(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Today I chanced upon Steve Gibson's very impressive report (related to tablets)
https://www.grc.com/pda/palmpower.htm
Of course some portables will automatically slow down the CPU as battery dwindles but, given Puppy's extraordinary efficiency, and thus performance on 'slow' CPUs (and a handy CPU scaling tool in the Utility menu .. if the available modules work) I wondered if in this respect Puppy's light might be being hidden under the proverbial bushel, and not getting the attention it deserved.

Sniffing through earlier posts on this forum I see that jemimah & co have explored this to some extent a while ago in the Pupeee context, but there does not appear to be much wider interest. Should there be?

One of Puppy's aims has long been the ability to rejuvenate old machines, however declining batteries all too often are the crunch which condemns aged lappies to landfill ... so before I risk trying to reinvent the wheel myself, has anyone else had success using underclocking - via Puppy's CPU scaling tool or otherwise - to keep old portables useful without the painful expense of replacement battery packs?

Cpu scaling works very well on machines that are capable of
doing it.

I'm more interested in "undervolting" than "underclocking";
especially if I come across a slightly faster cpu at a fair price.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardwar ... guide.html

This is going back awhile
version 2 or earlier of Puppy
when I had some problems (can not even remember what they were) and by running at a lower than normal clock speed
(available from motherboard BIOS) they were solved.

perhaps erikson's thread is useful for you....?

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=28443

Aitch

And how! Thanks, Aitch, that has to be the 'definitive work'.

I do hope erikson is OK, and comes back to play before long.

If anyone does have batterypack problems, a cheap way is to rebuild/repair, using 18650 cells, about £1 for 2400mA ones, £2 for 3000mA ones, less in multiples [ebay]

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/reb ... op-battery

Occasionally second hand laptop batteries are for sale with original good cells in for next to nothing...and they don't need to be the exact same model, as many use the same cell in different combinations

You can also make up external battery packs to give the input where the charger normally plugs in using rechargeable aa,c or d cells...see youtube for howto's

Definitely better than trashing/landfilling a lappy!

Underclocking is fine if only doing light duty stuff, though

Aitch