HEADS UP: Release schedule for 2006

[Kevin Oberman]

> Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005 18:14:01 +0100
> From: martinko <martinkov at pobox.sk>
> 
> Kevin Oberman wrote:
> >>Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 14:29:39 -0600
> >>From: Craig Boston <craig at feniz.gank.org>
> >>Sender: owner-freebsd-stable at freebsd.org
> >>
> >>
> >>>-cpu0: <ACPI CPU (4 Cx states)> on acpi0
> >>>+cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
> >>>
> >>>Q: Guessing that's a formatting difference, rather then 6.x not recognizing 
> >>>the states (sysctl hw.acpi.cpu.cx_supported confirms 4 states)
> >>
> >>Not sure on this, but you're probably better off using EST anyway as I
> >>think it gives you more control over the processor frequency.
> > 
> > 
> > No. There is no conflict between Cx states and EST. Cx states specifies
> > how deeply the CPU will sleep when idle. EST controls processor speed
> > and voltage. In most cases, your REALLY want to use both of these. They
> > are very significant in saving power. (Of course, USB tends to limit the
> > effectiveness of Cx states. I need to run without USB to get really good
> > battery life and to make suspend (S3) really ut power drain.
> 
> 
> Kevin,
> 
> I used to have 3 Cx states supported when I started with FreeBSD on 
> version 5.3.  Since I upgraded to 5.4 and recently to 6.0, all I can see 
> is just one supported Cx state.  I much wonder why. (?)

What value do you have in /etc/rc.conf (if any) for
performance_cx_lowest? It defaults to HIGH which will limit you to only
the most power hungry sleep state (simple halt). This was made the
default because some hardware was breaking when this was defaulted to
LOW. T0 get other Cx states to be utilized, add
'performance_cx_lowest="LOW"' to /etc/rc.conf.
-- 
R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer
Energy Sciences Network (ESnet)
Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
E-mail: oberman at es.net			Phone: +1 510 486-8634