www.charlescurley.com / \ No M$ Word docs in email Key fingerprint = CE5C 6645 A45A 64E4 94C0 809C FFF6 4C48 4ECD DFDB
signature.asc
Description: Digital signature
/* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
