To do that, I spent a significant amount of time testing various kernel parameters and CPU states. Once I had data, I set out to build sufficient function into EeePC ACPI Utilities version 1.0.23.
As a result, with a Celeron ULV processor at 900MHZ it's possible to squeeze up to 4 hours of battery life out of a 4 Cell battery.
- Powertop with WIFI, Bluetooth, Touchpad disabled, in 'ondemand' mode:
- Powertop with WIFI, Bluetooth, Touchpad disabled, in 'performance' mode:
- Powertop with everything on in 'performance' mode:
Starting with the most recent versions of EeePC ACPI Utilities, I added a script execution feature to CPU states. This enables the tool to change kernel parameters as power to the Eee is added or removed.
You'll see a nice gain in performance and battery life by putting temp spaces in ramdisks. This can be done by editing fstab and adding the following lines:
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
tmpfs /var/tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
I recommend shutting down sysklogd, and flushing the contents of these directories and then running "mount -a" to mount them.
sudo /etc/init.d/sysklogd stop
sudo rm -rf /tmp/*
sudo rm -rf /var/log/*
sudo rm -rf /var/tmp/*
sudo mount -a
sudo /etc/init.d/sysklogd start
One last thing, be sure to add "force-hpet" to defoptions in /boot/grub/menu.lst and then run sudo update-grub.
I'm always looking for new ways to improve these tools while meeting my basic requirements of being light weight and fast. If you would like something added, let me know!
What kind of battery life are you getting from your Eee? Disconnect all USB devices, Open a terminal and type 'sudo powertop' (don't press enter yet), Disable WIFI, Bluetooth, Camera, and Touchpad. Pull your ethernet connection, and your power connection then press enter in your terminal. Wait a little while (minimum 20 seconds), what sort of battery life do you get with Eee PC ACPI? Please let me know the details of your machine in the comments like 1000HE / Atom / Hard drive or SSD / type of battery, etc.
