From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Nov 30 20:13:36 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 028C616A41F; Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:13:36 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from ducrot@poupinou.org) Received: from poup.poupinou.org (poup.poupinou.org [195.101.94.96]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B48FB43D80; Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:13:32 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from ducrot@poupinou.org) Received: from ducrot by poup.poupinou.org with local (Exim) id 1EhYJu-0002kU-00; Wed, 30 Nov 2005 21:12:50 +0100 Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 21:12:50 +0100 To: Nate Lawson Message-ID: <20051130201250.GC4713@poupinou.org> References: <20051130133224.GA4713@poupinou.org> <438DE9D0.6080107@root.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <438DE9D0.6080107@root.org> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.9i From: Bruno Ducrot Cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org, freebsd-acpi@freebsd.org, Marco Calviani , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: cpufreq and changing driver X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:13:36 -0000 On Wed, Nov 30, 2005 at 10:05:04AM -0800, Nate Lawson wrote: > Marco Calviani wrote: > >Hi, > > > >2005/11/30, Bruno Ducrot : > > > >>You have to load the cpufreq.ko module at boot. > >>Adding that line: > >>cpufreq_load = "YES" > >>to /boot/loader.conf > >>should be OK. > > > > > >I have that line in that position, and it seems working. The point is > >that i would like to change the driver and use (AFAIU) a better driver > >for my system (est). > >In particular i have: > > > >dev.cpu.0.%desc: ACPI CPU > >dev.cpu.0.%driver: cpu > >dev.cpu.0.%location: handle=\_PR_.CPU0 > >dev.cpu.0.%pnpinfo: _HID=none _UID=0 > >dev.cpu.0.%parent: acpi0 > > > >Maybe i didn't understood well: but what i have to do to use the Intel > >Enhanced SpeedStep driver? > > You should send the full output of "sysctl dev.cpu". There is no > cpufreq driver (est, acpi_perf, or other) driver running. Perhaps look > at your dmesg to see if one is probing/attaching. > > If you are using acpi and load cpufreq.ko, you've got all the cpufreq > drivers in one package. The right one for your platform will > automatically probe/attach. > > >>powerd need some rework in order to get it working properly. There > >>is one FreeBSD project on that subject if you are interrested. > > > >Well, thanks i'm very interested, although i'm not at all experienced > >in kernel programming.... > > > >I'm not inside this issue, but it would not be possible to "emulate" > >the behaviour of the ondemand governor? (sorry if this question makes > >no sense) > > I have no idea what you mean by "on-demand governor". The only > automated control of cpu speed is either by the BIOS (which we can't > control) or the TM/TM2 (and that one is heat-based, not load-based). > The ondemand governor is basically an implemation of the following algorithm: There is a counter, say count. at each given fixed intervall: if (idle less than a watermark) { frequency full reinitialise count to 10 } else if (idle more than another watermark) { decrement count if count is 0 { down one step the frequency } else reinitilize count to 10 Note that in the latter case, the down step is performed only after 10 such comparison. In other word, intervall is ten times larger for the down side than the full frequency one. This work well when you can perform, say, 20 to 50 transitions per second. Otherwise, it is pretty bad. -- Bruno Ducrot -- Which is worse: ignorance or apathy? -- Don't know. Don't care.