Arch-XFCE: power management keeps kicking in

Hi,
I use a fully updated Arch/XFCE, among others, to watch movies (on a large external TV connected via HDMI) using VLC.
I use the following startup script to disable pam, among others:
#!/bin/bash
xset -dpms; xset s off
xrandr --newmode "1920x1080_50.00" 144.1667 1920 2048 2248 2576 1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode HDMI-0 1920x1080_50.00
xrandr --output HDMI-0 --mode 1920x1080_50.00
Till about 2 days ago I had no problem watching movies this way.
Ever since (as far as I remember after a full system update), while watching movies, every few minutes the movies suddenly stop, and automatically resume (after skipping some frames) after about 15-20 seconds.
From the following journal I suspect the problem is pam related although it's disabled by the startup script.
Please advise!
Thanks
Michael Badt
----------partial journal-------------
Sep 29 19:00:01 localhost dbus[253]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.UDisks2' unit='udisks
Sep 29 19:00:01 localhost udisksd[4783]: udisks daemon version 2.1.3 starting
Sep 29 19:00:01 localhost dbus[253]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.UDisks2'
Sep 29 19:00:01 localhost udisksd[4783]: Acquired the name org.freedesktop.UDisks2 on the system message bus
Sep 29 19:00:02 localhost org.gtk.Private.AfcVolumeMonitor[4458]: Volume monitor alive
Sep 29 19:00:03 localhost kernel: fuse init (API version 7.23)
Sep 29 19:00:03 localhost org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1[4458]: (tumblerd:4907): tumbler-WARNING **: Failed to l
Sep 29 19:00:03 localhost rtkit-daemon[4606]: Successfully made thread 4921 of process 4921 (/usr/bin/pulseaudio) owned b
Sep 29 19:00:03 localhost rtkit-daemon[4606]: Supervising 6 threads of 2 processes of 1 users.
Sep 29 19:00:03 localhost pulseaudio[4921]: Daemon already running.
Sep 29 19:00:03 localhost org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1[4458]: (tumblerd:4907): tumbler-WARNING **: Failed to l
Sep 29 19:00:03 localhost org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1[4458]: (tumblerd:4907): tumbler-WARNING **: Failed to l
Sep 29 19:00:04 localhost org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1[4458]: (tumblerd:4907): tumbler-WARNING **: Failed to l
Sep 29 19:00:04 localhost dbus[253]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.UPower' unit='upower.
Sep 29 19:00:04 localhost dbus[253]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.UPower'
Sep 29 19:02:34 localhost pkexec[20993]: pam_unix(polkit-1:session): session opened for user root by (uid=1000)
Sep 29 19:02:34 localhost pkexec[20993]: badt: Executing command [USER=root] [TTY=unknown] [CWD=/] [COMMAND=/usr/bin/xfpm
Sep 29 19:05:50 localhost pkexec[21147]: pam_unix(polkit-1:session): session opened for user root by (uid=1000)
Sep 29 19:05:50 localhost pkexec[21147]: badt: Executing command [USER=root] [TTY=unknown] [CWD=/] [COMMAND=/usr/bin/xfpm
Sep 29 19:06:23 localhost su[21184]: (to root) badt on pts/0
Sep 29 19:06:23 localhost su[21184]: pam_unix(su:session): session opened for user root by badt(uid=1000)
Sep 29 19:07:23 localhost su[21184]: pam_unix(su:session): session closed for user root
Sep 29 19:10:23 localhost pkexec[21438]: pam_unix(polkit-1:session): session opened for user root by (uid=1000)
Sep 29 19:10:23 localhost pkexec[21438]: badt: Executing command [USER=root] [TTY=unknown] [CWD=/] [COMMAND=/usr/bin/xfpm
Sep 29 19:54:24 localhost pkexec[23662]: pam_unix(polkit-1:session): session opened for user root by (uid=1000)
Sep 29 19:54:24 localhost pkexec[23662]: badt: Executing command [USER=root] [TTY=unknown] [CWD=/] [COMMAND=/usr/bin/xfpm
Sep 29 19:54:57 localhost org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Cache1[4458]: (tumblerd:23697): tumbler-WARNING **: Failed to load p
Sep 29 19:54:57 localhost org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Cache1[4458]: (tumblerd:23697): tumbler-WARNING **: Failed to load p
Sep 29 19:54:57 localhost org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Cache1[4458]: (tumblerd:23697): tumbler-WARNING **: Failed to load p
Sep 29 19:54:57 localhost org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Cache1[4458]: (tumblerd:23697): tumbler-WARNING **: Failed to load p
Sep 29 19:55:19 localhost su[23712]: (to root) badt on pts/0
Sep 29 19:55:19 localhost su[23712]: pam_unix(su:session): session opened for user root by badt(uid=1000)
I've also ran the following test yet I don't know to decipher it:
# systemctl status shadow.service
● shadow.service - Verify integrity of password and group files
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/shadow.service; static)
Active: inactive (dead) since Mon 2014-09-29 18:59:28 IDT; 1h 3min ago
Process: 273 ExecStart=/usr/bin/grpck -r (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 259 ExecStart=/usr/bin/pwck -r (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 273 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

