Increasing battery life under Linux [Linux Wiki Guides]

Tips

Use kernel with dynamic ticks

Since kernel 2.6.21, Linux includes a feature called dynamic ticks. Without getting too technical, the kernel reduces the number of ticks initiated when the system is idle, slightly reducing the cpu usage at this time and therefore extending battery life. Fedora 7 has this feature on by default.

Ensure ACPI is enabled

Not so much a problem anymore as manufacturers are more actively checking that their ACPI implementations work under Linux but you should check that ACPI support is enabled. Without it you will get terrible power management and greatly reduced battery life. You can check if ACPI is enabled and running properly by typing dmesg in the console. If it is not working a kernel or BIOS update may fix the issue, if not then look up your laptop on these pages for more details.

Use CPU power saving

Most modern processors can dynamically reduce and increase their clock speeds. A utility is needed to do this such as cpufreqd or powernowd. My personal recommendation is powernowd, it is a simple program but works very well. These two utilities are included with most Linux distributions.

Blank screen when idle

A simple tip. Set the power settings to blank the screen when idle for a few minutes. The LCD display is one of the main consumers of power and so turning it off when not needed increases battery life greatly.

Use PowerTOP

Intel have developed a utility called PowerTOP. It's aim is to see which applications on your system are using processing power and thus consuming extra battery. PowerTOP is starting to be included with many Linux distributions and you can also get it from the PowerTOP website.

Discussion

ni3lo, 2011/12/30 22:59

removing bluetooth managment feom kernel may work as disabling the device?

lsmod | grep bluetooth
output shows mdule named bnep
then rmmod bnep

will this be enough to power off device?

besides, new ubuntu (unity panel sth) can disable bluetooth with single click - on mine system with built-in bluetooth module it works from scratch

ylluigl, 2009/05/19 15:04

my amd turion64 mk-38 works well with powernowd installed. it control the cpufreq and although slow down application sometimes, but still it prevent overheating. kpowersave and cpudyn doesn't work well for me as the cpufreq always jump to max.

Eismaus, 2009/01/24 11:32

Hi.
Under windows, i would deaktivate Buildin Bluetooth and W-Lan to if i didn't use it.
In Ubuntu you habe a way to deaktivate W-Lan, but i didn't found the same for Bluetooh.
How did i do this?

Eismaus

Bill Giannikos, 2009/02/12 03:46

Depends on your laptop, what are you using?

Ljubo, 2008/02/01 01:23

web developer

also,to si ATI card power states…
aticonfig –lsp

do this when your laptop is on batteries
aticonfig –set-powerstate=1

(of course, if your computer doesn't do that automaticaly)

mohamed, 2008/01/21 06:49

hello

hello I have DELL D630 its new and I forget my
bois password so
what I can do my email : lawson.moh16@hotmail.com

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