Battery life and ubuntu....

post #1 of 4

10/30/12 at 5:10pm

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S.M.
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So far I have installed Jupiter, and it doesn't seem to do much to carve away at the hungriness of Ubuntu 12.04.

At best I can get about 2:30 from Ubuntu, where I would get upwards of 4 hours on Windows.

Where do I start? Is it possible to beat Windows in this regard?

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
FX-8320 @ 4.7Ghz 1.5v	Gigabyte 970A-UD3	XFX 7970 @ 1.1Ghz	8GB Team 1600 7-9-7-24
Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Cooling	OS
Crucial M4 64GB	Samsung F3 500GB	Corsair H100	Windows 7 x86_64
Monitor	Keyboard	Power	Case
NEC E222W	HPE 87 w/ Browns + Ducky PBT caps	Seasonic 850W	Chenming Dragon
Mouse
Deathadder 3.5G
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CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
AMD A6-3420M @ 2.2Ghz 1.1v	Lenovo Torpedo A55	6720g2	6GB Elpida 1333 CL9
Hard Drive	OS	Mouse	Audio
Samsung 840 250GB	Ubuntu 12.04 x86_64	Abyssus 3.5G	Plantronics Gamecom 777
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CPU	Graphics	RAM	Hard Drive
1.5Ghz Snapdragon S4 Pro Quad	Adreno 320	2GB 533Mhz LPDDR2	16GB flash
OS	Monitor
Jelly Bean 4.1.1	5" 1080p IPS
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CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
FX-8320 @ 4.7Ghz 1.5v	Gigabyte 970A-UD3	XFX 7970 @ 1.1Ghz	8GB Team 1600 7-9-7-24
Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Cooling	OS
Crucial M4 64GB	Samsung F3 500GB	Corsair H100	Windows 7 x86_64
Monitor	Keyboard	Power	Case
NEC E222W	HPE 87 w/ Browns + Ducky PBT caps	Seasonic 850W	Chenming Dragon
Mouse
Deathadder 3.5G
View all

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
AMD A6-3420M @ 2.2Ghz 1.1v	Lenovo Torpedo A55	6720g2	6GB Elpida 1333 CL9
Hard Drive	OS	Mouse	Audio
Samsung 840 250GB	Ubuntu 12.04 x86_64	Abyssus 3.5G	Plantronics Gamecom 777
View all

CPU	Graphics	RAM	Hard Drive
1.5Ghz Snapdragon S4 Pro Quad	Adreno 320	2GB 533Mhz LPDDR2	16GB flash
OS	Monitor
Jelly Bean 4.1.1	5" 1080p IPS
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post #2 of 4

10/30/12 at 5:37pm

Rookie1337

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I always found Windows to be both overly confident with battery estimates (not that Linux isn't either) and slower. The big point is that I've never had the battery life that I got in Windows; at the same time I didn't have as good of drivers or as slow of an experience. If you want to cut back a little you need to install cpufrequtils and then manually set the cpufreq driver to the powersave setting (It may require 2 tries to get it to stick after startup). Outside of that...backlights need to be dimmed and that pretty much all you can get to as a general user without having a prebuilt system from a Linux seller (I'd assume they'd have better control) or getting into some serious tweaking.

CPU	Graphics	RAM	Hard Drive
Core i3 2370M	Intel HD3000M	Eplida 4GB DDR3 1333	Toshiba 5400RPM
Optical Drive	OS	OS	OS
Generic DVDRW	Kubuntu 13.04 64bit	Win7 Home Premium 64bit	Bodhi Linux 64bit
Case
Acer Aspire TimelineX 4830T
View all

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
AthlonIIX4 640 3.62GHz (250x14.5) 2.5GHz NB	Asus M4A785TD-M EVO	MSI GTX275 (Stock 666)	8GBs of GSkill 1600
RAM	Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Hard Drive
4GBs of Adata 1333	WD Caviar Black 500GB	Hitachi Deskstar 1TB	Kingston HyperX 3k 120GB
Optical Drive	Cooling	OS	OS
LG 8X BDR (WHL08S20)	Cooler Master Hyper 212+	Kubuntu x64	Windows 7 x64
OS	Monitor	Power	Case
Bodhi Linux x64	Acer G215H (1920x1080)	Seasonic 520	HAF912
View all

