WLan power saving?

Discussion in 'Linux' started by JimmiG, Feb 25, 2009.

  1. JimmiG

    JimmiG

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    If you install the Atheros control panel and driver under Windows XP, you get the option of choosing different power saving levels for the WLan.
    In my experience, setting Power Saving to maximum adds about 15-20 minutes of battery life on the 3-cell during light browsing, without compromising performance noticeably.

    Having switched to Ubuntu, I'm unable to find any options for WLan power saving. What's the default power saving mode? Can it be changed anywhere?
     
    JimmiG, Feb 25, 2009
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  2. JimmiG

    exwannabe

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    It doesn't seam to be available with either madwifi(ATH_PCI) or ath5k.

    But the windows driver (net5211) works under ndiswrapper just fine, and the power saving with it looks real good. My powertop numbers go as low as 7.2 (previous best 7.8). Definitly a function of power mnanagement,as w/o "iwconfig wlan0 power on" (which enables power mnanagemnet) my numbers are worse than the ath_pci driver by a little.

    If nobody beets me to it I will post instructions in the AM (I left the link at the office, thought I had already posted it but must have forgot to hit submit).
     
    exwannabe, Mar 3, 2009
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  3. JimmiG

    JimmiG

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    That's interesting. Do the WLan toggle switch and LED work with the windows drivers? If not I guess better battery life is more important to me anyway. I'll definitely try this.

    Edit: I could really use a tutorial... Haven't managed to get it to work so far :) Don't even think I have the right driver as I believe you're supposed to use an older one that has vanished from the net.
     
    JimmiG, Mar 3, 2009
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  4. JimmiG

    exwannabe

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    The NDIS portion is near trivial and the problem is finding the .inf/.sys files.

    Alas, as of now I have lost my link. It actually took me almost 2 hours of google time to find somebody who actually had a good download of these files.

    But why do you not just use those on yours Windows distro? That should be best in theory,

    I will try and re-find my links when I have some time. Will also be glad to upload the .inf/.sys files to anyplace.
     
    exwannabe, Mar 4, 2009
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  5. JimmiG

    JimmiG

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    The latest XP drivers from Acer are no longer identified as net5211 but something else (can't remember what at the moment), and they do not work..unless I did something else wrong.

    I managed to find the net5211 drivers in a "Vista downgrade" package for a completely different laptop, but those won't install, it just sais Invalid Driver.

    So I don't think I've managed to find the correct drivers yet.
     
    JimmiG, Mar 4, 2009
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  6. JimmiG

    exwannabe

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    exwannabe, Mar 5, 2009
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