<div>On 14/10/2007, Eero Tamminen <<a href="mailto:oak@helsinkinet.fi">oak@helsinkinet.fi</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">On Sunday 14 October 2007, Vincent wrote: > On 14/10/2007, Eero Tamminen <<a href="mailto:oak@helsinkinet.fi"> oak@helsinkinet.fi</a>> wrote: > > On Sunday 14 October 2007, Vincent wrote: > > > Anyway, it's now available here: > > > <a href="http://xubuntublog.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/this-is-gutsy/"> http://xubuntublog.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/this-is-gutsy/</a> > > > (I think it does need to be edited a bit to be more release note-ish > > > instead of blog post-ish ;-) > > > > Great review, thanks!  I'm definitely going to test/use Gutsy Xubuntu > > (once I find computer where to install it[1]).  Are all the Murraine > > color variations listed here available on new Xubuntu: > >   <a href="http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2165/430731qh9.png"> http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2165/430731qh9.png</a> > > ? > > > > Could the review mention also some things in which Xubuntu differs from > > Ubuntu besides using different desktop environment? > > > > > > Regarding this comment in your article: > > "Then Xubuntu inherits from Ubuntu the latest Linux kernel (core) that > > includes dynticks. Again, I'm not too sure what exactly it is, but I > > read that it makes sure Xubuntu uses less power and makes your computer > > produce less heat" > > > > Kernel using Dynticks infrastructure (i.e. instead of waking the CPU at > > fast > > fixed clock rate, kernel now lets HW to sleep until the next wakeup), > > is not enough for getting Xubuntu to use less battery.  The kernel > > cannot let the HW to sleep if some user-space application is constantly > > polling the > > kernel.  This page lists some worst offenders: > >         <a href="http://www.linuxpowertop.org/known.php">http://www.linuxpowertop.org/known.php</a> > > (gnome power manager, mixer applet, firefox, pidgin, SDL programs...) > > > > I don't think anybody's checked Xubuntu desktop for this.  You don't > > really > > need powertop for checking this.  Just pick the topmost process showing > > in "top" output and attach strace to it with "strace -p PID" > > (preferably through ssh instead of terminal window so that this window > > doesn't create extra activity).  If the process does anything more > > often than say at few second intervals without user doing something > > with it, the program should be > > fixed.  Now that kernel has inotify (file change notifications), > > nothing should need to be polled. > > OK, I'm not sure whether I followed that... Does this mean that I should > make a modification to the blog post? If you could mention something about differences between Ubuntu and Xubuntu Gutsy release, that would be nice.</blockquote> <div> </div> <div>That'd be a little problem, since I don't have Ubuntu, and I don't have another spare USB drive to put it on ;-)</div> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">The comment about dynticks and polling is more of a generic comment to the dev-list of things to check.  It would be bad if Xubuntu would be worse than Ubuntu/Gnome desktop in regards to battery consumption now that Linux kernel can actually save battery.  This battery saving happens only *if* desktop / panel applets / applications don't explicitly try to drain it (by polling).</blockquote> <div> </div> <div>Oh OK. I tried to enter the commands you said into the terminal yesterday but then Xubuntu hung and I had to force a reboot.</div> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">It's not only for laptops either.  Desktop computers that run cooler need then to use those noisy fans less too...        - Eero </blockquote></div> -- Vincent