It seems fairly obvious that there is a disconnect between your GUI frontend and whatever Xfce uses on the backend to manipulate these settings. However, I don't know if it is a permissions issue or something else. dmesg isn't a boot log, it is an interface for kernel and module messages and is usually a good place for looking when something goes wrong. There are other logs that are more specific in your /var/log directory.
Run dmesg --clear, then perform some of these actions and run dmesg again. This will clear all of the boot messages and leave you with only the messages that occurred after you cleared it.

Similar Messages

[SOLVED] Lid doesn't suspend anymore with xfce power manager

The options "When laptop lid is closed" are set to suspend (and used to work), but still, when I close my lid, nothing happens. Using the logout dialog or the suspend button my keyboard works. Is it a problem with xfce-power-manager, or ACPI not registering the lid event anymore? Any idea how to fix that?
[edit]
I solved that problem by removing ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-power-manager.xml, killing the power manager and reloging in my session to flush the settings. Then I reconfigured the lid closed action to suspend (and everything else to my liking).
Last edited by benob (2009-07-08 17:36:47)

Sorry to bother you again, but for some reason it doesn't work anymore...
Somehow it can't lock the GNOME session, because when I enter the above line from /etc/acpi/handler.sh manually as root in TTY1, I get this error:
** Message: Failed to get session bus: Befehlszeile »dbus-launch --autolaunch=c9375f4ea0008d92177b28db000009ae --binary-syntax --close-stderr« brach mit von Null verschiedenem Beenden-Status 1 ab: No protocol specified\nAutolaunch error: X11 initialization failed.\n
If I enter this command inside GNOME, everything works just fine, it locks the screen and suspends.
EDIT:
Setting the XAUTHORITY environment variable properly did the trick. Therefore, I borrowed some lines from here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Su … losing_lid
Thread marked as SOLVED again.
Last edited by perpetrator (2011-10-17 14:25:11)

XFCE Power Management

I have the XFCE cpu scaling monitor applet running and I cannot change the CPU governor. If I set it to anything and click close and open it again it is back on performance instead of conservative. I have cpufreq-utils installed and I have edited my rc.conf to have the acpi-cpufreq cpufreq_demand cpufreq_powersave cpufreq_conservative and cpufreq_performance modules to load. How can I get it to save my settings?
Secondly, when I check "Spin down hard disks" in xfce4-power-manager under On Battery and click close then open it again it is unchecked. How can I keep it checked?
Last edited by vlamnire0 (2011-09-22 23:11:44)

It seems fairly obvious that there is a disconnect between your GUI frontend and whatever Xfce uses on the backend to manipulate these settings. However, I don't know if it is a permissions issue or something else. dmesg isn't a boot log, it is an interface for kernel and module messages and is usually a good place for looking when something goes wrong. There are other logs that are more specific in your /var/log directory.
Run dmesg --clear, then perform some of these actions and run dmesg again. This will clear all of the boot messages and leave you with only the messages that occurred after you cleared it.

