[ale] Ubuntu dropping support for older CPU's, non PAE machines

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi Mike H.,

That's very interesting. I don't know why it would use more power. You might want to make sure all your cpu cores are in frequency scaling on demand mode. In Gnome 2, you could put an icon on a panel to monitor and set that, although that might not change the boot parameters. Ubuntu 11.04 runs pretty good on my Nelly laptop, which has 1 GB ram and a 2.4 GHz single core cpu. Of course, the built in gpu is ancient. But I would think it could run 12.04 about the same as 11.04, especially if I'm running the gnome gui. If I really run the computer hard, that old Pentium 4 can certainly draw some power in the range of 100 W or so. In fact, the nickname for the chip, back in the day, was global thermonuclear reactor. However, when it's idling, it only draws 30 watts or so. Are you really heavily using the machine when it shuts down. It would be interesting to know what's causing so much power drain. Did the power supply on yours shut down due to overheating, or did the cpu? The problem with me not updating is that I will soon not be able to get patches any more for 11.04.

Sincerely,

Ron


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Ron Frazier
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Mike Harrison <cluon at geeklabs.com> wrote:

On Thu, 17 May 2012, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> FYI, here's some more data I found while researching the possibilities of upgrading my pc's to Ubuntu 12.04.
>
> In 12.04, there is no longer default support for 32 bit machines without 
> PAE (Physical Address Extension) capability. Which means you have to

Without any scientific data:

I have noticed that my big Sony laptop is drawing considerably more
juice and CPU power on 12.04. My travel power brick (90w) has shut down
due to overheating several times. It's never done that before.
The OEM brick is 150watts, and that works ok.

My point is: 12.04 is -not- for underpowered machnes. I also put in on
a couple of P4's with 2gb of ram to repurpose and give away.
It worked ok, but was not snappy.

Perhaps you should not be putting it on 32 bit low
powered minimal ram systems.

--Mike--
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