Fedora 21 vs. Ubuntu 14.10 Power Consumption On An ASUS Zenbook

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Fedora 21 vs. Ubuntu 14.10 Power Consumption On An ASUS Zenbook

In upgrading to the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon Broadwell ultrabook, I'm debating whether to switch back to Fedora after having used Ubuntu for a number of years on my main production system after some falling out with a few less then stellar Fedora Core releases back in the day (of course, on test systems, there's plenty of Fedora around here but this is just about deciding on my next main OS for business tasks). In waiting for the new Broadwell ultrabook, I've been running some fresh Ubuntu and Fedora Linux tests on some other laptops/ultrabooks in the office...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ubuntu-Fedora-Power-Consumption

[opensource]

From this initial, rudimentary testing there wasn't any extreme difference between Fedora 21 and Ubuntu 14.10 but the numbers slightly favored Ubuntu Linux. On average, Ubuntu was 1~2 watts lower than Fedora 21 with the same Intel ultrabook. With enough tweaking though, Fedora could have likely performed the same or even better than Ubuntu, but this is just a measure of the out-of-the-box experience.

Michael, it would be interesting to see when/how to tweak a Notebook so that power consumption drops.

[wpoely86]

powertop

Michael, it would be interesting to see when/how to tweak a Notebook so that power consumption drops.

Have a look at powertop. That's a good place to start.

[Alejandro Nova]

Fedora 21 has a mega tool for tweaking. It was broken until yesterday, but it's fixed with updates. Please, ignore ALL advices about how to tweak Linux for minimum power consumption and run these commands.

# yum install tuned-utils powertop
# powertop2tuned battery

After that, edit the resulting config file, located in /etc/tuned/battery/tuned.conf, UNCOMMENT EVERYTHING (UNLESS YOUR PC BREAKS) and run this.

# tuned-adm profile battery

Make it persistent with

# systemctl enable tuned

And switch dynamically between profiles writing this text to the file /etc/udev/rules.d/61-powersave.rules .

SUBSYSTEM=="power_supply", ATTR{online}=="0", RUN+="/usr/sbin/tuned-adm profile battery"
SUBSYSTEM=="power_supply", ATTR{online}=="1", RUN+="/usr/sbin/tuned-adm profile desktop"

This is how it's done in Fedora.

[przemoli]

Is Fedora still removing s3tc by default in their Mesa package (even for Intel)?

It was major deal breaker for me few years ago.

[Alejandro Nova]

Is Fedora still removing s3tc by default in their Mesa package (even for Intel)?

It was major deal breaker for me few years ago.

Yes, but if you need it you can simply install libtxc_dxtn from RPMFusion.

[souenzzo]

In my notebook (vpceg13eb/i3 SB) battery goes about 2x long on Arch/Fedora(gnome) over Ubuntu (unity)

Even on 14.10

[mistvieh]

Fedora 21 has a mega tool for tweaking. It was broken until yesterday, but it's fixed with updates.

Thanks, that's nice.

As alternative one can use tlp, also in the standard repos.

@souenzzo: Something is definitely configured totally wrong.

[blackiwid]

Yes, but if you need it you can simply install libtxc_dxtn from RPMFusion.

Does that matter somewhere noticable, on the topic it has nothing to do with power drawing right?

And nothing with gnome-shell speed or video-vdpau stuff?

So maybe I could make xonotic faster? Just to be sure because I deployd fedora on some x220 maschines for some people including me

[opensource]

Have a look at powertop. That's a good place to start.

I know about powertop but is it enough? Maybe M. could make like tutorial/article on how he reduced the power consumption.