battery depleted too fast with just firefox + flwm

[nick65go]

in Tc11_x64, using just just minimum FLWM (windows manager) and Firefox 76.0.1 (64 bits).my battery is 2 years old; in Firefox just reading TEXT (like this forum) in maxim 2-3 tabs opened.

1. with wireless-network, battery depleted (from 100% until 3%) in 66 minutes. What? I did not believed. So I repeated the test again. I measured the capacity very 3 minutes (open aterm, give command, close aterm). The curve was LINEAR consumption. (in 70 minutes battery was 1% and linux stopped).
2. with wire-network (cable) battery depleted (from 100% until 7%) in 75 minutes. Still not good for me. So I break my bet to abandon win10; and I rebooted to test in win10
3. in WIN10, with wire-network (cable) battery depleted (from 100% until 10%) in 150 minutes! win10 has shut-down in 156 minutes (maybe at 5-7%). in win10 I just login and start firefox.

Summary: battery time in win10 versus tinycore was 2 times better in win10. It is craziness. Two bugs could be:
- radeon driver did NOT properly dynamically change the APU clock (evem if I told it dpm=1, aspm=1 etc); I have a AMD A6-6310 APU with AMD Radeon R4 Graphics
- firefox has a bug, even at low usage (reading html files).

[curaga]

There are a number of things that default to "performance" in Linux, but which Windows changes to "battery save" when on battery. Screen brightness, gpu and cpu clocks... Powertop and other such tools can help you.

[nick65go]

powertop is not in tcz repositories. It should be nice to have; or I will grab it from other distro.
With the brightness I solved, by direct input into  /sys/class/backlight/radeon_bl0/brightness;
I have an APU=cpu+gpu.I will play with /sys/module/radeon/parameter

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@box:/sys/module/radeon/parameters$ cat dpm
1
tc@box:/sys/module/radeon/parameters$ cat aspm
1
tc@box:/sys/module/radeon/parameters$ cat dynclks
1
tc@box:/sys/module/radeon/parameters$ cat cik_support
1
tc@box:/sys/module/radeon/parameters$ cat si_support
1
do you have some hints about lower clock frequency places in /sys?like this:

Code: [Select]

tc@box:/sys/module/pcie_aspm/parameters$ cat policy
[default] performance powersave powersupersave

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root@box:/sys/module/pcie_aspm/parameters# echo powersupersave > policy
root@box:/sys/module/pcie_aspm/parameters# cat policy
default performance powersave [powersupersave]

[jazzbiker]

Hi, nick65go!

Since TC 4.x there are cpufreqd.tcz and cpufrequtils.tcz. I didn't used them, but seems that they are working directly with /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpuX/* files. Setting frequency min, max, governor. If You want to maximize battery life seems its time to use this tools.

[Juanito]

The cli tool is cpupower as I recall..

[nick65go]

Hi Juanito!
I think the default cpu configuration in Tiny-core is quite good. Without installing any cpu*.tcz I have:

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tc@box:/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0$ cat scaling_driver
acpi-cpufreq
tc@box:/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0$ cat scaling_governor
ondemand
tc@box:/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0$ cat scaling_available_frequencies
1800000 1600000 1400000 1200000 1000000
tc@box:$ sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/cpuinfo_cur_freq
1200000I do not think I could optimize anything for CPU.

Plus the cpupower.tcz is a little misleading (it says "Intel", but I have AMD), giving me extra frequency which my "bios" can not have:

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tc@box:~$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/bios_limit
1800000

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tc@box:~$ sudo cpupower info
System does not support Intel's performance bias setting
analyzing CPU 0:

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tc@box:~$ sudo cpupower frequency-info
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
  maximum transition latency: 4.0 us
  hardware limits: 1000 MHz - 1.80 GHz
  available frequency steps:  1.80 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.40 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1000 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: conservative powersave userspace ondemand performance schedutil
  current policy: frequency should be within 1000 MHz and 1.80 GHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency: 1000 MHz (asserted by call to hardware)
  boost state support:
    Supported: yes
    Active: yes
    Boost States: 3
    Total States: 8
    Pstate-Pb0: 2400MHz (boost state)
    Pstate-Pb1: 2200MHz (boost state)
    Pstate-Pb2: 2000MHz (boost state)
    Pstate-P0:  1800MHz
    Pstate-P1:  1600MHz
    Pstate-P2:  1400MHz
    Pstate-P3:  1200MHz
    Pstate-P4:  1000MHz
tc@box:~$

[nick65go]

so I am still focused on my GPU. After reading again on phoronix about ASPM, I got:

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root@box:/home/tc# dmesg | grep -i aspm
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/tc11/vmlinuz64 tce=sda10/tce11-64 laptop radeon.dpm=1 radeon.aspm=1 radeon.dynclks=1 pcie_aspm=force
acpi PNP0A03:00: _OSC: OS supports [ExtendedConfig ASPM ClockPM Segments MSI HPX-Type3]Maybe I am lucky with ASPM now. (pcie_aspm=force).
I just discovered one of my mistake: the /etc/modprobe.d/radeon.conf is useless. because radeon kernel driver is loaded from onboot.lst (together with its firmware), before mydata.tgz has any chance to be read. Now I have the radeon options in grub2 command line. Start re-testing.

[nick65go]

so until now, all the previous tricks applied,
1. TC11-X64, with wire-network (cable) battery depleted (from 100% until 7%) in 106 minutes.
2. TC11_x64, with wire-network (cable) battery depleted (from 100% until 3%) in 127 minutes.
3. win10_x64, with wire-network (cable) battery depleted (from 100% until 10%) in 150 minutes.

Linux/Win10  ratio = [70%..80%]. I do not think I can get much closer. It could be because Firefox is a dinosaur (bloat) not optimized for linux as well as it is for windows. Shame.Or I need to try another kernel driver: amdgpu instead of radeon. My "AMD A6-6310 APU", and Xorg says is GCN 2.x

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lspci | grep -VGA
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mullins [Radeon R4/R5 Graphics]Or I need another kernel to expose (and let me change) the GPU clocks, voltage etc.

[aus9]

Or I need to try another kernel driver: amdgpu

could be worth a shot. If you use Apps provides search for codename mullins I get 9 hits for
firmware-amdgpu.

However, you appear to have a Sea Island codename and there is claim, certain kernel settings may need be set. So you might have to re-compile the kernel?

Enable Southern Islands (SI) and Sea Islands (CIK) support

The linux package enables AMDGPU support for cards of the Southern Islands (SI) and Sea Islands (CIK). When building or compiling a kernel, CONFIG_DRM_AMDGPU_SI=Y and/or CONFIG_DRM_AMDGPU_CIK=Y should be be set in the config.

more reading etc here
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AMDGPU

[jazzbiker]

Hi, nick65go!

If You use default ondemand governor still all available frequencies may be used by processor in case "unoptimized" FF will try to jerk extraneously.
If You will set

Code: [Select]

cpupower frequency-set -g powersave
then the CPU frequency will be holded at minimum value with no options, and FF will not have any possibility to shift the frequency and consumption up.

As the CPU eats more than GPU its appetite must be minimized prior to sophisticated GPU tuning, i think.

Please, try the powersave governor, Your results are very intereting, i expect for many forum readers.
Aren't You the "master" of Your Linux ?

[Juanito]

powertop added to x86 and x86_64 repos

[nick65go]

@Juanito: thank you, I will try it.
@jazzbiker:
1 . "As the CPU eats more than GPU its appetite must be minimized prior to sophisticated GPU tuning, i think." Interesting, I did not think about it, because APU=cpu+gpu. I will try the "cpupower frequency-set -g powersave".
2. "Aren't You the "master" of Your Linux ?" -> No, I am the jack of all trades, master of nothing
I hope my laptop (it is 5 years old) will not crash on me soon, I mean HDD, UEFI etc.The choise of grub2 parameter "pcie_aspm=force" fail me (this time). Because I run HP-UEFI diagnostic, and all were OK, but then I rebooted and in tinycore I had no sound, neither wifi devices. Maybe they were put in too deep sleep by my "pcie_aspm=force".A little upset that I distroied my laptop, I rebooted in win10. Et voila! The bloated win10 sees and uses the wifi and sound card. Sigh, I am lucky.I lost a battle, but not the war.

[nick65go]

@all: I made a mistake, sorry. Sound and wifi work, even with grub2 parameter "pcie_aspm=force".The mistake was that I killed the udevd too early (from/home/tc/.X.d/*) and only then I tried to load ALSA or WIFI. Which of course add kernel modules which need to be detected etc.now testing with

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tc@box:~$ sudo cpupower frequency-set -g powersave
Setting cpu: 0
Setting cpu: 1
Setting cpu: 2
Setting cpu: 3

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tc@box:~$ sudo cpupower frequency-info
analyzing CPU 0:
  available frequency steps:  1.80 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.40 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 1000 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: powersave userspace conservative ondemand performance schedutil
  current policy: frequency should be within 1000 MHz and 1.80 GHz.
                  The governor "powersave" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency: 1000 MHz (asserted by call to hardware)and playing with powertop.tcz

[jazzbiker]

Hi, nick65go!

