From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 18 12:29:23 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 241A216A4CE for ; Mon, 18 Apr 2005 12:29:23 +0000 (GMT) Received: from mh1.centtech.com (moat3.centtech.com [207.200.51.50]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5D38543D45 for ; Mon, 18 Apr 2005 12:29:22 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from anderson@centtech.com) Received: from [10.177.171.220] (neutrino.centtech.com [10.177.171.220]) by mh1.centtech.com (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id j3ICTLqj056046; Mon, 18 Apr 2005 07:29:21 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from anderson@centtech.com) Message-ID: <4263A7F7.3060707@centtech.com> Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 07:28:39 -0500 From: Eric Anderson User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20050325 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Poul-Henning Kamp References: <2304.1113826754@critter.freebsd.dk> In-Reply-To: <2304.1113826754@critter.freebsd.dk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.82/837/Sun Apr 17 10:25:32 2005 on mh1.centtech.com X-Virus-Status: Clean cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: powerd(8) X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 12:29:23 -0000 Poul-Henning Kamp wrote: > In message <4263A33A.3030201@centtech.com>, Eric Anderson writes: > >>Lukas Ertl wrote: >> >>There's been some discussion on the -mobile list (I believe) about >>this kind of thing before. I think powerd is currently running with >>a 'best shot' configuration, and I'm pretty sure that if anyone has >>a better algorithm in a patch form for people to try, I'm certain the >>good people with commit bits would easily commit a patched better version. > > > I don't think a proportional approach will work in this case, the steps > are too far apart. > > I also think the switch to full speed is wrong. Such see-saw > algorithms waste far too much time decaying. A less steep flank > should be used. > > For instance: > > if (idle > 90%) > reduce clock one step. > if (idle < 80%) > increase clock two steps. > Mostly what I see on my laptop when it is 'idle' (meaning I'm in X, with my mail client running, window manager, etc, but not actively using anything (not even moving the mouse)), is the speed dropping down to 100Mhz (going through about 5 steps, ~ half the speed each step), then shooting back to 100% speed. This ends up looking like a sawtooth, so it wastes lots of energy on the fall back to 100Mhz. I essentially end up with an average of the mid-way point between max speed and lowest speed (1.8GHz and 100MHz for me), which of course isn't ideal. Eric -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric Anderson Sr. Systems Administrator Centaur Technology A lost ounce of gold may be found, a lost moment of time never. ------------------------------------------------------------------------