Linux Rescues Battery Life On Vista Notebooks From Dell

nerdyH writes "Dell is preparing to ship two enterprise-oriented Windows Vista notebooks with an interesting feature — a built-in TI OMAP (smartphone) processor that can power instantly into Linux. The 'Latitude ON' feature is said to offer 'multi-day' battery life, while letting users access email, the web, contacts, calendar, and so on, using the notebook's full-size screen and keyboard. I wonder if someday we'll just be able to plug our phones into our laptops, switching to the phone's processor when we need to save battery life? Or, maybe x86 will just get a lot more power-efficient. Speaking at MontaVista's Vision event today, OLPC spokesperson and longtime kernel hacker Deepak Saxena said the project is aiming for 10-20 hours of battery life during active use, on existing hardware (AMD Geode LX800 clocked at 500MHz, with 1GB of Flash and 256MB of RAM)."

Comments

eh

[Gewalt]

Well, I hope it's at least damn pretty, cause being the runner up to "the real os" isn't really something to be proud of. But if its flashy enough, then people will like it and will increase their opinion of linux. Then again... is it going to say its Linux?

Re:eh

[Anonymous Coward]

A notebook sized iPhone-like device

Thats got to be awkward to try to hold to your ear while talking.

I don't think it's the Linux

[Sockatume]

Going out on a limb here, but I suspect the use of a mobile phone processor contributed a teeny bit more to the improved battery life than the Linux. (FWIW, I don't see any statistically significant battery life difference between Xubuntu and Vista Business on my own machine, but that's another story.)

Re:I don't think it's the Linux

[Gewalt]

You ever try to get windows vista running on a AMD Geode LX800? You are correct in saying that its the processor saving the power, not the OS, but without the OS, the processor wouldn't be an option.

Re:I don't think it's the Linux

[akozakie]

Not only that. Having a general purpose operating system gives you a choice you wouldn't otherwise have - using applications that the designers didn't consider. I know I'd like a laptop with 20+ hours on a normal battery, but it would have to have at least ssh (works on my phone, so obviously not a problem), and something to edit text (LaTeX, docs, sometimes simple programs - vi or something else that doesn't need much processor power). I could do 80% of my everyday work with this. And if after a few hours of work I could boot to full power to e.g. compile the text - even better. Now, what are the chances that these applications would be installed in an "email/web" mode? With Linux I can just install what I need and - as long as it doesn't need much to run - it'll work just fine.

10 to 20 hours is easy...

[squoozer]

... you just need a very very big battery. Rather than quoting run time on battery we should probably start reporting the average power draw of the system idle and under full load.

Flamebait headline

[abigsmurf]

They're talking about using a system on a chip solution that is designed to draw about 2W compared to the 20W or so the laptop usually draws. Of course it's going to last longer.

Given the Geode is x86, this could quite easily run XP and would likely achieve a similar battery life. It just wouldn't be instant on.

It's also an incredibly expensive solution that'll add weight and bulk to the laptop. If this kind of thing is important to you, get a PDA or smartphone.

How about a solar cell notebook case?

[digitaldc]

How about putting a solar array on a notebook case/cover that could power your laptop and any other items such as cell phones and music players?

Seeing that batteries are a very limited resource, how about having the option to use the unlimited power of the sun?

It also has a dual benefit of forcing you to get out of your parent's basement every so often.

Re:How about a solar cell notebook case?

[ErroneousBee]

Because then you have to leave these things out in the sun, where they will get stolen, or suffer from heat stress issues, warping of plastics, water damage, etc.

Its also hard to charge an 18V battery from the 5V typical that you get from a laptop sized solar panel.

Power monkeys and similar are the way to go, especially if capacitor based batteries come around, then you can charge devices from the powermonkey in minutes.

silly...

[Timothy Brownawell]

I wonder if someday we'll just be able to plug our phones into our laptops, switching to the phone's processor when we need to save battery life?

That would be silly. Why not plug your foldable self-powered screen/keyboard thing into your "phone" when you need more pixels or want to type something long?

Re:For some people this may be enough

[pandrijeczko]

I lost one user from Kubuntu to XP Cracked Edition because she _needed_ to read those forwards that her friends with boring jobs send her.

But presumably she didn't need it enough to go buy a proper licensed copy of XP?

I don't intend bleating on about piracy and I really don't want to play the Linux zealot here, but I do wish people would compare "like for like". Far too many people seem to forget that XP and MS Office are commercial products that they *should* be paying for whereas Open Office and Linux are obtainable freely.

If it was impossible to run cracked copies of Windows, MS Office and other Windows software and everyone had to pay for proper licenses, I'm sure a lot more people would take the trouble to actually try free software, rather than staying in a comfort zone and just assuming it cannot do what they need it to.

As another poster has already said, I've never seen a PPT that I couldn't import in Open Office. Sure, I don't use all of Powerpoint's features but, in my experience, the compatibility seems quite good.

Easy thing to do for Software Freedom

[dmarti]

I agree. The easiest thing you can do for Software Freedom is to refuse to make or support infringing copies of proprietary software.