By the way, results of the governor job can be checked in

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cat /sys/devices/system/cpufreq/policyX/stats/time_in_state

Good luck!

[nick65go]

Thanks to powertop, I manage to identify and sort the things that deplete the battery. Few settings were already correctly setup, but most not. So I identified the main pieces:

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tc@box:~$ lspci -nn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1566]
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mullins [Radeon R4/R5 Graphics] [1002:9851]
00:01.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kabini HDMI/DP Audio [1002:9840]
00:02.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:156b]
00:02.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1 [1022:1439]
00:02.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1 [1022:1439]
00:02.5 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1 [1022:1439]
00:08.0 Encryption controller [1080]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1537]
00:10.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller [1022:7814] (rev 11)
00:11.0 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7804] (rev 39)
00:12.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808] (rev 39)
00:13.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808] (rev 39)
00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller [1022:780b] (rev 42)
00:14.2 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller [1022:780d] (rev 02)
00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge [1022:780e] (rev 11)
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1580]
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1581]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1582]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1583]
00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1584]
00:18.5 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1585]
01:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter [10ec:b723]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 07)
03:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5229 PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:5229] (rev 01)
and their tree connections:

Code: [Select]

tc@box:~$ lspci -tvv
-[0000:00]-+-00.0  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1566
           +-01.0  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mullins [Radeon R4/R5 Graphics]
           +-01.1  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kabini HDMI/DP Audio
           +-02.0  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 156b
           +-02.2-[01]----00.0  Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
           +-02.3-[02]----00.0  Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller
           +-02.5-[03]----00.0  Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5229 PCI Express Card Reader
           +-08.0  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1537
           +-10.0  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller
           +-11.0  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
           +-12.0  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller
           +-13.0  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller
           +-14.0  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller
           +-14.2  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller
           +-14.3  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge
           +-18.0  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1580
           +-18.1  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1581
           +-18.2  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1582
           +-18.3  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1583
           +-18.4  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1584
           \-18.5  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1585
tc@box:~$ and then used powertop to see/swich the bad/good settings. For my peace of mind, I sorted the powertop actions to be done by connections:

Code: [Select]

# 000:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1566]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:00.0/power/control'

#00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mullins [Radeon R4/R5 Graphics] [1002:9851]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:01.0/power/control'

#00:01.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kabini HDMI/DP Audio [1002:9840]
echo "HDMI/DP Audio is OK"

#00:02.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:156b] <- APU
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:02.0/power/control'

#00:08.0 Encryption controller [1080]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1537]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:08.0/power/control'

#00:10.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller [1022:7814]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:10.0/power/control'

#00:11.0 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7804]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:11.0/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:11.0/ata1/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:11.0/ata2/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/block/sda/device/power/control'
echo 'med_power_with_dipm' > '/sys/class/scsi_host/host0/link_power_management_policy'
echo 'med_power_with_dipm' > '/sys/class/scsi_host/host1/link_power_management_policy'

#00:12.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:12.0/power/control'

#00:13.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:13.0/power/control'

#00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller [1022:780b]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:14.0/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-0/device/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-1/device/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-2/device/power/control'

#00:14.2 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller [1022:780d]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:14.2/power/control'
echo '1' > '/sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save';

#00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge [1022:780e]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:14.3/power/control'

#00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1580] /1581/1582/1583/1584/1585
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:18.0/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:18.1/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:18.2/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:18.3/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:18.4/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:18.5/power/control'

#01:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter [10ec:b723]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:01:00.0/power/control'

#02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8136]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:02:00.0/power/control'

#03:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5229 PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:5229]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:03:00.0/power/control'

#Runtime PM for I2C Adapter i2c-6 (Radeon i2c bit bus 0x90) / 91/92/93/94/95/96/97
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-3/device/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-4/device/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-5/device/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-6/device/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-7/device/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-8/device/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-9/device/power/control'
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-10/device/power/control'

# VM writeback timeout;
echo '1500' > '/proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs'

#Autosuspend for USB device HP Webcam [Generic]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/usb/devices/2-1.2/power/control'

#Autosuspend for USB device Bluetooth Radio  [Realtek ]
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/usb/devices/1-1.3/power/control'

#Autosuspend for USB device PS/2+USB Mouse [3-2]
## echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/usb/devices/3-2/power/control'
when the battery will be full charged 100% I will start testing.