Power Plan in Power Manager keeps changing by itself

I have the latest 3.61 Power Manager installed in my T420. I have deleted all the custom old power plans and recreated a new one from scratch. However I notice at times from going to the dock, or removing from the dock or powering it via AC adapter or not, I dont know exactly when but it just randomly changes the Power Plan. I go to Power Manager and notice no Power Plan is selected (nothing highlighted on the left when in Advanced mode).
If I go to the Power Options in Windows Control Panel I notice that its somehow on a different plan, just now I noticed its on "High Performance". Not sure how that happens.
Is there something I need to do to have it sit on my custom plan that I have selected in Power Manager at ALL time and never change? I cant delete these default plans that are in the Power Manager like Video Playback, Timers Off, Power Source Optimized, Maximum Battery Life. I just want it to stay on a selected plan and never deviate from it as I have custom display brightness, sleep times, etc.
Dixit

Seems like this seems to be a known issue on Windows7 and no fix to it from all the scouring I did on the internet searches.
This is one thread I came across on Microsoft where a ton of folks complaining about similar issues.
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7performance/thread/ea33e9aa-c98d-417e-bdd1-60a462...
So I guess this is "normal" function that it randomly changes settings and plans. I guess I could go into all the windows plans and set them all alike that way if it does change a different plan, its still the same. But if you read that thread above, you will see people actually complain the settings itself change as well, which Ive noticed as well. I have the brightness on my custom plan set to 7 and somehow it always keeps magically changing to another value of like 4, 3 or anything. Same with the Dimmed Brightness setting, randomly changes.
Dixit

Lenovo Helix Power Management keeps reinstalling after I uninstall it

Hi, The Power Management driver seems mess up how the dock and tablet charges. I noticed that my dock would be completely dead some times and not charge after i reset the battery and sometimes the tablet would not charge past 50%. I found that uninstalling the power management driver fixed the issue but my problem is that it randomlly pops up after a day and I have to uninstall it again. Does anyone else have this issue or know what is installing the driver back onto my system?

You probably uninstall your driver from the Devices Manager. But that doesn't uninstall it at all.
You should do it from Control Panel > Uninstall a program (or something like that, I have a french Windows 7).
X220t | i7 | 320GB HDD | 8GB RAM | WIN7 PRO
IdeaCenter A520 | i5 | 1 TB HDD | 6GB RAM | WIN8.1

[SOLVED] XFCE 4.12 - laptop lid ignores power-manager settings

I just fresh installed Arch w/ XFCE 4.12
In power manager, I set the lid switch to suspend on battery, lock on ac. The setting worked initially, but after the first suspend, or a reboot, the lid switch triggers suspend no matter what.
I tried setting HandleLidSwitch=ignore in /etc/systemd/logind.conf, as suggested in numerous online sources, but it didn't help
I tried rm -rf .config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-power-manager.xml, which makes it work temporarily again, until a suspend or a reboot
Does anyone know of a fix for this? It's not a deal-breaker but it's a pain in the ass.
Last edited by madscience (2015-04-13 03:10:33)

I may have solved it.
I edited the xml file directly and set <property name="logind-handle-lid-switch" type="bool" value="false"/>
Now the options seem to work as intended. I also noticed that if you launch the settings applet, it changes that key back to true every time it's opened. The change can also be made through the settings editor.
I'll test for 24 hours and mark as solved if it works.
EDIT:
That didn't work permanently, I'm back to suspending on lid close on AC. I'm using TLP with battery thresholds enabled, and I'm starting to wonder if xfce-power-manager is reading the charge state of the battery instead of the power source directly. When my battery is below the start charging threshold and is actually charging, it seems to be working as intended. If my laptop is on AC but the battery is not actually charging, it acts like it's on battery. I might be wrong, it's just a theory.
Last edited by madscience (2015-04-13 02:44:48)

