Monday, October 19, 2015

Laptop Mode Tools 1.65 Released With Intel PState Support, Other Changes [PPA]

Laptop Mode Tools is a package that should extend your laptop's battery life by enabling the Laptop Mode Linux kernel feature along with other power-related tweaks.

The latest Laptop Mode Tools 1.65, released yesterday, includes important changes and bug fixes such as support for Intel PState driver and a more robust Runtime Power Management Framework that deprecates the usb-autosuspend module. That means that there should be less issues with USB devices such as mice / keyboards not working properly with LMT (if such issues still occur, you'll need to blacklist the device id or disable the runtime-pm and usb-autosuspend modules using the Laptop Mode Tools GUI).

Changes in Laptop Mode Tools 1.65:
  • fixed grep error on missing $device/uevent;
  • ethernet: replaced sysfs/enabled by 'ip link down';
  • wireless-iwl-power: sysfs attr enbable -> enabled;
  • wireless-iwl-power: added iwlwifi support;
  • Runtime Power Management Framework is more robust now. Deprecates module usb-autosuspend;
  • fixed multiple hibernate issue;
  • when resuming, LMT now runs in force initialization mode;
  • added module for Intel PState driver;
  • GUI: implemented suspend/hibernate interface.

Laptop Mode Tools GUI

I'm sure you'll say that the Laptop Mode Tools GUI is pretty ugly. And it is (let's hope it'll get better in a future release), but LMT didn't have a GUI until version 1.64 and users had to edit configuration files which made it a lot more complicated to use, so now it's at least easier to use. The GUI uses tooltips which explain what each option does.

Also, you're probably aware of TLP and you're wondering which one's better. Well, they both try to achieve the same thing and the results depend on many factors so I suggest you give both Laptop Mode Tools and TLP a try (not in the same time though, they conflict!) and see which one works better for you.


Install Laptop Mode Tools 1.65 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint


Laptop Mode Tools 1.65 is available in the failsdownloads Unstable / Backports PPA (because I can only test it in Ubuntu 14.04) for Ubuntu 14.10, 14.04, 13.10 and 12.04 / Linux Mint 17, 16 and 13 and derivatives, backported from Debian. Add the PPA and install the latest Laptop Mode Tools using the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:failsdownloadsteam/unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install laptop-mode-tools
If you don't want to add the PPA, you can download Laptop Mode Tools deb files from HERE.

Once installed, it's probably best to restart your laptop.

The Laptop Mode Tools GUI needs to run as root so under Unity/GNOME, launch it using gksu (use kdesudo under KDE, etc.):
gksu /usr/sbin/lmt-config-gui
Note that after enabling/disabling some modules via the Laptop Mode Tools GUI, you'll have to restart your system.

The Laptop Mode Tools Ubuntu / Debian package comes with a menu entry (desktop file) but it doesn't work unless you edit it and add gksu, kdesudo, or equivalent tool you use.

For other Linux distributions, see the Laptop Mode Tools downloads page.

Report any bugs you may find @ GitHub.
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