Squeezing battery time
Hi
I'd like to squeeze as much battery time/power as possible on my primary
laptop, and learn a bit more about this process.
Other than using powertop, I don't know much about this.
If anyone has any tips or suggestions on how to use powertop / others to
do this, I'd like to hear them.
Thanks!
F.
--
Fabián Rodríguez
http://fsf.magicfab.ca
Some obvious advices:
- Suspend the system when not using it;
- Set an automatic decrease of the luminosity after some time of inactivity;
- Deactivate the Bluetooth/Wifi when not using it (for a long time).
How about laptop-mode-tools? http://packages.trisquel.info/search?keywords=laptop-mode-tools
Reading: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop-mode-tools (didn't found the entry in Parabola's wiki)
Depending on how you use the box, underclocking the main cpu and the video card cpu could be helpful as well. These however can ruin your hardware, so be careful if you do try them.
I have an ATI video card and use the package rovclock to underclock it when doing something like reading a long text and when not plugged to AC. I can drop the clock from 300 MHz to something like 50 MHz. Haven't got any hard data to quantify power savings though.
I am a translator!
For underclocking the CPU you can use cpupower. By default the CPU is underclocked when using the battery on Parabola, so increasing the CPU frequency might be required for watching HD videos when using the battery.
I am a translator!
Also replacing a hard drive by a solid state one should improve battery life as it requires less power. It will also eliminate noises as there are no moving parts.
Upgrade your kernel to latest linux-libre.
http://www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/selibre/linux-libre/
Thanks for these links, sorry I couldn't comment before:
* http://makeuseof.com/tag/get-more-from-your-battery-with-jupiter-linux
This project was retired last month:
http://www.fewt.com/2012/12/an-important-announcement-about-jupiter.html
* http://maketecheasier.com/fix-low-battery-power-and-overheating-issue-in-ubuntu-oneiric
This also refers to Jupiter and provides a workaround for a kernel that shipped with trisquel 5.5 (arguably solved in trisquel 6 or using the latest Linux libre from PPAs).
* http://makeuseof.com/tag/20-ways-to-increase-the-life-of-your-laptops-battery
That's for Windows users, although some tips (mentioned elsewhere in this thread, such as killing sound) apply.
I am summarizing information in this thread on the wiki, which I will share soon.
No problem.
> This project was retired last month.
I read about it before. The author of the project mentioned that all the features are now implemented in the latest release of Fuduntu which uses Linux 3.6.9 and suggests laptop-mode-tools (installable through Synaptic) as replacement. Anyway, Jupiter remains a handy tool to quickly change between power plans or for things like switching resolution, changing screen orientation, disabling wifi, etc. Trisquel users should upgrade to latest Linux-libre or wait until the 7.0 release (which will probably use Linux 3.8) where these changes will be already implemented.
> This also refers to Jupiter and provides a workaround for a kernel that shipped with trisquel 5.5 (arguably solved in trisquel 6 or using the latest Linux libre from PPAs).
Yes, I wanted to point out the workaround for the power regression which appeared in the upstream Linux-kernel and should also affect Brigantia users. It is now fixed in Toutatis.
> That's for Windows users, although some tips (mentioned elsewhere in this thread, such as killing sound) apply.
These are very general suggestions that apply across many different operating systems although MS Windows was the primary target.
> I am summarizing information in this thread on the wiki, which I will share soon.
I just fixed the link that should redirect users to this thread. More tweaks for power saving can be found here. A nice guide for using powertop can be found here.
Do you use sound?
If no, disabling the sound card will save around 2W (up to 5% battery life).
Right-click on the speaker in the task bar and choose "Sound preferences".
In the "Hardware" tab, click on your sound card, then select the profile "Off".
Kernel hackers could save a nuclear power plant if all sound drivers would consistently put their device in power save mode while no sound is played.
If you're using a mouse you could try disabing the trackpad as well.
I'm actually sad to hear jupiter-applet retired that was my favorite laptop tool.
You could try XFCE or LXDE as your desktop environment it it might provide some minor power savings.