Battery Useage

[ThC]

I just reinstalled pdaXrom after running cacko 1.21b for a few weeks and noticed the difference in battery useage between these 2 roms ... So I was wondering how can it be that with cacko\'s QT based rom I can use my Z all day long and come back at home with 80% of battery left  and with pdaXrom I get home with sth like 50% (havin just listened a few mp3s during transport times)
Is there any reason why pdaXrom should drain the battery faster than QT ? is this just coming from the music player applet in QT being able to shut off the screen on demand while pdaX shuts it off after 20secs (my settings) ?
Are these 20secs enough to drain ~10% of my battery life each time I switch the diplay on and off ? another thing is ... while using the pda and listening music under pdaXrom i can see the battery gauge going down at , like 1% per minute while under cacko\'s QT rom it will lose 1% every 10 minutes or so ...
anyone have an idea about it ?

[alan]

dear Thc,

I\'ve been using pdaxrom 1.0.5 for weeks now, so i don\'t know about QT rom but as far as i am concerned, i can use abiword for about 5 hours with minimum screen light (it\'s a better power life than many laptops...). I think it is quite a high poxer consuming activity so i guess your pb may come from your music player.

Plus, i noticed (i\'m not the only one) that mp3 playing gets the Z on it\'s knees. Maybe the pdaxrom team should check there code and see if there is no possible improvement. (I wish i knew how to help them, but i don\'t...)

[padishah_emperor]

I have also noticed this, and the lack of comment by other users or the development team.  I really don't know what the issue is, but there is definately a quicker drain on the battery than on Cacko QT.

I can leave my Z plugged into the mains for 8 or more hours, the charge light stays on (it never goes off with pdaXrom) and then when unplugged the power shows up as 70-80%, this drops another 10% within a few minutes, one hour of music playing (OGG) and the power drops to 40-50%.

In order to prove to myself that my Z is not dying, I flashed the QT ROM back on, the charge light works and the battery life is far better. So it's not my machine, it's something in the way pdaXrom works, my only concern with this is that my longer term plans involve getting a microdrive, I shudder to think how quick the power will drain then!

Maybe one of the pdaXrom team can elaborate for us?
(BTW, nice work)

[scoutme]

quite strange than no other noticed the battery-life problem that pdaxrom actually bears.

I personally switched bach to sharp roms (Cacko) ONLY for battery usage problems
...also for handwriting, but that was a minor issue

[scoutme]

I suspect pdaxrom doesn't manage Xscale variable mhz feature...

[ThC]

I dont think cacko manage it either ... as cacko's rom do also have the overclocking/underclocking utility and the frequency won't move by itself ... BTW, reinstalled it recently and noticed the difference is less significant than before ... is that the same kind of problem than my pseudo dead pixels ? (having randomly dead pixels at each pdaXrom install - no dead pixels at all under cacko rom)

[scoutme]

I think that Cacko DO manage Xscale, just remember its core is the sharp rom.

The fact they let you choose the clockrate doesn't mean necessarily the os doesn't manage power consumption, although it could be possible.


Anyway, the fact is that, in a way or the other, cacko uses almost half the battery pdaxrom uses, and that's quite a heavy issue to think on


p.s.: no dead pixels in my pdaxrom flashing

[Laze]

We are been looking into the "power" issue - and we think the difference is due to the fact Qtopia is using the "real" AtiCore functions. ATI power manager FPGA, and we think without normal/real documentation its impossible to use.

Stupid closed source agreements, so we have no idea and ATI don't wan't to hand out the documentation and no response from Zaurus - big surprise.

[scoutme]

terrible...

Can't we try to contact Ati?

We can try to convince them that releasing their cores sheets will let their product become more and more requested by manufacturers, since their pdas market will be bigger and bigger, due to opensource.


...I know, not so good arguments in THIS world

I'll try by myself some moves

[Laze]

Any help getting ATI or Sharp to release some source/documentation would be greatly appreciated - we have applied for developer accounts several times at ATI site..

[ppfundst]

That sucks!  I noticed that battery life problem too.

If I wanted to contact ATi, What would be the references of the card they use in the Zaurus? What should I ask them exactly?

Maybe we could write a petition to them!!

Patrick

[scoutme]

I fear that a petition could be risky,,, they could feel exposed.


If they just give their sources and info to pdaXrom developers, and in a way enter in collaboration with them, maybe we'll have more possibilities.


By the way, the petition could be the solution, everything is possible-.

Other point: I read some time ago that the guy/z behind open Omega Radeon Drivers for Windows are actually in contact with Ati (maybe one of them works for Ati), and Ati says that "Omega Drivers are a good Open alternative to their drivers".
So it could be possible to create a collaboration with Ati, with some terms they maybe would like to discuss.

I think I'll try to contact the Omega guys.

[ced]

I thought the pdaxrom was overclocking the ATI stuff from 75Mhz to 100Mhz, if that's the case then it could drain the battery a bit faster...

[Reaper]

Yes, this problem does exist (battery light never goes off when charging pdaX Z and it uses much more power). I think that this problem should be solved in some different ways: 1) Turning off display after ~10 sec, especially when running XMMS (and not turning it back on when one uses remote control); 2) Suspending Z when running on battery power and no actions are taken within 1 minute; 3) NOT suspending Z if it runs XMMS and NOT turning off display when it runs mplayer or something like that. The last solution uses more battery power, but this way we won't become mad too often  as well as we won't get quite a few lockups (as many of you must have been noticed, suspending Z which is running XMMS, turning it back on and starting a replay is a NICE way to lock it up )...

[padishah_emperor]

..is that the same kind of problem than my pseudo dead pixels ? (having randomly dead pixels at each pdaXrom install - no dead pixels at all under cacko rom)

Yes, this has been a major turn-off for me, I had to switch back to QT, I couldn't bear seeing dead-ish pixels looking at me, that and the power thing..