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
N450 1.8GHz AC and 1.66GHz batt	ASUS proprietary for 1001P	GMA3150 (can play bluray now!?)	1GB DDR2
Hard Drive	Optical Drive	OS	OS
160GB	LGLHDLBDRE32X	Bodhi Linux	Fedora LXDE
OS	OS	Monitor	Keyboard
Kubuntu	SLAX	1280x600 + Dell 15inch	Excellent!
Power	Case
6 cells=6-12hrs and a charger	1001P MU17 Black
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CPU	Graphics	RAM	Hard Drive
Core i3 2370M	Intel HD3000M	Eplida 4GB DDR3 1333	Toshiba 5400RPM
Optical Drive	OS	OS	OS
Generic DVDRW	Kubuntu 13.04 64bit	Win7 Home Premium 64bit	Bodhi Linux 64bit
Case
Acer Aspire TimelineX 4830T
View all

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
AthlonIIX4 640 3.62GHz (250x14.5) 2.5GHz NB	Asus M4A785TD-M EVO	MSI GTX275 (Stock 666)	8GBs of GSkill 1600
RAM	Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Hard Drive
4GBs of Adata 1333	WD Caviar Black 500GB	Hitachi Deskstar 1TB	Kingston HyperX 3k 120GB
Optical Drive	Cooling	OS	OS
LG 8X BDR (WHL08S20)	Cooler Master Hyper 212+	Kubuntu x64	Windows 7 x64
OS	Monitor	Power	Case
Bodhi Linux x64	Acer G215H (1920x1080)	Seasonic 520	HAF912
View all

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
N450 1.8GHz AC and 1.66GHz batt	ASUS proprietary for 1001P	GMA3150 (can play bluray now!?)	1GB DDR2
Hard Drive	Optical Drive	OS	OS
160GB	LGLHDLBDRE32X	Bodhi Linux	Fedora LXDE
OS	OS	Monitor	Keyboard
Kubuntu	SLAX	1280x600 + Dell 15inch	Excellent!
Power	Case
6 cells=6-12hrs and a charger	1001P MU17 Black
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post #3 of 4

10/30/12 at 6:01pm

Shrak

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Rookie1337

I always found Windows to be both overly confident with battery estimates (not that Linux isn't either) and slower. The big point is that I've never had the battery life that I got in Windows; at the same time I didn't have as good of drivers or as slow of an experience. If you want to cut back a little you need to install cpufrequtils and then manually set the cpufreq driver to the powersave setting (It may require 2 tries to get it to stick after startup). Outside of that...backlights need to be dimmed and that pretty much all you can get to as a general user without having a prebuilt system from a Linux seller (I'd assume they'd have better control) or getting into some serious tweaking.

The CPU Governer is normally set to on demand which is generally the best i.e. speeds up when you need it and downclocks when you don't. The only problem then is when the CPU is being used it'll speed itself up, even if you aren't the one directly using the CPU ( like some reports of people's installs just running unusually high on cpu usage ). But if you can iron out those issues then it's no problem.

Linux can also normally get better battery life because it can truly spin down the hard disk almost completely where Windows can not and does not, along with some other issues like that.

My best advice ( although I'm on Arch most of the time and don't know Ubuntu's packages by heart, or whats installed by default ) is to make sure you have your disks spin down when not in use, display dimm when not in use and turn off a few minutes later ( basic dpms features ).

When I first got my Dell it's Windows install had estimated 6 hours of battery life ( factory estimate was 8 ), didn't keep Windows on it long than the first boot to grab a couple of files. My Arch installs get 8-9 hours of battery life ( with a 66% capacity as of now ) with no problem.

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post #4 of 4

10/30/12 at 7:45pm

Rookie1337

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Shrak

The CPU Governer is normally set to on demand which is generally the best i.e. speeds up when you need it and downclocks when you don't. The only problem then is when the CPU is being used it'll speed itself up, even if you aren't the one directly using the CPU ( like some reports of people's installs just running unusually high on cpu usage ). But if you can iron out those issues then it's no problem.
Linux can also normally get better battery life because it can truly spin down the hard disk almost completely where Windows can not and does not, along with some other issues like that.
My best advice ( although I'm on Arch most of the time and don't know Ubuntu's packages by heart, or whats installed by default ) is to make sure you have your disks spin down when not in use, display dimm when not in use and turn off a few minutes later ( basic dpms features ).
When I first got my Dell it's Windows install had estimated 6 hours of battery life ( factory estimate was 8 ), didn't keep Windows on it long than the first boot to grab a couple of files. My Arch installs get 8-9 hours of battery life ( with a 66% capacity as of now ) with no problem.

