PowerTOP For Linux Adds Hours to Battery Life
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 07.27.07
Power usage is a hot topic for computer users everywhere. For some, it's a matter of how long a laptop lasts without being plugged in. For others, it's controlling the temperature of hundreds of systems within a datacenter. For all of us, it's about keeping the electricity bill under control and being kind to the environment.
We have focused on all kinds of ways to save computer-related energy. There's PowerEscape, a tool to optimize algorithms. There's Black Google which is making the rounds today, and there's switching to thin clients. But now there's a new tool which can cut your personal PC power consumption almost in half.
It is rare to find a tool that actually digs into your machine to analyze each program that is running for power use. But Powertop from Intel does exactly this - it's a tool which provides information on reducing power usage, tips, and tricks for Intel-based computers running Linux. PowerTOP looks right at the programs you are running; by fixing (or closing) these applications, you can immediately realize the power savings. You'll also see the estimated time left for battery power if you are running a laptop.
This stuff is not for the faint of heart - they talk about rebuilding the Linux kernel like they are ordering a pizza - but the savings are incredible; one guy extended his battery life from 4 to 7 hours. If you're not a kernel hacker, don't worry, the power improvement will surely be included in the next Linux release. :: Linux PowerTOP
This is the "killer app" for data centers. Given how much they pay for AC, even in winter, this really is a big deal.
Heat maters for everyone, really. I'm currently typing this on a Macbook Pro, and the heat it's pumping on my lap is starting to hurt. If it used less power, and thus made less heat, companies could start calling portable computers laptops again. Plus, the need for less cooling on the server level is a very good thing, because less cooling used means less freon and less electricity being used all in all. It's sort of a positive-feedback loop in our favor, a rare thing these days.
I think it's great that this was made by Intel. Apple, since having switched to Intel chips, is working very closely with Intel. Therefore I believe it's a high likelihood that this could be seen incorporated into OS X—possibly with 10.5? How awesome would it be to offer such a dramatic improvement in battery performance as a feature for upgraders? I'm sure they would sell more copies, as it would be far more economical to do this before replacing an aging battery. And what about the iPhone and future iPods? They are supposed to run OS X, and if it has this integrated in a future update then suddenly the iPhone's battery life would kick butt.
The software guys making some effort towards more efficient code, and not just relying on hardware improvements - well done!
you mean that the software can save the power. i am surprised what you said. let me try
Thanks for this post, I hadn't heard of this. I'm looking at redoing my home server again, was thinking of switching from FreeBSD -> Debian, simply because Linux has more power tweaks that I could use to reduce power consumption, but this sounds tremendous. My current rig is a 1.2Gig AMD chipset, but I do have an old 550Mhz Celeron I could switch to (it's used for a webserver with 5 domains, and an internal proxy and filesever and such) if I could get the power down with Powertop. Nice!