Hello,
I noticed the battery optimization guide for Fedora recommends TLP. I have also seen the tool auto-cpufreq recommended as a more efficient way to improve battery life.
Which tool do you think is better?
I don’t own a Framework device yet, but on a prior Linux laptop, I did two things. First, I used powertop to learn what tunables existed and how it set them to my preferred values. Most settings were altered by writing to files in sysfs. I then configured the appropriate udev (IIRC) rules to write the desired settings on boot and resume. I also used an undervolt program to undervolt everything by 115mV (again IIRC). I will try a similar approach when my F16 arrives.
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Also if you’re on AMD Ryzen 7040U, PPD is most recommend,
So it’s looking like optimization varies depending on your environment.
Don’t take my words like it’s science.
I tried a couple things with the AMD framework laptop 13 (TLP, PPD+gnome integration, autocpufreq), and if you’re looking for the best seamless integration and the most fluid on-battery performance while maximizing battery time, then go with autocpufreq and don’t touch the initial config. TLP is too complicated to configure to a point where the performance is not sloppy on battery, and usually more aimed toward intel stack. PPD works well, but the integration with gnome/the whole system is not mature, so you always end up on the wrong power profile and sometimes things don’t work. There’s an extension that does auto power profile switching under gnome and it’s always bugged/misses events. So far, the experience with default config autocpufreq is smooth, failsafe, and gives me the best ratio of responsiveness/battery life. Keep in mind however that you HAVE to mess with the kernel boot options to stop amd_pstate from kicking in. If you don’t, it will still work but the performance on battery will be abysmal (well, it was here before I added the options)
I personally also have a powertop --auto-tune service at boot, but I haven’t been able to tell how much of a difference it does as it’s an AMD CPU so i’m not sure how impactful it really is. However, it does not causes me any troubles, so why not.
I’m using PPD with the multiple driver patch. Around 7-8w on web browsing with the balanced profile, more than satisfied. powertop --autotune is also on, but doesn’t seem to make much a difference as other has said.