Little help -again- on power-management in xfce

Hi!
Is there anyone who uses xfce-power-manager + pm-utils + upower to set his power-management through pm-powersave? (without acpid).
If yes, he exists, could he please help me to set mine?
This is a long story, in short, without acpid, i can't have my pm-powersave set my script (in /etc/pm/power.d/ ) in the right way, only after suspend/hibernation.
What happens: after suspend, there is a little script in /usr lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00powersave that calls pm-powersave. But -i think- upowerd too tries to run its fu...ing powersave command, as defined in /etc/Upower/Upower.conf.
But in that moment (during resume/thaw) seems that upower can't understand what my state is, leaving it on ac (as defined in on_ac_power).
This does not happens everytime, but only sometimes (don't know why).
Anyway, upower -d recognise perfectly my state.
The only way to fix this is to set RunPowersaveCommand=false; but in this case, i must use acpid to handle connecting/disconnecting ac power.
So please, if anyone of you has any sort of ideas, i would appreciate it very much (because i do not want to have acpid and upower doing same thing. I want to use upower. And acpid is deprecated too).
Thanks!

Ok, sorry if I answer myself, but i do not want to make the first post yet longer.
- What i tried to do: revert RunPowersaveCommand to its default (true). Stopped acpid. Then tried to debug better.
- What i discovered: 1) I killed xfce4-power-manager. 2)I touched an empty file in /etc/pm/sleep.d/00powersave (so /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00powersave doesn't call pm-powersave during resume). 3)RunPowersaveCommand=false in /etc/Upower/Upower.conf.
- What Happened: something calls anyway "pm-powersave false" *sometimes* (may be 15% of the times) and this is just fool. I can't believe. What the hell is calling pm-powersave false? I killed every powermanagement software...so?
Please, give me some help if you can...
EDIT: another nice discovery!! doing "echo mem > /sys/power/state ... and same result: after 3-4 suspend, i found my pm-powersave script set on false...and i'm again without xfce4-power-manager, etc etc...
Is this possible?Am i just crazy may be?
Last edited by nierro (2012-06-13 20:20:32)

Problems with power manager and saving settings Gnome3

Hi guys,
I installed on my Arch Linux system two desktop environments: xfce4 und gnome-shell. On xfce4 anything is fine, but on gnome-shell some preferences were not saved. Especially the time (I'm living in Germany, and the System always shows local time + 1h) and the startup-applications which I setted with gnome-session-properites are saved but nothing happens on next startup (e.g. guake is in the list and is not started automatically).
An other point is that the desktop folder is not loaded (I setted it with gnome-tweak-tool), but when I manually start nautilus, it is shown.
The last point is the power manager. I'm working on laptop and the battery symbol is not shown. I can watch my battery status with executing 'acpi' but thats very annoying. Other components of the power manager are not working, too. The laptop turns off it's monitor, when nothing is done within approx. 10 minutes (I setted as well in the xfce power manager that the monitor should not be turned off as in the gnome-power-manager). I installed the gnome power manager simply with pacman -S gnome-power-manager. Just for you to know.
Thank you for reading this and hopefully you can help me...
pausch
PS: please do not mind my mistakes, i am german and do not natively speak english.
Last edited by pausch (2012-01-08 14:33:15)

pausch wrote:
@wonder
anything looks better now, i think gnome is not built to start that another way than starting gdm...
no, works fine with startx. you only need to add proper stuff in ~/.xinitrc like explained in the wiki.

Xfce4-power-manager and laptop-mode-tools + backlight problems.

Cross posted from here: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=127992
I don't know which forum it belongs to, so maybe a mod can close the one in the wrong forum.
Out of curiosity, do these two tools conflict with each other? There seems to be some features that do the same thing, ie harddrive spin down time, but I'm not sure if these two will try to kill each other trying to configure the same power settings. If they do conflict, how could I go about disabling the conflicting parts (on either)? laptop-mode-tools claims it needs acpid "for ACPI support", however, acpid seems to be grabbing the standby event and throwing the laptop in standby despite the standby button bound to do nothing in xfce-power-manager. If I take out acpid, does that mean laptop-mode will no longer detect acpi events such as connecting/disconnecting AC power and thus not change modes when its plugged in?
Another problem I've had after installing xfce4-power-manager is that when I use the brightness hotkeys the backlight gets stuck and starts flashing, locking up the system until I force shutdown. However, I can use the brightness plugin without trouble at all. What's causing the power manager to screw up setting the brightness since it clearly seems to work otherwise.

