Linux on the X220

[ali0chka]

Here's my 3.1 config for comparison/reference/use: config-3.1.0-rc10.txt

I'm curious at what power consumption you are looking at using your kernel. Any chance you can post some figures here (namely, what is your power consumption at idle).

[ALLurGroceries]

Happy to help. I have posted a screenshot below.

First off my battery life is around 7 to 8 hours with the 9 cell. It estimates 10 hours but with my usage pattern that is never the case. With the 9 cell plus 6 cell slice I get more life than I have ever actually used, so I am not sure precisely, but it estimates 20 hours there.

My idle power consumption ranges from 7.5W to 10W depending on brightness, hard disk being on or not, and bluetooth settings.

My X220's specs: IPS screen, i5-2520m, Intel 310 40GB SSD for OS, LUKS/AES encrypted 320GB 7200RPM for data (spindown after 30 seconds), 2x4GB RAM, Intel 6205 wireless (always with power saving enabled).

Software: Debian Sid AMD64 with my 3.1.0 kernel config that I referenced previously.

Here are my boot params from /etc/default/grub:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet pcie_aspm=force i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 i915.i915_enable_fbc=1 i915.lvds_downclock=1"

Here is my temp and fan speed as I type this:

acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +45.0°C  (crit = +99.0°C)

thinkpad-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
fan1:        1984 RPM

Here is my /etc/thinkfan.conf:

(0,     0,      55)
(1,     55,     61)
(2,     57,     65)
(3,     61,     69)
(4,     69,     81)
(5,     79,     86)
(7,     84,     32767)

Here is my upower --dump:

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/line_power_AC
  native-path:          /sys/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:09/PNP0C09:00/ACPI0003:00/power_supply/AC
  power supply:         yes
  updated:              Mon Nov 14 13:01:29 2011 (68140 seconds ago)
  has history:          no
  has statistics:       no
  line-power
    online:             no

Device: /org/freedesktop/UPower/devices/battery_BAT0
  native-path:          /sys/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:09/PNP0C09:00/PNP0C0A:00/power_supply/BAT0
  vendor:               LGC
  model:                42T4942
  serial:               
  power supply:         yes
  updated:              Tue Nov 15 07:56:59 2011 (10 seconds ago)
  has history:          yes
  has statistics:       yes
  battery
    present:             yes
    rechargeable:        yes
    state:               discharging
    energy:              83.23 Wh
    energy-empty:        0 Wh
    energy-full:         92.99 Wh
    energy-full-design:  93.24 Wh
    energy-rate:         7.931 W
    voltage:             12.413 V
    time to empty:       10.5 hours
    percentage:          89.5042%
    capacity:            99.7319%
    technology:          lithium-ion
  History (charge):
    1321361819	89.504	discharging
    1321361789	89.547	discharging
    1321361759	89.633	discharging
    1321361729	89.687	discharging
  History (rate):
    1321361819	7.931	discharging
    1321361789	8.202	discharging
    1321361759	8.422	discharging
    1321361729	14.558	discharging

Daemon:
  daemon-version:  0.9.14
  can-suspend:     yes
  can-hibernate    no
  on-battery:      yes
  on-low-battery:  no
  lid-is-closed:   no
  lid-is-present:  yes
  is-docked:       no

Here is a screenshot of powertop on medium-low brightness (wifi on, bluetooth off, hard disk spun down):

[hamdori]

(snip)

This is the best battery life I've ever seen for X220 on Linux. I really would like to achieve the same battery performance. Did you compile 3.1 kernel with the option you posted above?

I would really appreciate if you could post more detailed instruction how I can configure the same settings as your.

[ThinkRob]

Did you enable Intel IPS?

IIRC there were some load-order bugs with the module that stopped it from working with previous kernels...

[ali0chka]

@ALLurGroceries

(snip)

This is outstanding. I've shared a link here at the ubuntu forums, where people are having the same problem...hope you don't mind. I'll be looking forward to trying your mods when my machine comes in

It would be awesome you could also give your 2 cents on that thread. People have reported buggy graphics and freezing on older kernels, on Sandy Bridge machines. Did you ever come across this on your X220?

[ALLurGroceries]

@hamdori, what more is there? I posted my grub config, kernel config, hardware config, software settings...

@ThinkRob It's in my config as a remnant, but the module isn't loaded on my X220. Intel IPS is for nehalem, not sandy bridge.

@ali0chka
I have nothing but buttery smoothness on the X220, it's truly an amazing machine. Except for the clickpad, which is kind of a downer. I'm waiting until I get some more time (and for kernel bugzilla to come back up) to try to see how I can patch it further (past the suse xorg patches). There is some stuff in the pipeline but I haven't seen any real progress in months on the clickpad front.

I don't know if I want to step into ubuntu forums again. I posted some patches there a while ago, and it took up a lot of my time, re-explaining my posts over and over. Plus I have gotten flamed for being a debian user, so I'm not so sure... :-/

I'm happy to help out here as much as I can though, let me know what you need.

edit: I forgot to mention earlier that I am on BIOS 1.24

edit 2: I'm also getting ~8W idle on my new ASUS U24E (upower --dump posted here, scroll down to get to it).

[ali0chka]

Well, I guess I'll try Ubuntu...and if it doesn't work, i'll go debian with your config. I don't need all the bells and whistles ubuntu offers anyway

[ThinkRob]

@ThinkRob It's in my config as a remnant, but the module isn't loaded on my X220. Intel IPS is for nehalem, not sandy bridge.

[checks block comment at the top of drivers/platform/x86/intel_ips.c]

Oh.

Ahem. Right you are. Carry on!

[kyriu]

Hi all

Does anyone else has problems with shutdown on the X220? My just hangs and I have to press down the power button to make it go dead. I'm running debian on this.

best

[ALLurGroceries]

No problems here shutting down, rebooting, or suspending on Debian Sid. There was a new kernel uploaded to the Sid repo last night.