Ubuntu 12.04 to Feature Much Improved Power Management

by Sam Dean - Dec. 19, 2011Comments (4)

If you're an Ubuntu user who happens to use other operating systems as well, and you frequently use untethered laptops, you may have concluded that Ubuntu isn't as efficient at power management as it could be. Power management options are critical in a modern operating system, and they have a direct impact on battery life in mobile devices. In the upcoming version 12.04 of Ubuntu ("Precise Pangolin") power management is getting a much-needed overhaul.

The Ubuntu team is aware of the operating system's power management shortcomings. Ubuntu engineer Colin King has a whole blog post dedicated to the issue:

"There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence of specific machines or power saving features behaving poorly over the past few cycles. So, armed with a 6.5 digit precision multimeter from Fluke I've been measuring the power consumption on various laptops in different test scenarios to try and answer some outstanding questions."

Some of King's tests, which include experimental scripts and analysis of laptop backlighting systems, have already resulted in power management additions to Precise Pangolin. King is even inviting users to help with testing: "...periodically visit https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/PowerManagement to see if there any new tests you can participate in," he writes.

Meanwhile, you can find out much more about Precise Pangolin here. In addition to power management improvements, the new version of Ubuntu will have Mac-like features for working with multiple monitors, and a number of other conveniences. For those of us who live with Ubuntu and laptops, the extra battery life will be especially welcome.

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by Johannes on Dec. 23, 2011

Hopefully their changed their minds when it comes to letting some of their results flow upstream!

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by fandyst on Dec. 30, 2011

wow....

was a name for ubuntu 12.04 is Precise Pangolin , 12.04 ubuntu hopefully more powerful and lighter....

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by openidsaredumb on Mar. 02, 2012

LOL

"f you're an Ubuntu user who happens to use other operating systems as well, and you frequently use untethered laptops, you may have concluded that Ubuntu isn't as efficient at power management as it could be. "

And the sun is hot.... right? I put Ubuntu on my laptop and it went from being able to be used for a couple of hours to sucking the battery dry in about 90 minutes. I won't claim I have it setup perfectly, but so far, that's about as good as I've gotten it...as in.. It's performed worse.

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by an anonymous user on Mar. 08, 2012

How about codec pack features for playing different movie files??????????

is it included already on this version????????????????

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