New kernel patch slashes Linux’s power appetite

Linux users working on laptops and other portable devices may soon have cause to rejoice thanks to a new kernel patch that finally promises to fix power regression problems associated with recent versions of the software.

Affecting Linux systems using version 2.6.38 or later of the Linux kernel, the problems have dramatically increased the amount of power consumed by Linux, resulting in far fewer hours of use per each battery charge.

Power consumption on an Intel Sandy Bridge notebook running Ubuntu Linux with kernel 3.1, for example, has increased by 76 percent since earlier this year due to Linux kernel regressions, according to a report this summer on Phoronix. Read more...