5 ms·

Increasing battery life in linux

50 points by pranavk 14y ago

lampe 14y ago
the title should be "Increasing battery life in linux with a nvidia GPU" I got a Ivy Bridge Zenbook and i can get up to 7 hours battery life thie is even better like windows. i use powertop to reach this.
- zobzu 14y ago
  This. Another misleading "generic title" for a case that just happens to be his laptop/setup. i've a similar experience with my ivy bridge laptop. I also check with powertop whenever something looks odd, but by default, all the things were rather fine (i run Arch)
- pranavk 14y ago
  I agree, I must change the title soon.
donniezazen 14y ago
There is no /proc/acpi/battery/ in my system. I do have acpi installed.
- chimeracoder 14y ago
  Do you have an NVIDIA GPU?
  - donniezazen 14y ago
    Yes, I have an Intel HD 3000 and Nvidia NVS 4200. I use bumblebee and bbswitch to handle dedicated GPU.
- Pfiffer 14y ago
  /proc/acpi is deprecated in favor of /sys. See here: http://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ACPI_PROCFS_POWER.html http://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ACPI_PROCFS_POWER.html
koyote 14y ago
Wouldn't using bumblebee do exactly what this article describes, but automatically and with the advantage of using the nvidia GPU for specific applications? At least that's what I've been using for over a year now.
- pranavk 14y ago
  I used that but it failed for me for some reason or other. So i tried it, its also nice piece of code that worked nicely for me. Doubled the battery by more than 100%
ernesth 14y ago
Isn't this only for laptops with dual GPU (optimus setup). In which case, I guess the only "other OS" is windows that is (was) the only one able to switch on the fly which graphics chip is to be used.
- pranavk 14y ago
  yup, right.
qznc 14y ago
Within Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives you should do sudo aptitude install laptop-mode-tools This basically does a lot of minor tweaks, like disabling finger print readers etc.
- orangethirty 14y ago
  Slight correction for the lazy who just copy/paste commands. sudo apt-get install laptop-mode-tools Thanks for the tip.
  - tene 14y ago
    The original command, as written, works fine. Aptitude does have an interactive mode, but when run with arguments like that, will behave approximately the same as apt-get would. Aptitude acts as a frontend to several of the slightly-lower-level apt tools.
    - orangethirty 14y ago
      It didn't work for this lazy copy/paste user. :) Ubuntu 11.10. Just posted what worked for me. No harm intended.
    - moreati 14y ago
      Recent versions of Ubuntu don't have aptitude installed out of the box, not sure if 12.10 brought it back
    - loevborg 14y ago
      Aptitude is no longer pre-installed in current versions of Ubuntu (and Debian). Also, aptitude used to be recommended over apt-get because its handling of dependencies was superior and because it made it easier to find "orphan" packages. As I understand it, apt-get has since caught up with aptitude and is nowadays the preferred command-line tool.
      - YokoZar 14y ago
tsahyt 14y ago
I'm running on a Fedora install with very customized front end here (basically ditched everything and built from scratch) which is very easy on the resources (about 330Mb of RAM usage after boot) and I'm getting between 2 and 3 hours of battery life. I've done nothing power management related though. Windows on the other hand sucks the whole battery up in 2 hours tops. Still, I'd be very much interested in increasing my battery life. This is the only thing holding me back from doing serious coding outside.
- chimeracoder 14y ago
  This is the one thing which depends very much on the hardware you're running, but as the post notes, turning of the GPU can very helpful, and you won't notice the difference in most usage (which may even be everything you do). I was able to do this in the BIOS, which is actually the easiest way to do it (if your computer supports it). The other thing is scaling the fan down[1] - as long as you don't go overboard with it, it's perfectly safe, and a huge impact on battery life. Finally, turn off your wireless card and/or Bluetooth if you're not using them. Many computers enable Bluetooth by default, but since most people don't use them, it's a needless battery suck. [1] The other thing is scaling the fan down - this
  - chimeracoder 14y ago
    Copy and pasted wrong - this is the link: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fan_Speed_Control https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fan_Speed_Control
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- zanny 14y ago
  I have a transformer infinity I unlocked, have an ssh client on, and have the keyboard dock. It even has a USB port I could plug in a more ergonomic keyboard if I wanted. I get around ~12 hours battery life on it just doing networking / terminal stuff, and I can just work on files on my desktop and compile / test there.
kierank 14y ago
I guess that explains why the fan is permanently on in Linux on my XPS L502x.
KirinDave 14y ago
Doesn't this absolutely freak out X11?
colanderman 14y ago
Intel's PowerTOP helps track down power usage more generally: https://01.org/powertop/ https://01.org/powertop/
- albertzeyer 14y ago
  Btw., does anyone knows if there is some similar tool for iOS? (Doesn't matter if I need root access...)
Nux 14y ago
Self-promotion time: http://www.nux.ro/archive/2012/10/EL6_power_usage_optimisation_on_Intel_Sandy___Ivy_Bridge.html http://www.nux.ro/archive/2012/10/EL6_power_usage_optimisati...
gcb 14y ago
what about nvidia competitors that actually care about linux? AMD seems to have made a lot of promises and falling short on all of them... any other? i don't really follow the graphic card market. maybe integrated intel stuff?
dkd903 14y ago
The github method Does not do anything for me, "laptop-mode-tools" is awesome!!!
sbinetd 14y ago
There was a more general stackexchange question dealing with this. Actually, there are probably a few - but this is recent enough to warrant reading. http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/17858/how-can-i-improve-battery-life-in-fedora-15/ http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/17858/how-can-i-impr...
agumonkey 14y ago
for low-level lovers http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~pavel/swsusp/8hours.pdf http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~pavel/swsusp/8hours.pdf from the suggestions of http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_reduce_power_consumption http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_reduce_power_consumptio...