It is easier to close this one and move the other thread over here. Just continue there.
BTW better use the Report button when you want to have a thread of yours moved to another forum. That way it is guaranteed a mod will see this in time. And you never need to cross post.

How does power management work under Arch?

So, my Arch install doesn't have Suspend to RAM working. While trying to fix it, I was trying to understand the application chain that deals with power events such as lid close. I have read
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acpid
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop_Mode_Tools
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Po … CPI_events
Now, I have XFCE4 with its default power manager installed. I'm quite confused as to what it is that I need along with that to get things to work.
In short, which of the following configurations is *correct*, in the sense that it will work without manual configuration out of the box, or with minimal configuration, and has a graphical front-end controllable from XFCE?
- xfce4-power-manager
- systemd -> xfce4-power-manager
- systemd -> acpid
- systemd -> acpid -> xfce4-power-manager
Also, if I want to use laptop-tools, then does this change?
Lastly, how do I diagnose the suspend to RAM issue? How do I check whether suspend or resume from suspend is failing?

ashrj wrote:So, my Arch install doesn't have Suspend to RAM working. While trying to fix it, I was trying to understand the application chain that deals with power events such as lid close. I have read
Lastly, how do I diagnose the suspend to RAM issue? How do I check whether suspend or resume from suspend is failing?
If you are using Xfce you don't need acpid and instead of laptop-tools try TLP which enabled successful suspend to ram on an older laptop I had, with Xfce on it.

Best power management software in Xfce?

I am struggling with xfce now . When i was using gnome , l like gnome-power-manager very much . Is there a similar program in Xfce could do a replacement ?

PKGBILD
pkgname=battery-applet-4-xfce4
pkgver=0.9.1
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="A battery applet for the Xfce4"
arch=(i686 x86_64)
license=('GPL2')
url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/battery-4-xfce4/"
groups=('xfce4-goodies')
depends=('libxfce4util' 'libxfcegui4' 'gtk2' 'xfce4-panel' 'dbus' 'libnotify')
makedepends=('pkgconfig')
options=('!libtool')
install=${pkgname}.install
source=(http://downloads.sourceforge.net/battery-4-xfce4/${pkgname}-${pkgver}.tar.bz2)
md5sums=('3ff7d09d66ce8717bef3f52631890b6f')
build() {
cd ${startdir}/src/${pkgname}-${pkgver}
./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --libexecdir=/usr/lib/xfce4 \
--localstatedir=/var --disable-static
make || return 1
make DESTDIR=${startdir}/pkg install
battery-applet-4-xfce4.install
post_install() {
gtk-update-icon-cache -q -t -f usr/share/icons/hicolor
post_upgrade() {
post_install $1
post_remove() {
gtk-update-icon-cache -q -t -f usr/share/icons/hicolor
op=$1
shift
$op $*
I wrote one . have a try
Last edited by jarryson (2008-06-28 05:18:05)

VLC keeps automatically starting gnome-power-manager, why?

Ive been running fluxbox as my main WM for a long time now. Recently I installed VLC, and every time I watch a movie it automatically starts gnome-power-manager. I have double checked my .fluxbox/startup and my xinitrc and even my rc.conf but there is no mention of gnome-power-manager or gnome-settings-dameon or anything gnome anywhere. It seems to only happen with VLC. Why does this keep happening?
I don't want to use gnome-power-manager in fluxbox, but I have another user that uses gnome as the default wm so I don't want to remove gnome either. How can I stop this behavior?
Last edited by tjwoosta (2009-09-13 19:00:19)

The only thing I can think of is the screen saver option in vlc.
Go to Tools / Preferences and click the All radio button select Video and see if Disable screensaver is selected. If not disable it and see if it fixes the problem.
edit: typos
Last edited by loafer (2009-09-13 19:13:12)

