Linux Kernel Power Bug Is Fixed 145
An anonymous reader writes "The Linux kernel power bug that caused high power usage for many Intel Linux systems has finally been addressed. Matthew Garrett of Red Hat has devised a solution for the ASPM Linux power problem by mimicking Microsoft Windows' power behavior in the Linux kernel. A patch is on LKML for this solution to finally restore the battery life under Linux."
Re:overblown (Score:4, Interesting)
yes.. My 8 hours of battery life in windows and 5 hours in Linux running PowerTop to disable as much as possible is just sensationalism..
Re:MICROSOFT was behind this! (Score:5, Interesting)
Something like this perhaps?
http://groklaw.net/pdf/iowa/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/3000/PX03020.pdf [groklaw.net]
From: Bill Gates
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 1999 8:41 AM
To: Jeff Westorinon; Ben Fathi
Cc: Carl Stork; Nathan Myhrvold; Eric Rudder
Subject: ACPI extensions
One thing I find myself wondering about is whether we shouldn't try and make the "ACPI" extensions somehow Windows specific.
It seems unfortunate if we do this work and get our partners to do the work and the result is that Linux works great without having to do the work.
Maybe there is no way to avoid this problem but it does bother me.
Maybe we could define the APIs so that they work well with NT and not the others even if they are open.
Or maybe we could patent something related to this.
Re:overblown (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes. It sickes me that Slashdot has followed Phoronix's lead in calling this a Linux bug. It isn't. The bug is in hardware not reporting that it is ASPM (Active State Power Management) capable.
As I understand it, the history of this thing is like:
1. Linux implements ASPM
2. This causes some hardware to fail, because it isn't ASPM capable
3. Linux is fixed to detect if the hardware reports ASPM capability, and doesn't use ASPM if the hardware says it doesn't support that
4. Michael Larabel of Phoronix notices that Linux power consumption has risen on some hardware, calls it a bug in Linux
5. Folks investigate, figure out that some hardware reports no ASPM capability, even though it is ASPM capable, and implement a kernel parameter to force Linux to use ASPM, even if the hardware says it doesn't support it
6. Michael Larabel keeps talking about the Linux power regression writes post after post about how it still hasn't been fixed
7. Someone figures out how Windows detects ASPM support on hardware that doesn't report it, and implements the same heuristic in Linux
8. Now, Slashdot claims the Linux bug has been fixed, even though it wasn't a bug in Linux, and Linux has had a workaround for almost as long as we've known about the issue
Seriously, guys. Bad reporting. This is _not_ what I come to Slashdot for. There are hundreds of sites that will give me half truths, common misconceptions, and the occasional nugget of truth. Strive to be better than those.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)