EEE 1015PN less battery lifetime

Question

I have installed Ubuntu 12.04LTS (32bit) on my Asus EEE 1015PN. I have installed the VGA-Switch von Mtron too (https://sites.google.com/site/mtrons/projects/eee1015pn). The problem is that in Windows I get 6-7 hours running time on battery and with ubuntu I get only 4-5 hours.

Another problem is that when Windows is Idle the fan from the netbook stops whereas in ubuntu the fan never stops running. The temperature is in Windows 38°C and in Ubuntu 51°C.

Answer 1

• Install Jupiter and jupiter-support-eee. This is a frontend to the acpi power states and works by undervolting the CPU and Mainboard. It will reduce power consumption at the price of preformance of course.

  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/jupiter
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install jupiter jupiter-support-eee
  

• reduce the backlight as far as possible. This may sound obvious, but helps a lot!

• disable bluetooth https://askubuntu.com/a/2568/34029

• check that the hda-intel power saving mode is active. The current generation onboard audio (often called "High Definition" or HDA) has power savings capabilities that are supported via the ALSA drivers

  To check if power save is enabled for the HDA controllers, use:

  # cat /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
  10
  

  Power saving is enabled if the value that this shows is greater than zero. Some more tweaks for the HDA-intel module:

  sudo sh -c 'echo Y > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save_controller'
  sudo sh -c 'echo 1 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save'
  

• USB auto power/suspend

  sudo sh -c 'for i in /sys/bus/usb/devices/*/power/level; do echo auto > $i; done'
  sudo sh -c 'for i in /sys/bus/usb/devices/*/power/autosuspend; do echo 1 > $i; done'
  

• PCI auto power/suspend

  sudo sh -c 'for i in /sys/bus/pci/devices/*/power/control; do echo auto > $i; done'
  

• Set SATA link Power management to min_power

  sudo sh -c 'for i in /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/link_power_management_policy; do echo min_power > $i; done'
  

• blacklist the brcmsmac wifi driver because it does not support power saving. the proprietary wl driver from broadcom does.

  gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
  

  Add these lines at the end of the file to prevent the kernel drivers from loading

  blacklist bcma
  blacklist brcmsmac
  blacklist brcmutil
  

  Now install the proprietary driver via the "Restricted Drivers manager" or from the terminal

  sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source
  

  and reload the wlan drivers or reboot. To enable power saving with:

  sudo iwconfig eth1 power on  
  

  set timeout to 500ms

  sudo iwconfig eth1 power timeout 500ms
  

  Reduce adapter power to 5

  sudo iwconfig eth1 txpower 5
  

• Use powertop to see which programs are doing unneeded background processing https://askubuntu.com/a/98367/34029

• Fan: the fanspeed is set by the bios. I really suggest not to mess with it because you can cause hardware damage if you misconfigure it. If you want to change this anyway see http://www.tjansson.dk/?p=325

When following this tips you can get the laptop down to 670-700 mAh resulting in ~ 6,5 hours of runtime on battery.

Answer 2

First, I saw a tool for 12.04 called Ubuntu Tweak. It might be just a start:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa 
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

For me, I download the latest mainline Kernel and I compile it myself. This gives me the option to set power scheme defaults to POWERSAVE. However, this is an extreme answer.

Kernel compiling for Ubuntu

An easier answer for people who aren't power users;

I found; pm-powersave true

BUM (Boot-up Manager) has an ACPID in the list that says it's a service for intelligent power management. If you can install BUM, you may be able to both start the ACPID service and stop all of the unnecessary services from starting up and thus saving power dramatically)

I hope this helps. There is a way to finely tune the power scheme in other ways but it's old style and possibly not the best solution for 12.04