Power Management

OK, So I dont really know anything about Power Management, as ive never really cared.
But now that ive been keeping my system on all the time, id like some help getting Standby (sleep) mode working.
If I understand it, this either uses APM or ACPI, its a desktop system, a year old. Which would it use? When I was recompiling my kernel, I noticed APM was enabled, but not ACPI.
Anyway, When pressing the Power button in Windows, it puts the computer into Standby mode. How would I do set this up in Arch?
Also, when powering down, my computer doesnt actually turn itself off. I tried "apm=power-off" in Lilo, from another thread, but it didn't work (just didn't turn off). Actually, I may not have set it up right.
I already have: append="hdd=ide-scsi" , in LILO, so im not sure if I add the line after "hdd=ide-scsi", thats what I did though.
Any help would be appreciated. If its not possible to have it standby on pressing the power button, I could set it up using the Xscreensaver Daemon. That seems to have an option for automatic standby.

sud_crow wrote:
Hi,
just a thought:
# CONFIG_ACPI is not set
CONFIG_APM=y
# CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_USER_SUSPEND is not set
# CONFIG_APM_DO_ENABLE is not set
# CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE is not set
# CONFIG_APM_DISPLAY_BLANK is not set
# CONFIG_APM_RTC_IS_GMT is not set
# CONFIG_APM_ALLOW_INTS is not set
# CONFIG_APM_REAL_MODE_POWER_OFF is not set
the "is not set" thing, means (at least is what i think) you didnt compiled the kernel with that niether with a module,
right! if you look at .config by hand ... better use
make menuconfig
#or
make xconfig
to configure your kernel, because then you dont have to wonder for funny "is not set" behind out-commented lines
sud_crow wrote: for what i know, to turn your PC off with an ATX and a ACPI motherboard you need to have the "CONFIG_ACPI" ...
Kernel-docs: ACPI wrote:
CONFIG_ACPI:
ACPI/OSPM support for Linux is currently under development. As such,
this support is preliminary and EXPERIMENTAL. Configuring ACPI
support enables kernel interfaces that allow higher level software
(OSPM) to manipulate ACPI defined hardware and software interfaces,
including the evaluation of ACPI control methods. If unsure, choose
N here. Note, this option will enlarge your kernel by about 120K.
This support requires an ACPI compliant platform (hardware/firmware).
If both ACPI and Advanced Power Management (APM) support are
configured, whichever is loaded first shall be used.
-> it is generally a bad idea to include ACPI and APM both in the kernel, because you then cannot decide whichone is used and which not ...
sud_crow wrote:... and the "CONFIG_APM_REAL_MODE_POWER_OFF" compiled in the kernel or as a module, also i set the CPU_IDLE (powersaving) and the DISPLAY_BLANK, they are both usufull, i think you should read the ´help´ to see if you need the others.
==> here the docs for these "additionals" for APM :
Kernel-docs wrote:
CONFIG_APM_REAL_MODE_POWER_OFF:
Use real mode APM BIOS calls to switch off the computer. This is
a work-around for a number of buggy BIOSes. Switch this option on if
your computer crashes instead of powering off properly.
Kernel-docs wrote:
CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE:
Enable calls to APM CPU Idle/CPU Busy inside the kernel's idle loop.
On some machines, this can activate improved power savings, such as
a slowed CPU clock rate, when the machine is idle. These idle calls
are made after the idle loop has run for some length of time (e.g.,
333 mS). On some machines, this will cause a hang at boot time or
whenever the CPU becomes idle. (On machines with more than one CPU,
this option does nothing.)
Kernel-docs wrote:
CONFIG_APM_DISPLAY_BLANK:
Enable console blanking using the APM. Some laptops can use this to
turn off the LCD backlight when the screen blanker of the Linux
virtual console blanks the screen. Note that this is only used by
the virtual console screen blanker, and won't turn off the backlight
when using the X Window system. This also doesn't have anything to
do with your VESA-compliant power-saving monitor. Further, this
option doesn't work for all laptops -- it might not turn off your
backlight at all, or it might print a lot of errors to the console,
especially if you are using gpm.
actually APM should work without --- except you are a special case with a funny bios or something else funny ... then you should consider activating them, but gernerally you dont need them

