[X-Unix] limit cpu usage

James Bucanek subscriber at gloaming.com
Mon Nov 29 07:37:25 PST 2004


Michael Winter wrote on Monday, November 29, 2004:

>
>On Nov 26, 2004, at 9:06 AM, James Bucanek wrote:
>
>> And I've never heard a compelling argument as to why an idle CPU 
>> should be kept idle when you have a process that's ready to run.
>
>The only reasons I've heard for doing this is to artificially slow down 
>the processor to reduce power use on a portable running off a battery 
>or to keep the processor running cooler. I've never had to consider 
>doing this, but those are the reasons I've heard others mention.

But don't processors designed for laptops usually implement some kind of "low power" mode that runs the processor at a reduced clock speed to conserve power and reduce heat?  It would make a lot more sense to implement some kernal extension that would simply "down shift" the processor when running tasks with a lower priority.

What I'm really saying is this: A problem with laptop power consumption should be solved for laptops.  Don't introduce a whole new class of resource management mechanisms to be (ab)used where there isn't any rational need.

(Just my opinion)

James
-- 
James Bucanek <mailto:privatereply at gloaming.com>


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