After two alpha releases, with really valuable feedback from testers, I'm now releasing the beta release of PowerTOP 2.0 to go with the release of kernel 2.6.37, which has some features that the new PowerTOP will use.
The PowerTOP 2.0 release is effectively a complete rewrite of the PowerTOP code base. The old 1.x code base had grown rather out of hand, having gotten many new features after the very first PowerTOP release without the foresight of a design that accommodated all these features. This new 2.0 codebase extensively uses the kernel "perf" infrastructure to give much more accurate data for the various reports; make sure to enable this in your kernel configuration! This increased accuracy and detail also required a redesigned, tab based, user interface so that all the relevant pieces of the program have all the screen real-estate they need. Another major feature of the 2.0 code base is that the power behavior of the various devices in the system is prominently tracked and displayed, so that it's clear which devices are problematic in terms of power behavior. One of the more experimental features of the 2.0 code-base is a power estimation engine, which, after calibration and getting sufficient measurement points, is able to give an estimate of how much power individual devices and processes in the system are consuming. The reporting mode also has gotten a major overhaul, now producing an HTML file that has all the information in one simple file, making it easier to report power bugs with all relevant information right there. The PowerTOP 2.0 code base needs a relatively new kernel to work properly; the brand new 2.6.37 will of course be great, but 2.6.36 will also work (with a few features silently absent). You can download the beta release of PowerTOP 2.0 from http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/status/powertop/powertop-1.97.tar.bz2 or you can get the code from git at git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/status/powertop/powertop.git Feedback and testing of this beta release is very welcome; I would appreciate it is feedback email is sent to the [email protected] or [email protected] email lists. _______________________________________________ Power mailing list [email protected] http://www.bughost.org/mailman/listinfo/power