I've heard a lot of argument for the On demand governor being the "best" but when I'm using it I shave off a bit (something like 10-30 minutes) of battery life. I don't know how come it does it but on every laptop I've tried Linux on it's that way. My only explanation is unreasonably high defaults for the voltage of the full clock state(as cpufreq-info reports the majority of time in on demand is split between idle or full speed). On the GPU side...well, in windows I had a lot more control (back when I had an Nvidia mobile gpu) so I could lock the GPU clock down to the lowest speeds and in Linux the best I could do was hope the adaptive setting wouldn't stay on full clocks for long. With Intel parts the battery life difference isn't as huge but it's still there.

I'm on 12.10 and I don't have any unusual CPU usage (though I wonder if Kubuntu counts since Canonical isn't "in charge" of it anymore?).

Where would we go about the hard disk spin down checking? I might not have that option as KDE pretty much makes all of your (that you mentioned Shrak) assumptions the defaults (IE on demand is the only governor it has set by default with no way to change it outside of cpufreq-set).

CPU	Graphics	RAM	Hard Drive
Core i3 2370M	Intel HD3000M	Eplida 4GB DDR3 1333	Toshiba 5400RPM
Optical Drive	OS	OS	OS
Generic DVDRW	Kubuntu 13.04 64bit	Win7 Home Premium 64bit	Bodhi Linux 64bit
Case
Acer Aspire TimelineX 4830T
View all

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
AthlonIIX4 640 3.62GHz (250x14.5) 2.5GHz NB	Asus M4A785TD-M EVO	MSI GTX275 (Stock 666)	8GBs of GSkill 1600
RAM	Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Hard Drive
4GBs of Adata 1333	WD Caviar Black 500GB	Hitachi Deskstar 1TB	Kingston HyperX 3k 120GB
Optical Drive	Cooling	OS	OS
LG 8X BDR (WHL08S20)	Cooler Master Hyper 212+	Kubuntu x64	Windows 7 x64
OS	Monitor	Power	Case
Bodhi Linux x64	Acer G215H (1920x1080)	Seasonic 520	HAF912
View all

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
N450 1.8GHz AC and 1.66GHz batt	ASUS proprietary for 1001P	GMA3150 (can play bluray now!?)	1GB DDR2
Hard Drive	Optical Drive	OS	OS
160GB	LGLHDLBDRE32X	Bodhi Linux	Fedora LXDE
OS	OS	Monitor	Keyboard
Kubuntu	SLAX	1280x600 + Dell 15inch	Excellent!
Power	Case
6 cells=6-12hrs and a charger	1001P MU17 Black
View all

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CPU	Graphics	RAM	Hard Drive
Core i3 2370M	Intel HD3000M	Eplida 4GB DDR3 1333	Toshiba 5400RPM
Optical Drive	OS	OS	OS
Generic DVDRW	Kubuntu 13.04 64bit	Win7 Home Premium 64bit	Bodhi Linux 64bit
Case
Acer Aspire TimelineX 4830T
View all

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
AthlonIIX4 640 3.62GHz (250x14.5) 2.5GHz NB	Asus M4A785TD-M EVO	MSI GTX275 (Stock 666)	8GBs of GSkill 1600
RAM	Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Hard Drive
4GBs of Adata 1333	WD Caviar Black 500GB	Hitachi Deskstar 1TB	Kingston HyperX 3k 120GB
Optical Drive	Cooling	OS	OS
LG 8X BDR (WHL08S20)	Cooler Master Hyper 212+	Kubuntu x64	Windows 7 x64
OS	Monitor	Power	Case
Bodhi Linux x64	Acer G215H (1920x1080)	Seasonic 520	HAF912
View all

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
N450 1.8GHz AC and 1.66GHz batt	ASUS proprietary for 1001P	GMA3150 (can play bluray now!?)	1GB DDR2
Hard Drive	Optical Drive	OS	OS
160GB	LGLHDLBDRE32X	Bodhi Linux	Fedora LXDE
OS	OS	Monitor	Keyboard
Kubuntu	SLAX	1280x600 + Dell 15inch	Excellent!
Power	Case
6 cells=6-12hrs and a charger	1001P MU17 Black
View all

hide details

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