Macbook (not pro) Core Duo power management

Hey,
I pretty new to Arch, but not new to linux. I fell in love with Arch the first time I booted it of the CD for installation.
I decided to install Arch on my macbook, because I need linux for work. It works well, I don't have fan-speed problems or touchpad problems, but I do have power management issues. I have install and configured CPUFREQ, laptop-more, acpid and kpowersave and I made sure that all of those daemons are running and working. Powertop reports that with turned down backlight the wattage never drops below 17.8 which is too high. OSX uses about 11.
Now I expect the wattage to drop to 11watts but I just don't understand what hardware is causing trouble. Even with the pure, standard installation of ARCH I still get 17-18 watts of power consumption without any programs running (except for cpufreq and backlight-control).
It's driving me completely nuts. I recompiled kernels with all kinds of patches. Please, someone help me!
Kenny
P.S.: Now I heard that the new version of ubuntu uses fewer watts... what the hell is that all about??!
Last edited by knysng (2008-05-11 01:19:41)

CPU freq-scaling is working perfectly. I included cpufeq-info output while idling (doing absolutely nothing) and compiling a Kernel. The ondemand governor scales each CPU individually; sometimes CPU 1 is at 1.67 - 2.0 while CPU 2 is at 1.00 and visa versa every other second.
I don't think frequency scaling is the answer to this problem I'm having. I think it's other hardware that is not properly supported by this flavor of linux at the moment. Here is a list of things I looked at:
1. Bluetooth - subsystem removed from kernel; no modules running/installed that would interact with this piece of hardware
2. Touchpad - Mactel patch removed the high number of interupts
3. Wireless - uses about 1.7 - 2.2Watts; I don't want to/cannot turn this one off!
4. Graphics - Intel 950G on board; xf86-Video-Intel driver installed. I know about the DRI issue eating up Watts. Would like to keep this on because of compiz. about 1.5 - 1.9 Watts... unsure about this one.
5. iSight Camera - No drivers installed, not activated??!?!
6. FireWire - Doesn't make a difference. Nothing attached to any of the ports!
7. ......
IDLE:
cpufrequtils 002: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2006
Report errors and bugs to [email protected], please.
analyzing CPU 0:
driver: acpi-cpufreq
CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0
hardware limits: 1000 MHz - 2.00 GHz
available frequency steps: 2.00 GHz, 1.83 GHz, 1.67 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1000 MHz
available cpufreq governors: ondemand, powersave, performance
current policy: frequency should be within 1000 MHz and 2.00 GHz.
The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 1000 MHz.
analyzing CPU 1:
driver: acpi-cpufreq
CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 1
hardware limits: 1000 MHz - 2.00 GHz
available frequency steps: 2.00 GHz, 1.83 GHz, 1.67 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1000 MHz
available cpufreq governors: ondemand, powersave, performance
current policy: frequency should be within 1000 MHz and 2.00 GHz.
The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 1000 MHz.
KERNEL COMPILATION:
cpufrequtils 002: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2006
Report errors and bugs to [email protected], please.
analyzing CPU 0:
driver: acpi-cpufreq
CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0
hardware limits: 1000 MHz - 2.00 GHz
available frequency steps: 2.00 GHz, 1.83 GHz, 1.67 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1000 MHz
available cpufreq governors: ondemand, powersave, performance
current policy: frequency should be within 1000 MHz and 2.00 GHz.
The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 2.00 GHz.
analyzing CPU 1:
driver: acpi-cpufreq
CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 1
hardware limits: 1000 MHz - 2.00 GHz
available frequency steps: 2.00 GHz, 1.83 GHz, 1.67 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1000 MHz
available cpufreq governors: ondemand, powersave, performance
current policy: frequency should be within 1000 MHz and 2.00 GHz.
The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
within this range.
current CPU frequency is 1000 MHz.
LSMOD:
Module Size Used by
ipv6 250052 10
wlan_wep 6144 1
i915 28160 2
drm 72344 3 i915
firewire_ohci 16512 0
firewire_core 36928 1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t 2304 1 firewire_core
tpm_infineon 8744 0
i2c_i801 9232 0
tpm 12352 1 tpm_infineon
ohci1394 28720 0
pcspkr 2816 0
tpm_bios 6144 1 tpm
ieee1394 79160 1 ohci1394
appletouch 9088 0
i2c_core 19348 1 i2c_i801
video 16656 0
output 3200 1 video
intel_agp 23740 1
agpgart 28116 3 drm,intel_agp
sg 27572 0
joydev 10048 0
evdev 9344 13
hfsplus 73476 0
acpi_cpufreq 7564 1
snd_seq_oss 30208 0
snd_hda_intel 335896 1
snd_seq_midi_event 6656 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 48240 4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 6796 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_hwdep 7428 1 snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm_oss 38304 0
snd_pcm 68868 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 19848 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 8072 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_mixer_oss 14720 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd 46244 11 snd_seq_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mixer_oss
soundcore 6240 1 snd
wlan_scan_sta 13440 1
ath_rate_sample 14336 1
ath_pci 231608 0
wlan 224368 5 wlan_wep,wlan_scan_sta,ath_rate_sample,ath_pci
ath_hal 249824 3 ath_rate_sample,ath_pci
sky2 40964 0
rtc_cmos 9248 0
rtc_core 15388 1 rtc_cmos
rtc_lib 3072 1 rtc_core
ext3 123400 1
jbd 40724 1 ext3
mbcache 7044 1 ext3
usbhid 42944 0
hid 39168 1 usbhid
ff_memless 5128 1 usbhid
sd_mod 23192 3
sr_mod 15172 0
cdrom 34080 1 sr_mod
ehci_hcd 33932 0
uhci_hcd 22288 0
usbcore 129904 5 appletouch,usbhid,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
ata_piix 17412 2
ata_generic 5636 0
pata_acpi 4992 0
libata 141840 3 ata_piix,ata_generic,pata_acpi
dock 7952 1 libata
Last edited by knysng (2008-05-14 11:57:43)

