10 ms·

New Linux version will reduce suspend and resume times

111 points by RougeFemme 13y ago

higherpurpose 13y ago
They should ditch ACPI anyway. It seems it's too unsafe: http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1332 http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1332
- pjc50 13y ago
  ACPI is, at the moment, the most labour-efficient way of getting suspend and resume working on the widest variety of hardware. The alternative Mark is putting forward is for manufacturers to support Linux directly, which isn't going to happen until it's as dominant as windows. Compare the android situation, where you get manufacturer support but not updates or proper merges into upstream.
- kryptiskt 13y ago
  ACPI isn't going away on PCs, ditching it means ditching PCs as a target.
  - celebril 13y ago
    They said that for 16-bit CPUs and BIOS as well.
    - Dylan16807 13y ago
      Why would anyone ever claim that 16 bit support would never go away? Not that it did go away: all the x86_64 chips still have 16 bit support.
      - Gormo 13y ago
        And modern PC motherboards still ship with traditional BIOS support.
- joosters 13y ago
  Never mind ACPI, the CPU chipset is already a delightful target for hackers: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7452912 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7452912
6cxs2hd6 13y ago
Some of us have the impression that "Linux doesn't work well on laptops", specifically when it comes to suspend/resume and power consumption. Under that impression, you have to find on eBay one particular ThinkPad manufactured in 2005, and spend a day tweaking things. Then it will work. Usually. That impression was accurate, not too many years ago. It looks like it's not anymore? It seems to me that this update is a great way to change that old impression. If only because "X works faster" is a way to reinforce that "X works at all". p.s. To clarify, I'm talking about perception/impression not reality. Changing how people think.
- sown 13y ago
  On my desktop, a certain desktop produced by a popular linux system reseller manufactured a couple of years ago, modern ubuntu seems to just reboot the machine when I select 'suspend'. So I leave it on all the time. An annoyance, for sure. I have hopes that it will work better in the next LTS release of ubuntu. On my T430 laptop, suspend seems to work when I close the lid just fine.
- vidarh 13y ago
  It's not at all accurate any more, thankfully. It is worth being a bit careful, but that basically boils down to doing a search for the models you're looking at to identify any particular pitfalls, and you may in particular want to pay attention to the graphics and wifi chipsets. Not so much because you're likely to have any major problems, as because there are annoying quirks with some chipsets from time to time.
  - Bill_Dimm 13y ago
    While clearly anecdotal, my own experience is that things have really not improved all that much over the past seven years. I've been using Linux since 1995, so I remember the bad old days, and things had improved a lot leading up to 2007 when I installed OpenSUSE 10.2 on a Dell D620 with relatively few problems. I recently tried installing Linux on a Dell E5430 (another mainstream business laptop, which is certified to work with Ubuntu) and my experience was not nearly as good: OpenSUSE 13.1 was a disaster: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=835277#c31 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=835277#c31 Mint 16's installer had problems: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=153379&p=803560#p803560 http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=153379&p=80... OpenSUSE 12.3 worked, but I had to mess around to get WiFi working: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=835277#c33 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=835277#c33 and the touchpad still has issues: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=869722 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=869722 and there is other weird behavior, like the laptop screen not turning off when the laptop is in a docking station with the lid closed (did not have this problem with OpenSUSE 10.2), and the encrypted partition password prompt being off the screen if an external monitor is plugged in: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=862961 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=862961 I'm a big fan of Linux, but things do not seem to have improved over the last seven years. It just feels sloppy and unstable. I'm sure some things have improved, but too much feels unpolished. Maybe I just have bad luck, but I was talking to a guy the other day who has been using Linux since 1996 who had the same impression (he was having problems with disk corruption on a desktop installation).
viraptor 13y ago
I'm interested what caused the slowdown in the first place. It must be architecture dependent, since my laptop (thinkpad) suspends fast enough that I never thought of measuring it. (2-3 seconds, I guess)
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

111 points by RougeFemme 13y ago

They should ditch ACPI anyway. It seems it's too unsafe: http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1332 http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1332

pjc50 13y ago
ACPI is, at the moment, the most labour-efficient way of getting suspend and resume working on the widest variety of hardware. The alternative Mark is putting forward is for manufacturers to support Linux directly, which isn't going to happen until it's as dominant as windows. Compare the android situation, where you get manufacturer support but not updates or proper merges into upstream.
kryptiskt 13y ago
ACPI isn't going away on PCs, ditching it means ditching PCs as a target.
- celebril 13y ago
  They said that for 16-bit CPUs and BIOS as well.
  - Dylan16807 13y ago
    Why would anyone ever claim that 16 bit support would never go away? Not that it did go away: all the x86_64 chips still have 16 bit support.
    - Gormo 13y ago
      And modern PC motherboards still ship with traditional BIOS support.
joosters 13y ago
Never mind ACPI, the CPU chipset is already a delightful target for hackers: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7452912 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7452912

6cxs2hd6 13y ago

Some of us have the impression that "Linux doesn't work well on laptops", specifically when it comes to suspend/resume and power consumption. Under that impression, you have to find on eBay one particular ThinkPad manufactured in 2005, and spend a day tweaking things. Then it will work. Usually. That impression was accurate, not too many years ago. It looks like it's not anymore? It seems to me that this update is a great way to change that old impression. If only because "X works faster" is a way to reinforce that "X works at all". p.s. To clarify, I'm talking about perception/impression not reality. Changing how people think.

sown 13y ago
On my desktop, a certain desktop produced by a popular linux system reseller manufactured a couple of years ago, modern ubuntu seems to just reboot the machine when I select 'suspend'. So I leave it on all the time. An annoyance, for sure. I have hopes that it will work better in the next LTS release of ubuntu. On my T430 laptop, suspend seems to work when I close the lid just fine.
vidarh 13y ago
It's not at all accurate any more, thankfully. It is worth being a bit careful, but that basically boils down to doing a search for the models you're looking at to identify any particular pitfalls, and you may in particular want to pay attention to the graphics and wifi chipsets. Not so much because you're likely to have any major problems, as because there are annoying quirks with some chipsets from time to time.
- Bill_Dimm 13y ago
  While clearly anecdotal, my own experience is that things have really not improved all that much over the past seven years. I've been using Linux since 1995, so I remember the bad old days, and things had improved a lot leading up to 2007 when I installed OpenSUSE 10.2 on a Dell D620 with relatively few problems. I recently tried installing Linux on a Dell E5430 (another mainstream business laptop, which is certified to work with Ubuntu) and my experience was not nearly as good: OpenSUSE 13.1 was a disaster: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=835277#c31 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=835277#c31 Mint 16's installer had problems: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=153379&p=803560#p803560 http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=153379&p=80... OpenSUSE 12.3 worked, but I had to mess around to get WiFi working: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=835277#c33 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=835277#c33 and the touchpad still has issues: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=869722 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=869722 and there is other weird behavior, like the laptop screen not turning off when the laptop is in a docking station with the lid closed (did not have this problem with OpenSUSE 10.2), and the encrypted partition password prompt being off the screen if an external monitor is plugged in: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=862961 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=862961 I'm a big fan of Linux, but things do not seem to have improved over the last seven years. It just feels sloppy and unstable. I'm sure some things have improved, but too much feels unpolished. Maybe I just have bad luck, but I was talking to a guy the other day who has been using Linux since 1996 who had the same impression (he was having problems with disk corruption on a desktop installation).

viraptor 13y ago

I'm interested what caused the slowdown in the first place. It must be architecture dependent, since my laptop (thinkpad) suspends fast enough that I never thought of measuring it. (2-3 seconds, I guess)

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]