Powerd feedback

[Paul Fox]

gary c martin wrote:
 > Hi Paul,

hi gary --

 > 
 > On 28 Aug 2009, at 23:48, Paul Fox wrote:
 > 
 > > gary c martin wrote:
 > >> Running latest F11-for-XO1 (build 6) here on a couple of XOs here  
 > >> (one
 > >> XO-B4 and one XO-1, I have another XO-1 for test but the manufacturer
 > >> fat fingered the serial code in OF so it can't be unlocked), and must
 > >> say energy saving is working rather well (better than previous XO
 > >> released solutions).
 > >> One unexpected UI behaviour (just considering the
 > >> XO-1 here), is that once a machine sleeps, the only way to wake it is
 > >> to press and hold the power button:
 > >
 > > something sounds wrong here.
 > >
 > > to be clear:  when you say "once a machine sleeps", are you
 > > referring to the power light flashing with screen on?  or with
 > > screen off?
 > 
 > Screen & backlight off, power led occasional flashing.
 > 
 > > the former we've called "suspend" in the past.  the
 > > latter we called "sleep", and it was only available manually (lid
 > > close, or power button).  powerd muddies the waters by entering
 > > this mode automatically after a longer timeout.
 > 
 > Sleep it is :-)
 > 
 > > by default, the screen should dim at 2 minutes, the laptop should
 > > suspend 10 seconds later (power light starts flashing), and after
 > > a total of 4 minutes, the screen should go off (what we called
 > > sleep mode).
 > >
 > > so, assuming you haven't changed the config from the default:
 > 
 > No tweaks, testing with the default (though for someone with reliable  
 > mains power it is a little keen to dim, suspend, then sleep, but I'm  
 > more than willing to roll with that given our target audience needs).

i'm more than willing to hear about better defaults for the
configuration.  the timeouts are separately tunable for
battery-powerd, ebook-mode, and wall-powered.  currently i think
it's too quick to shut down -- the machine can last in sleep, on
battery, for many many hours, yet it currently shuts down after
just one hour in that state.  please read the notes in
/usr/sbin/powerd, and in /etc/powerd/powerd.conf, to see what can
be done, and make suggestions!

 > 
 > >>  - wiggling on the touch pad makes the power light turn, on but does
 > >> not wake the machine :-(
 > >>
 > >>  - pressing keys on the internal keyboard makes the power light turn
 > >> on, but does not wake :-(
 > >
 > > if the screen is still on, either of the above should awaken the
 > > laptop.
 > 
 > Yep, if the screen is still on, a keypad wiggle or button press  
 > awakens as expected.

good.

 > 
 > > if the screen is off, neither should cause wakeup, but nor
 > > should they cause the power light to come on on.
 > 
 > With screen off and power light blinking, the power light comes one  
 > during mouse wiggle or key press, giving the expectation that the  
 > machine should wake.

okay.  as we say near boston, "Light dawns on Marblehead". 

because i haven't worn my other hat, that of an EC firmware
developer, for a while, i'd forgotten that my laptop is running a
pre-release version of EC code that puts the embedded controller
itself more firmly to sleep when the laptop is sleeping on
battery power.  in that mode it doesn't flash when you touch the
keyboard or touchpad.  your firmware, however, will do exactly
what you see it doing.  (and it always has -- it's just more
confusing now, because you didn't put it to sleep manually.)

sorry for the confusion.  what you're seeing is normal, if not optimal.

 > 
 > >> Pressing and holding the power button works to awaken the machine,  
 > >> but
 > >> leaves me with the thoughts:
 > >
 > > if the screen is on, the power button should bring up the
 > > powerdown graphical "menu".  if the screen is off, the power
 > > button should awaken the display (and pressing it a second
 > > time will bring up the menu).
 > 
 > Yep.
 > 
 > >>  - if I just tap the button, nothing happens, I have to hold for a
 > >> good moment or so
 > >
 > > the amount of time required for the power button to be recognized
 > > should not have changed from any previous release.  that's
 > > controlled by EC firmware.  (and it's always been possible to tap
 > > it so briefly that it doesn't register, but i'd guess that's not
 > > what you're describing.)
 > >
 > >>
 > >>  -  but if I press the button down for too long, I loose all my work
 > >> as the machine will hard shut down.
 > >
 > > yes.  we'd like to avoid that.  :-)
 > 
 > Yep :-)
 > 
 > > if what you're seeing doesn't fit what i've described (and it doesn't
 > > sound like it does), i guess we have some debugging to do.
 > 
 > 
 > Well it sounds like - from your description of expectations - sleep is  
 > the one not doing what's expected. With the screen and backlight off,  
 > and power light occasionally blinking, wiggling the mouse or pressing  
 > keys should not make the power light come on. I guess this means the  
 > keyboard and trackpad are still all powered up during sleep when they  
 > should be off.

no, i'm afraid this is just the way it is, due to the firmware.  (and
i'm not sure when the firmware that i'm running might make it to a
release.)

paul

 > 
 > Is there some duty cycle I can log that would be useful?
 > 
 > Regards,
 > --Gary

=---------------------
 paul fox, pgf at laptop.org