slush1000

Is there a way to control the processor Speed in Debian?
I have a Toshiba A70 with a P4 3.06 Ghz Processor laptop and have been very interested in switching over to linux. However over the hot summer months this machine tends to overheat regulary and shuts down instantly. With Windows XP I am able to change the processor speed from 'Full', 'Med' and 'Low' for battery power saving options which saves the laptop from overheating.


Thanks for the help.

fingal

Hmmm I've never seen that option in a Linux distro before! I think you would need to control that from within your BIOS. On most machines this means hitting the <Delete> key at exactly the right moment during boot time, and getting to know your BIOS settings. Most have the option to reduce your processor speed in there.

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Roxoff

I had a processor speed widget for KDE on my laptop. It may have been part of the karamba stuff, but I could be wrong. The trouble is I dont use my laptop so much these days, and it's off most of the time and currenly at home (I'm at work) - so I cant even look at it at the mo'. The speed widget docked into the KDE panel, and clicking you could set the processor speed as a percent of the full speed. Sorry I cant be much help than that, but I'm sure google can help you out here.

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slush1000

Someone told me that KPowerSave will work. I havent tried it yet but I will post a reply when I discover if it works or not.

Thanks

jaustin

It's probably worth looking at the laptop-tools package which gives facilities for CPU Frequency management.

If you go for a disto such as Fedora Core 5, then you can use frequency scaling out of the box.

It's worth remembering though, that you may need to recompile the kernel in order to activate support for frequency scaling (by selecting the CPU type).

Cheers

J

Zelmo

I believe Debian has frequency scaling enabled in the kernel. At least, I've not had to compile a custom kernel to use it.

Three packages will help you: cpufrequtils, libcpufreq0, and powernowd.
That last one is supposed to work with any frequency-scaling CPU, not just AMD. When it's all up and running, it sets the frequency automatically, running only as fast as needed so you always stay as cool as possible.

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SpaceSquad

All that advice is quite good

But I would also consider dealing with the hardware aspect of the computer. Open it up and clean the dust from the poor fan in there. Then if you want, apply some fresh new thermal paste to the processor die.

flipjargendy

i want to smash my computer sometimes. My laptop overheats quite a bit (Alienware Area-51-M). i wouldn't ever recommend Alienware to anyone. The solution to my overheating problem was just putting something just under the back part of the laptop so the bottom was exposed. It only needs to be a half inch off the surface of whatever the computer is resting on. Then i pointed a small fan at it and made sure the airflow gets underneath the computer. It made a huge difference. And don't buy Alienware.

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