Re: problem with cpu eating too much power, prize given if solved

Keld Jørn Simonsen
2004-06-25T12:46:38Z

On Fri, Jun 25, 2004 at 01:40:04AM +0800, Michael Frank wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 17:35:13 +0200, Keld Jørn Simonsen <keld-6PR53cSIHaE@public.gmane.org>
> wrote:
>
> >Dear ACPI developers,
> >I have a problem with my Acer Travelmate 233.
> >Many times I just want to read the screen, eg emails or documents,
> >and then still the cpu will be in idle mode, where
> >it uses 7.5 W out of the about 15 W that the whole machine uses.
> >I have found out from Intel data sheets that my
> >Mobile Intel Celeron 2.0 GHz CPU consumes 7.5 W in idle loop/
> >stop grant/sleep states, (and 5.0 W i deep sleep state).
> >So I would like to have the CPU stopped completely (consuming 0 W)
> >while I still could read the screen. In that way I should
> >be able to have about double the lifetime on the battery,
> >going to about 7 hours from the 3.5 hours I have now.
> >I would like the machine to wake up again by any keystroke
> >on the keyboard or mouse input. I would like the input to be
> >reacted upon (not just used to wake up the system, and
> >then forgotten).
> >I do not have the skills to program this myself, so
> >instead I offer a prize of USD 1000 to the person(s) that
> >can give me a patch for kernel 2.6 and appropiate documentation
> >that can solve the above problem. The patch needs to be GPL,
> >and demonstrably run on my laptop. I need the patch before
> >2004-10-01, after what date the prize offer expires.
> >I would like that the patch was written in a general way to cover for
> >CPUs that burn considerable power in idle loop and other states, so that
> >other users can benefit from it. Also I would prefer that the patch be
> >rolled into the normal ACPI kernel source tree, but the latter request
> >is not a condition for the prize.
> >
>
> Nice idea but it wont be possible to program it as your hardware powers
> the CPU which takes 5w while it is powered. There is no partitioning
> which allows you to remove power from the CPU while running the rest
> and I am not aware of any system or standards which provide this kind
> of partitioning...

Well, I don't know so much about ACPI, but I thought that you in S2
could shut down devices individually, and then at the end for my
purpose shut down the CPU completely, like a suspend to memory.
But maybe this is not doable.

Best regards
Keld