Ask HN: Linux power issues solved yet? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Linux power issues solved yet?

3 pointssamrat5 comments

My Ubuntu 11.10 installation drains out a lot of battery; same for Sabayon. The problem persists even after upgrading kernel to 3.2.

When are these problems going to get fixed? Do you guys happen to have any idea?

View on HN

If you're talking about the ASPM regression introduced in 2.6.38, it looks like it's been resolved in a patch that should drop in 3.3.

Here's a Phoronix article on the issue and fix that covers it in detail: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=linux...

And here's (what I think is) the corresponding bug for Ubuntu: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/760131

Please note that even though that Ubuntu bug is marked as fixed, the following comment on it seems to call that into question: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/760131/...

Either way, it sounds like it will be fixed in 12.04.

With sadness, I think the broad answer is likely never. For a given piece of hardware Linux support generally improves over time, but new hardware continually comes out so support is continually behind. You need the OS vendor, the kernel authors, and the hardware vendor to all be in sync for this kind of thing to work out well.

With that out of the way, it is possible to diagnose and fix the problem yourself. sudo apt-get install powertop, read some docs, experiment a bit. (Right here is where someone injects "buy a Mac".) And if you go the "safe" route and pick a laptop popular with Linux users, like a Thinkpad, you'll likely have better luck. My laptop (an X201) gets around 6 hours and I haven't changed anything.

Mine is a Thinkpad too, but I'm pretty sure buying the Edge series was a mistake.

This response is very off the cuff, but I seem to recall reading recently about a fix but that it did not make it into 3.2 (or was that 3.0) because of some outstanding concern or concerns I cannot recall. That is, a real improvement (was it something that evolved from that Phoronix post everyone's been citing, recently?), but that still needs a bit of work to safely/effectively be merged.

Sorry I can't be more specific, but have a look around at the recent news on this topic.

I hope they can find a way to resolve this. I'm sure there is a way. There will be. Optimistic mode on.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com