X1 Linux Tweaks

2015-01-16T18:00:20Z

Dalesaurus: â†Created page with 'These instructions are for the 1st Generation X1 carbon but should generally apply to the 2nd gen. The suggestions here were tested with a 3444-F9U to extend battery t...'

These instructions are for the 1st Generation X1 carbon but should generally apply to the 2nd gen. The suggestions here were tested with a 3444-F9U to extend battery to ~5 hours of normal use and a ~6 second boot time.

== SSD Optimizations ==

'''General Information'''

* https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Solid_State_Drives
* https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AA1/Using

'''Recommendations'''

# Install [http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/ds034646 firmware updates] from Lenovo, especially for Intel or Sandisk drives
# When partitioning your drive place your swap partition at the end of the volume. Make sure it is at least the size of your RAM (for hibernate).
# Setup and force TRIM in fstab with the following options in your /etc/fstab '''discard, noatime and commit=500''' (Note: if you are concerned with possible data loss with commit, set it lower)
#: <code>#> vi /etc/fstab
#: # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
#: # !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THESE ARE EXAMPLES, DO NOT COPY TO YOUR OWN FSTAB !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#: /dev/mapper/lubuntu--vg-root / ext4 discard,noatime,commit=500,errors=remount-ro 0 1
#: UUID=34340aba-22cf-4b42-bdf1-2ba70bd8fa44 /boot ext4 discard,noatime,commit=500,defaults 0 2</code>
# Convert your /tmp directory to use RAM via tmpfs
#: <code>#> vi /etc/fstab
#: tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777,nosuid 0 0 </code>
# SSDs work best with NOOP as the schedulers, this is set via Kernel Parameter in GRUB
#: <code>#vi /etc/default/grub
#: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash elevator=noop" </code>
#:
#: and run:
#: sudo update-grub

== Getting Battery Life Under Control ==
After the initial install it can be quite disappointing to see that your new laptop only has 2.5h of available battery. Before you start making any tweaks [https://01.org/powertop install PowerTOP] to measure what is consuming the most power. Several of these items were tested from the [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/PowerManagement/PowerSavingTweaks Ubuntu Power Saving Tweaks] list.

# Disable any hardware you are not using in your BIOS
#: Example: Fingerprint Scanner
#: <code>898 mW 100.0% Device USB device: Biometric Coprocessor (Auth)</code>
# Install [http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-linux-advanced-power-management.html TLP]. There is some debate on how necessary this is with more modern distributions but it will allow you to precisely configure your battery vs plugged-in CPU scaling which helps stretch your battery.
## Walk through the [http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-configuration.html configuration guide] to take advantage of all power saving options when on battery.
## You may not see the CPU scaling taking hold in older distributions (add a Resource Monitor to your Panel with current cpu freq to confirm). Sometimes you still have to set intel_pstate set unless TLP > 3.1.8 and Kernel 3.9+. See [https://github.com/linrunner/TLP/issues/31 here] and [http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/82085/scaling-issues-of-i7-3520m-with-intel-pstate-module-on-kernel-3-10-0 here].
##: More thorough information on the above: http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-faq.html#scaling
##: Here is an example of forcing intel_pstate
##: <code>
##: $> cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_driver
##: acpi-cpufreq
##: $> sudo vi /etc/default/grub
##: // Add “intel_pstate=enable”
##: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash intel_pstate=enable"
##: $> sudo update-grub; reboot
##:
##: $> cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_driver
##: intel_pstate </code>
## [https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop_Mode_Tools Laptop Mode Tools] has been widely suggested however the author was not able to see any difference with it in place. TLP provided a better suites of options to extend battery life.
# If you don't use Bluetooth regularly, [http://askubuntu.com/questions/67758/how-can-i-deactivate-bluetooth-on-system-startup turn it off at startup with rfkill]
# Enable the i915 Sandybridge Framebuffer Compression (confirmed 475mw savings)
#: <code>vi /etc/default/grub
#: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.i915_enable_fbc=1"
#:
#: and run:
#: sudo update-grub
# Don't bother with [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/PowerManagementALPM ALPM]
#: PowerTOP Testing:
#: OFF - 12.02 Watts on Average with Standard Deviation 0.25
#: ON - 12.37 Watts on Average with Standard Deviation 0.32

== Other Tweaks ==

'''Make sure zRAM is enabled (Ubuntu 13.10 and up it is on by default)'''

<pre>$> sudo apt-get install zram-config
$> sudo service zram-config status
zram-config start/running</pre>

== Repurpose the ThinkVantage Button ==

Using Xbindkeys: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xbindkeys

Example to trigger hibernate (in .xbindkeysrc)
<pre>
"sudo pm-hibernate"
m:0x10 + c:156
Mod2 + XF86Launch1
</pre>
[[:Category:X1|X1]][[Category:X1]]

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