[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: CPU frequency scaling on G4 systems



Hi,

On  30 Sep, this message from Roger Leigh echoed through cyberspace:
> Thanks for all the helpful replies, everyone.
> 
> In addition to CPU frequency scaling, which packages are recommended
> for power management in general?  There are quite a few, but some are
> only for laptops.

Well, they are named for laptops, but nobody forbids you to use them on
desktops :-)

I don't see much you can do if the CPU doesn't do scaling. That leaves
only the disk to spin down; nothing else can be controlled. Well, yes,
you need to send the monitor to standby, but that's an X DPMS issue, and
there's no package to be installed (just X config).

For disk spindown, do this:

- use a tmpfs filesystem for /tmp
- mount your disks noatime
- remove all daemons that constantly access the disk
- install laptop-mode, configure it to handle AC-powered mode as well.

For the rest, to reduce power consumption in the CPU, let it be idle all
the time: the G4 (and all PowerPC desktop CPUs in general) are quite
good at powering down unused function units. You can see evidence of
this when fully charging the CPU: in no time at all, the Mini's fan will
start spinning faster....

Cheers

Michel

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michel Lanners                 |  " Read Philosophy.  Study Art.
23, Rue Paul Henkes            |    Ask Questions.  Make Mistakes.
L-1710 Luxembourg              |
email   mlan@cpu.lu            |
http://www.cpu.lu/~mlan        |                     Learn Always. "



Reply to: