smart power usage in lynx

[kapil]

just for little enlightenment of myself i am asking this:
in laptops these days (e.g. Acer timeline) they are using smart power saving button.
in smart power usage, the laptop battery works for 7-8 hours. and in 'performance' mode it works for 3-4 hours.
so.. is that on hardware level or on software/OS level.
If it is on software/OS level..IMHO it should be included in lynx...

[dibl]

Re: smart power usage in lynx

Some of the newer power-saving features are definitely built into the hardware (firmware), and, I suspect, only accessed via Windows drivers developed by the manufacturer.

My example is a Toshiba NB205, rated for 8 - 9 hours on the battery. It is a beautiful piece of work, and runs Linux great. But, since Toshiba designs hard drives as well as the motherboard and controls, they have come up with a hard drive that literally falls asleep all the time. Apparently the Windows driver gives it a poke every few seconds when it is being operated. With Linux, when I use a tty console to do something like run updates, the drive falls asleep after 10 or 15 seconds and I have to twiddle the touchpad to wake it up and keep it doing the task. I first noticed this during installation -- the thing would just fall asleep and the installation stopped until I touched it and got it going again. Same thing during bootup -- it won't make it all the way to the KDM launch without at least one twiddle of the touchpad. When X is running it's better, thankfully -- but if I don't do anything for more than a few minutes, it will start "saving power" and need to be touched.

Linux power management is coming along, in my observation, but it is (and probably always will be) lagging the OEM hardware design improvements and product releases.

[kapil]

Re: smart power usage in lynx

thanks for the info