HowTo: Ubuntu Linux on HP Pavilion series laptops
13. Energy Saving
Check my post concerning Linux Laptop Power Saving Tweaks for HP Pavilion laptops
From Ubuntu Linux Hardy 8.04 onwards (including Ubuntu Linux Intrepid 8.10, Ubuntu Linux Jaunty 9.04 and Karmic 9.10) several new power saving features have been implemented, so that power consumption can be furtherly reduced (in my case till 13 watts / ~3hours while typing and browsing (no flash content) and minimum of 8.5 watts idle).
Update: Firmware F.2A has been reported to fix cpu-freq related problems on INTEL dv2000 series (incl. dv2765tx) download here
From Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10 upwards you do not have to worry for your hard disk Load_Cycles any more.
If you have read websites warning for hard disk wear out due to linux, please simply regard them as deceiving FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt, an unfair marketing strategy). Even before Ubuntu 8.10 this was not true for default install of the OS, only unwise user tweaks may trigger too often hard disk shock protection features and eventually wear it out.
To manually activate laptop-mode type:
sudo laptop_mode start
however this will only last until next reboot.
Laptop mode is disabled by default in Ubuntu. To enable it open terminal shell and type:
sudo gedit /etc/default/acpi-support
At the bottom of the file, there is ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE variable, set this to true. A restart is required to enable this setting.
Read through this file to see some of the other options.
Ensure you have laptop-mode-tools installed:
sudo apt-get install laptop-mode-tools laptop-detect
Linux can use different power management profiles called “governors.” By default, Ubuntu does not allow you to change which governor it uses, however you can enable the option with one command:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure gnome-applets
After that, make sure you have the “CPU Frequency Monitor” applet running in your Gnome panel. Right click on the applet and go to the Preferences. Under “Frequency Selector” section, make sure the “Show menu” is selected on “Frequencies and Governors.”
Then you can left click on the applet and from here, choose which governors or frequencies to use.
You can change this via the command line without having to enable anything. Just go to /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/ (if you have multiple processors/cores/hyperthreading change cpu0 to cpu1, cpu2, etc. for each cpu you have listed) and edit the file (use sudo) “scaling_governor”, just change the governor that is listed to whatever governor you want to use. Available governors are listed in “scaling_avail_governors”
man laptop-mode.conf
and edit /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf
Consider installing also powertop which could easily help you reducing energy consumption by analyzing actual energy wasts and give you useful tips on how to save.
sudo apt-get install powertop
14. Suspend/Hibernate
On Ubuntu Linux Jaunty 9.04 and Karmic 9.10 suspension and hibernation are fully supported with nvidia 3D driver version 180 and nv 2D driver.
With recent HP Pavilion DV4 DV5 and DV7 models resuming from suspend / standby generally fails (among others dv4-1050). This is a BIOS bug which is (at least partially) fixed in latest BIOS version F34A released on 2009 05 05. You can download it from here.
Please check if your model is supported before installing this update! You could find your BIOS update on HP support website.
Bug reference: http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12276
Notice, however, with Ubuntu Jaunty you can face your computer failing to both suspend and hibernate if you have applied a pre-Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10 fix for excessive hard disk load cycles (this is not necessary any more starting from Intrepid 8.10).
If you experience this misbehaviour have a look at log file /var/log/pm-suspend.log for a line stating
“/etc/pm/config.d/disk: No such file or directory”.
If you find it you have to delete the script in folder /etc/pm/sleep.d referring to the file in /etc/pm/config.d/disk.
On DV9500 it also has been advised to try using use the package “uswsusp” instead of the default pm-utils. And also to list some WiFi modules to unload before suspending or hibernating. This can be done in /etc/pm/config.d/config and /etc/default/acpi-support
On Ubuntu Linux Intrepid 8.10 suspension and hibernation are fully supported with nvidia driver version 180. However the latest nvidia version 177 3D drivers cause graphical and sound issues during the suspend/shutdown phase. With the 2D nv drivers the system cannot resume from suspend.
On Ubuntu Linux Hardy 8.04 suspension and hibernation are fully supported and both work as expected.
If you have issues please refer to Ubuntu kernel team wiki page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/SuspendResumeTesting
if resume from standby still gives you a black empty screen with only the cursor then edit the following file:
sudo gedit /etc/default/acpi-support
go to POST_VIDEO=
and set it POST_VIDEO=false
in the same file nVidia suggests to disable use of VBE to restore power states for improved stability on resume:
- Some distributions use a tool called vbetool to save and restore VGA adapter state. This tool is incompatible with NVIDIA GPUs’ Video BIOSes and is likely to lead to problems restoring the GPU and its state. Disabling calls to this tool in your distribution’s init scripts may improve power management reliability. http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/169.07/README/chapter-18.html
In order to accomplish with these suggestions make sure this line shows as follows:
# Should we save and restore state using the VESA BIOS Extensions?
SAVE_VBE_STATE=false
By the way I myself have found no problems in keeping SAVE_VBE_STATE true and actually it seems to be also a workaround for some resume problems.
15. Lightscribe
On Ubuntu Linux Jaunty 9.04, Ubuntu Linux Hardy 8.04 and Karmic 9.10 lightscribe feature is fully supported via clsed source drivers available at Lightscribe website.
Although Lightscribe packages are provided directly from the Lightscribe website www.lightscribe.com also LaCie www.lacie.com provides a fairly good lightscribe printing program compatible with K3B.
Despite being developed only for x86 32bit versions of Ubuntu user rac managed to install these also on 64bit Ubuntu via 32bit compatibility libraries. Here is how:
Install fakeroot alongwith 32bit compatibility libraries:
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs fakeroot alien
then convert the RPMs you have downloaded from LaCie into debs
fakeroot alien lightscribe-X.X.X.X.tgz fakeroot alien 4L-X.X.tgz
then install this software
sudo dpkg -i lightscribe_X.X.X.X-2_all.deb sudo dpkg -i 4l_X.X-2_all.deb
finally you can load this program for testing via
4L-cli enumerate
the graphical user interface via
4l-gui
For what concerns labels you can find hundreds of amazing lablels on lightscribe.com website, however if you want to customize them or create your own label user reiki has created a template for use with inkscape program. http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=3923862&postcount=203
You can also read the original post by rac in German language here.