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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 (a

by 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.
- tsahyt 14y ago
  I wonder why tablets like the Transformer has such a good battery life. Are x86 processors such power hogs?
  - zanny 14y ago
    Tegra 3 has a TDP between 5 and 20 watts depending on load. For comparison, a mobile Trinity APU has a TDP between 15 and 25 watts. So not really. It is a more complicated set of issues. Battery size, motherboard buses that require power, a physical spinning disk vs flash memory (the latter takes much less juice) the physical screen size requiring refresh, the amount of memory (each channel is another voltage sink). Mostly I'd say its because tablets use massive batteries for longeivty, and laptops forfeit battery size for other features. Also, a benchmarked Tegra 3 gets soundly beat by that Trinity APU in intensive CPU tests. The clock speed on a Tegra 3 in my tablet is 1.7 ghz but that APU can run at 2, and has a more complex pipeline to boot. Mostly it is because a desktop OS wastes a ton of resources. Windowing, composting, and just desktop apps in general are made wasteful because clocks and memory were not necessarily plentiful in laptop form factors, but weren't as precious as in tablets, so the modern web browser or media player needs to "un-learn" 5 years of bloat to work well on a tablet.
- jae_1003 14y ago
  may i ask what ssh client application you are using?

by tsahyt 14y ago

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.

tsahyt 14y ago
I wonder why tablets like the Transformer has such a good battery life. Are x86 processors such power hogs?
- zanny 14y ago
  Tegra 3 has a TDP between 5 and 20 watts depending on load. For comparison, a mobile Trinity APU has a TDP between 15 and 25 watts. So not really. It is a more complicated set of issues. Battery size, motherboard buses that require power, a physical spinning disk vs flash memory (the latter takes much less juice) the physical screen size requiring refresh, the amount of memory (each channel is another voltage sink). Mostly I'd say its because tablets use massive batteries for longeivty, and laptops forfeit battery size for other features. Also, a benchmarked Tegra 3 gets soundly beat by that Trinity APU in intensive CPU tests. The clock speed on a Tegra 3 in my tablet is 1.7 ghz but that APU can run at 2, and has a more complex pipeline to boot. Mostly it is because a desktop OS wastes a ton of resources. Windowing, composting, and just desktop apps in general are made wasteful because clocks and memory were not necessarily plentiful in laptop form factors, but weren't as precious as in tablets, so the modern web browser or media player needs to "un-learn" 5 years of bloat to work well on a tablet.
jae_1003 14y ago
may i ask what ssh client application you are using?