50 points by pranavk 14y ago

lampe 14y ago

the title should be "Increasing battery life in linux with a nvidia GPU" I got a Ivy Bridge Zenbook and i can get up to 7 hours battery life thie is even better like windows. i use powertop to reach this.

zobzu 14y ago
This. Another misleading "generic title" for a case that just happens to be his laptop/setup. i've a similar experience with my ivy bridge laptop. I also check with powertop whenever something looks odd, but by default, all the things were rather fine (i run Arch)
pranavk 14y ago
I agree, I must change the title soon.

donniezazen 14y ago

There is no /proc/acpi/battery/ in my system. I do have acpi installed.

chimeracoder 14y ago
Do you have an NVIDIA GPU?
- donniezazen 14y ago
  Yes, I have an Intel HD 3000 and Nvidia NVS 4200. I use bumblebee and bbswitch to handle dedicated GPU.
Pfiffer 14y ago
/proc/acpi is deprecated in favor of /sys. See here: http://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ACPI_PROCFS_POWER.html http://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/ACPI_PROCFS_POWER.html

koyote 14y ago

Wouldn't using bumblebee do exactly what this article describes, but automatically and with the advantage of using the nvidia GPU for specific applications? At least that's what I've been using for over a year now.

pranavk 14y ago
I used that but it failed for me for some reason or other. So i tried it, its also nice piece of code that worked nicely for me. Doubled the battery by more than 100%

ernesth 14y ago

Isn't this only for laptops with dual GPU (optimus setup). In which case, I guess the only "other OS" is windows that is (was) the only one able to switch on the fly which graphics chip is to be used.

pranavk 14y ago
yup, right.

qznc 14y ago

Within Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives you should do sudo aptitude install laptop-mode-tools This basically does a lot of minor tweaks, like disabling finger print readers etc.

orangethirty 14y ago
Slight correction for the lazy who just copy/paste commands. sudo apt-get install laptop-mode-tools Thanks for the tip.
- tene 14y ago
  The original command, as written, works fine. Aptitude does have an interactive mode, but when run with arguments like that, will behave approximately the same as apt-get would. Aptitude acts as a frontend to several of the slightly-lower-level apt tools.
  - orangethirty 14y ago
    It didn't work for this lazy copy/paste user. :) Ubuntu 11.10. Just posted what worked for me. No harm intended.
  - moreati 14y ago
    Recent versions of Ubuntu don't have aptitude installed out of the box, not sure if 12.10 brought it back
  - loevborg 14y ago
    Aptitude is no longer pre-installed in current versions of Ubuntu (and Debian). Also, aptitude used to be recommended over apt-get because its handling of dependencies was superior and because it made it easier to find "orphan" packages. As I understand it, apt-get has since caught up with aptitude and is nowadays the preferred command-line tool.
    - YokoZar 14y ago

tsahyt 14y ago

I'm running on a Fedora install with very customized front end here (basically ditched everything and built from scratch) which is very easy on the resources (about 330Mb of RAM usage after boot) and I'm getting between 2 and 3 hours of battery life. I've done nothing power management related though. Windows on the other hand sucks the whole battery up in 2 hours tops. Still, I'd be very much interested in increasing my battery life. This is the only thing holding me back from doing serious coding outside.

chimeracoder 14y ago
This is the one thing which depends very much on the hardware you're running, but as the post notes, turning of the GPU can very helpful, and you won't notice the difference in most usage (which may even be everything you do). I was able to do this in the BIOS, which is actually the easiest way to do it (if your computer supports it). The other thing is scaling the fan down[1] - as long as you don't go overboard with it, it's perfectly safe, and a huge impact on battery life. Finally, turn off your wireless card and/or Bluetooth if you're not using them. Many computers enable Bluetooth by default, but since most people don't use them, it's a needless battery suck. [1] The other thing is scaling the fan down - this
- chimeracoder 14y ago
  Copy and pasted wrong - this is the link: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fan_Speed_Control https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fan_Speed_Control
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
zanny 14y ago
I have a transformer infinity I unlocked, have an ssh client on, and have the keyboard dock. It even has a USB port I could plug in a more ergonomic keyboard if I wanted. I get around ~12 hours battery life on it just doing networking / terminal stuff, and I can just work on files on my desktop and compile / test there.

kierank 14y ago

I guess that explains why the fan is permanently on in Linux on my XPS L502x.

KirinDave 14y ago

Doesn't this absolutely freak out X11?

colanderman 14y ago

Intel's PowerTOP helps track down power usage more generally: https://01.org/powertop/ https://01.org/powertop/

albertzeyer 14y ago
Btw., does anyone knows if there is some similar tool for iOS? (Doesn't matter if I need root access...)

Nux 14y ago

Self-promotion time: http://www.nux.ro/archive/2012/10/EL6_power_usage_optimisation_on_Intel_Sandy___Ivy_Bridge.html http://www.nux.ro/archive/2012/10/EL6_power_usage_optimisati...

gcb 14y ago

what about nvidia competitors that actually care about linux? AMD seems to have made a lot of promises and falling short on all of them... any other? i don't really follow the graphic card market. maybe integrated intel stuff?

dkd903 14y ago

The github method Does not do anything for me, "laptop-mode-tools" is awesome!!!

sbinetd 14y ago

There was a more general stackexchange question dealing with this. Actually, there are probably a few - but this is recent enough to warrant reading. http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/17858/how-can-i-improve-battery-life-in-fedora-15/ http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/17858/how-can-i-impr...

agumonkey 14y ago

for low-level lovers http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~pavel/swsusp/8hours.pdf http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~pavel/swsusp/8hours.pdf from the suggestions of http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_reduce_power_consumption http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_reduce_power_consumptio...