Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2015 03:50:52 +1100 (EST) From: Ian Smith <smithi@nimnet.asn.au> To: parv <parv@pair.com> Cc: arnab bhowmick <arnabbhowmick111@gmail.com>, freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Buying a laptop - used Message-ID: <20150202235524.B14398@sola.nimnet.asn.au> In-Reply-To: <20150202071458.GA1591@holstein.holy.cow> References: <CAGk=YH4TpZULve4SzRhCuhOt8766mk-L-%2Bfd=aaqD5M0=8U3Pw@mail.gmail.com> <20150131145130.GA3938@holstein.holy.cow> <20150201154129.J14378@sola.nimnet.asn.au> <20150202071458.GA1591@holstein.holy.cow>
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On Sun, 1 Feb 2015 21:14:58 -1000, parv wrote: > in message <20150201154129.J14378@sola.nimnet.asn.au>, > wrote Ian Smith thusly... > > > > Hi Ian, Aloha parv! > > On Sat, 31 Jan 2015 04:51:30 -1000, Parv wrote: > ... > > > I am currently using a used Lenovo Thinkpad X200 with FreeBSD > > > 8. I have not tried using or setting at all any suspend-resume > > > setting. A 9-celll battery ([0], "47++", apparently bought new > > > about 2-3 years ago along with the 'puter) lasts for 4.5 hours. > > > > I bought a used X200 a year ago without AC adaptor or battery, so > > bought it a new 6-cell battery (47+) and 65W P/S (about AU$150). > > Using powerd - but not p4tcc or acpi_throttle - it runs almost 6 > > hours on battery just idling and over 4 hours with moderate use, > > Sweet, Ian! Which version of FreeBSD are you running? 8-STABLE is on > my X200 for now; have been thinking (for a while) to update to > 10-STABLE. Presently 9.3-R sources, GENERIC plus a couple of patches and 9.2-R xorg and ports; too busy with other projects to update it and it's not broke. > > so your 9-cell battery may be getting a bit old, and/or you > > haven't optimised power usage? > > No, I have not used any power related things in FreeBSD itself. I do > have BIOS setup to maximum performance when connected to AC power; > optimize battery otherwise. One thing I am not sure is what happens > when booted up on battery & some time later connect to AC, and vice > versa. Below I'll include a small script that shows what's going on in that respect. I don't think the BIOS AC/battery performance settings have any effect at all in FreeBSD, but this script will tell you for sure. > In any case I will try powered, and possibly other things. https://wiki.freebsd.org/TuningPowerConsumption is a good place to start. Alexander goes to extremes - and doubles battery life - but the big ones are running powerd to only rev up the CPU/s when needed, and allowing use of C2 and C3 power states, which work reliably on these. In /boot/loader.conf: acpi_ibm_load="YES" hint.p4tcc.0.disabled=1 hint.acpi_throttle.0.disabled=1 This allows EST to run the CPUs at 800, 1600, 2400 & '2401' (turbo) MHz, where CPU power consumption is fairly proportional to frequency. Using p4tcc or acpi_throttle provides many more rates down to 100MHz, but they don't reduce power consumption, make powerd work slower and harder while shuffling frequency, and are removed as defaults from -CURRENT we hear. In /etc/rc.conf: performance_cx_lowest=C3 # you can use "Cmax" here, same on X200 economy_cx_lowest=C3 powerd_enable="YES" powerd_flags="-a adp -b adp -i 70 -r 90" Those powerd settings are you might say 'non-aggressive', only boosting speed on fairly high demand. Lots of fun tuning these to your workload. > > After a problem that affected many/most modern T and X series > > Lenovos regarding losing external USB ports on resume was resolved > > last year, suspend and resume work flawlesly; they're really nice > > little machines. > > Good to hear. Would that be suspend-to-RAM? Yes, FreeBSD doesn't do suspend to disk (ACPI state S4) unless BIOS supports it and none do these days, to my knowledge. I haven't done any real tests, but suspect the X200 would run for a week in S3 suspend (if you don't charge your mobile from its USB ports while suspended :) > > Arnab may not wish to buy anything as old as an X200 (C.2008), > > Oh, I remembered later somebody was running FreeBSD 11 on Macbook > Pro 2011 ... > > http://blog.foxkit.us/2015/01/freebsd-on-apple-macbook-pro-82-now.html?spref=tw That and its previous episode are really good posts for Mac people considering FreeBSD. If my daughter would only let me play with hers :) These also needed an ACPI fix mostly affecting HP laptops that's just been committed to 9 & 10 regarding reporting of AC/battery states etc. > > but could likely pick up an X210/220/230, or the larger > > T410/420/430 models at a good price. > > Sure. (I am also looking for another one, this time much lighter > than X200. Is Thinkpad X1 Carbon II any lighter, I wonder.) I expect so. And I expect they may work with 9.x and 10.x by now, there's been some good ACPI and video stuff MFC'd lately I gather. https://wiki.freebsd.org/Laptops/Thinkpad_X1_Carbon Also - though out of date re Lenovo problems having dead USB on resume: https://wiki.freebsd.org/SuspendResume > > Very latest models may still have some issues with video? > > Well, somebody had reported success|progress with Intel i915 on > 11-CURRENT (and somebody else had working suspend-resume with > "recent HEAD" on X230) ... > > https://twitter.com/etnapierala/status/561500382850215936 I can't keep track of it at all nowadays .. but I don't think you need to run -CURRENT except perhaps newest laptops with latest chipsets, and except perhaps for the latest wireless work, lacking helpers to MFC it. cheers, Ian Oh yes, scripts; I use this one often: % cat /root/bin/x200stat #!/bin/sh t=" " echo -n "`date` " sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq echo "`sysctl -n dev.cpu.0.cx_usage` $t `sysctl -n vm.loadavg`" echo "`sysctl -n dev.cpu.1.cx_usage` $t { `sysctl -n kern.eventtimer.timer` }" sysctl dev.acpi_ibm | egrep 'fan_|thermal' sysctl hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature sysctl hw.acpi.thermal.tz1.temperature acpiconf -i0 | egrep 'State|Remain|Present|Volt' And also added to /etc/devd.conf notify 10 { match "system" "ACPI"; match "subsystem" "CMBAT"; action "/root/bin/acpi_cmbat $notify"; }; % cat /root/bin/acpi_cmbat #!/bin/sh #% acpi_cmbat 27/6/14 for CMBAT notifies. from /etc/rc.d/power_profile LOGGER="logger -t acpi_cmbat -p daemon.notice" notify=$1 ${LOGGER} "CMBAT notify = $1" #% 27/10/14 logs at 3%, 20%, 80% and discharging, high & charging states /root/bin/x200stat >> /root/acpi_cmbat_events.log echo "CMBAT status: notify = $1" >> /root/acpi_cmbat_events.log exit 0
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