Re: Pros/Cons Kde vs Gnome?
On Sat, Jun 19, 2004 at 11:41:27PM +1000, Tim Connors wrote:
> Hendrik Boom <hendrik@pooq.com> said on Sat, 19 Jun 2004 08:10:59 -0400:
> > On Sat, Jun 19, 2004 at 02:31:33PM +1000, Tim Connors wrote:
> > >
> > > If the only process running is the idle process, doing hlt()
> > > instructions in a loop, then there are bugger all transistors doing
> > > anything, so less power gets consumed.
> > >
> > > AFAIK, all modern i386 (AMD, Intel, etc) CPUs at least have a htl()
> > > instruction.
> >
> > I run a dual-boot Debian/Windows ME system. It overheats when running
> > Windows, but not when running Debian. Ny tech told me that's because
> > Windows ME idles in a wait loop, but Linux uses a halt instruction.
>
> Jeez, I thought they had fixed that by 98SE or so. Must not have...
Well, to be fair, my computer runs hotter playing video games in Linux
than it does in XP, and it's not getting higher framerates.
Many times when it's hot in the room and XP will be just below the
threshold with the CPU fan turned all the way up, similar tasks in Linux
will require the box fan.
Obviously this is because the Linux kernel is using the processor more
intensively. As we see in the case of Windows ME burning through a wait
loop, that doesn't necessarily mean it's getting more work done.
The extra heat Linux seems to generate makes me suspect the kernel is
less efficient. It doesn't perform higher i/o or more work.
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