Lightweight power managment?

I have a thinkpad with Arch freshly installed and so far everything has worked quite nicely. I have openbox with no DE, trayer, tint2, conky and its lovely. I am trying to avoid as many gnome/KDE dependencies as possible to keep the system lightweight (curses on Abiword for requiring so many gnome dependencies!). Obviously I would like to avoid gnome-power-manager if possible.
Can someone recommend the best lightweight apps for
1) Screen brightness. I would like to be able use my laptop's buttons to adjust the screen brightness on the fly.
2) suspend/hibernate. I have found wiki entries and forum posts listing several opportunities. I assume some are obsolete. What are you using/what would you recommend?
3) My volume buttons should work out of the box (according to some forum posts) but I think I need to install an application that is aware of them because alsamixer is not. Is there a small app that I can run that does not require a panel icon?
4) finally, I am completely new to the "Arch way." I am used to everything just being there and hoping it works right. Are there any other power managment or similar apps that I should consider to make the laptop work better/longer.
Thanks for the help guys (and ladies)
I am loving Arch, but I'm still at the bottom of the learning curve.
JTS

i know it's just a small bit of your post but i can speak to the multimedia buttons:
run a little utility called xev (i believe it's in xorg-utils package) then press your keys. if they "should work out of the box" as you say then you should see something like XF86AudioMute or XF86AudioRaiseVolume go by on the screen
if you do, you can easily map those keys to any alsa volume changing script or utility you like through ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml like so:
<keybind key="XF86AudioMute">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>/home/patrick/.bin/ossvol -t</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="XF86AudioRaiseVolume">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>/home/patrick/.bin/ossvol -i 1</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="XF86AudioLowerVolume">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>/home/patrick/.bin/ossvol -d 1</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="XF86AudioNext">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>mpc next</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="XF86AudioPrev">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>mpc prev</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="XF86AudioPlay">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>mpc toggle</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="XF86AudioStop">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>mpc stop</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
</keyboard>
here ossvol is my self written script that adjusts oss volume depending on the option passed.
you do have to write/find some script to actually do the volume changing. there's a nice bruenig utility called dvol which you can search for on the forums, it's for alsa, and displays a nice dzen notification as the volume changes (ossvol is my rewrite of it for oss)
reading/understanding a small script like dvol and getting your hands dirty in ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml is a good first step up that learning curve

Arch-XFCE: power management keeps kicking in

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