Linux on Samsung Chronos 7
Since using linux on my Samsung Chronos 7 turned out to be painful, here are my ups and downs with explanations or links how to improve the overall performance.
Specification
- Processor
- Intel Core i5 2430M
- Linux Support
- gets very hot sometimes and fan is running almost
all the time which is related to the onchip (and dedicated) video device(s)
Constantly comes down to ~60 C now - Identification/Module
- Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2430M CPU @ 2.40GHz
- Comment
-
using the
ondemand
governor and cpufrequtils
- Memory
- Intel Core i5 2430M
- Linux Support
- good
- Identification/Module
- Comment
- OnChip Video
- Intel HD 3000 256MB
- Linux Support
-
ok
still having temperature issues Constantly comes down to ~60 C now but gets very hot as soon as you use movie playback or other video related applications - Identification/Module
- i915
- Comment
-
For power saving and reducing heat add the following to your
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
:pcie_aspm=force <em>acpi=noirq</em> acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor intel_iommu=off i915.modeset=1 i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 i915.lvds_downclock=1
; additionally what seemed to help a bit with temperature issues:i915.semaphores=1
Adding theacpi=noirq
might help to really enable rc6. Do not forget to runupdate-grub
then! To ensure the gpu does not get too hot try this:echo 650 > /sys/kernel/debug/dri/0/i915_max_freq
. It sets the max gpu frequency to a user defined frequency (the lowest possible 650 in my case). No more fan terror… Downside: playing 3D games will not be much fun from now on…
- Discrete Video
- AMD Radeon HD 6470M 256MB?
- Linux Support
-
turned offgets too hot as long as you do not change the power profile/method or use the proprietary fglrx
consumes too much power - Identification/Module
- radeon/fglrx
- Comment
-
To switch it off:
blacklist radeon
and runupdate-initramfs -u
; switch it off at boot by addingfbcon=map:0
toGRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
It might help to switch the power method to dynamic:echo "dynpm" > /sys/class/drm/card1/device/power_method
or the profile to low:echo "profile" > /sys/class/drm/card1/device/power_method; echo "low" > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_profile
- Harddisk
-
1TB Samsung HDD
120GB Samsung 830 series SSD - Linux Support
- good
- Identification/Module
- SATA ahci
- Comment
- very fast
- Wifi
- Broadcom 802.11bgn
- Linux Support
- No powersave with kernel drivers
- Identification/Module
- BCM43225 – bcma
- Comment
- Bluetooth
- Broadcom ...
- Linux Support
- good
- Identification/Module
- btusb
- Comment
- LAN
- 1 Gbit
- Linux Support
- good
- Identification/Module
- RTL8111/8168B – r8169
- Comment
- Display
-
Size 14″
Resolution 1600×900
non-glare - Linux Support
- good
- Identification/Module
- Comment
- very bright
- Keyboard
- With backlight
- Linux Support
-
Working
Can’t toggle backlight with FN-Keys - Identification/Module
- Comment
- very bright
- Touchpad
- Elantech
- Linux Support
-
almost perfect
Some gestures missing - Identification/Module
- Comment
- DVD/CD
- Samsung...
- Linux Support
- good
- Identification/Module
- Comment
- with Eject over keyboard
- Audio
- Intel HDA
- Linux Support
- good
- Identification/Module
- snd-hda-intel
- Comment
- OS
-
Windowx 7 Pro 64bit
Ubuntu Linux 11.1012.0412.10 64bit - Linux Support
- good
- Identification/Module
- kernel 3.3
45 64bit (Ubuntu Mainline precise) - Comment
Power usage
Battery power consumption (without discrete graphics)
- Type
- Standard
- Usage
- ~15,5-19 Watt
- Temp
-
CPU mostly between 45 and 59 C°
Mobo mostly between 50 and 60 C° - Runtime
- >3,5-4h
- Type
- Without Wifi+BT
- Usage
- ~14,5-15,5 Watt
- Temp
-
CPU mostly between 45 and 59 C°
Mobo mostly between 50 and 60 C° - Runtime
- ~4,5-5h
AC power consumption (without discrete graphics)
- Type
- AC
- Usage
- > 20 Watt
- Temp
-
CPU mostly between 55 and 69 C°
Mobo mostly between 55 and 69 C° - Runtime
- forever…
AC power consumption (with discrete graphics)
- Type
- AC/Battery
- Usage
- > 30 Watt
- Temp
-
CPU mostly between over 70 C°
Mobo mostly over 70 C°
Radeon mostly over 70 C° - Runtime
- forever…
What I did
Used google until my keyboard (almost) burned.
Using powertop and tweak what it demands. Ubuntu comes with pm-tools which allows own scripts to be executed when you go on battery. For detailed configuration see powersave.
Turned off the discrete radoen by executing:
echo IGD > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
I have been wrong: the Chronos uses „PowerXpress“ to switch between cards.
So only acpi_call or the fglrx drivers can help with switching.
But not vgaswitcheroo! Or just not loading the radeon driver.
Not sure if it helped: compiled and installed acpi_call module and deactivated the discrete radeon.
It may further help to switch off compiz. Have not tried that yet. It helps. But not enough…
Definitely a good thing: Install the recent ati/amd fglrx drivers.
A good description can be found at http://wiki.colar.net/ubuntu_12_04_on_samsung_series_7_chronos_laptop
and http://askubuntu.com/questions/205112/how-do-i-get-amd-intel-hybrid-graphics-drivers-to-work
If you get an Xorg-error like fglrx-libGL.so.1.2 not found
with 64bit try linking /usr/lib/fglrx
to /usr/lib32/fglrx
Now you are able to use both cards (but you still have to restart the X server).
aticonfig --pxl
shows the card which is in use right now.
To switch it:
sudo aticonfig --px-dgpu # Activate discrete GPU
sudo aticonfig --px-igpu # Activate integrated GPU
Starting with ubuntu 12.10 you might need Nick Andrik’s Workaround. For me it worked.
Installation and Configuration
No issues while ubuntu installation. Everything works fine there. Choosed ext4 + eCryptfs /home
.
Some Questions and possible answers
- Right click with touchpad (should work with kernel 3.2 and higher)
- Two finger tap
- Opening the case/rear cover (what worked for me):
- get a perfectly matching screwdriver and open the rear cover screws (all of them including the one for memory access) – took me a while cause one screw did not want to move…open the cover by using your finger nails and the card reader dummy to hold spaces open once you lowered the cover a bit – be careful and patient, this is somewhat tricky…
- Wifi issues
-
bcma/brcmsmac/mac80211
– no problems so far - Keyboard backlight
- working fine for me
but associated FN keys do not work - If your fan is almost always running
-
most definitly this is not caused by wrong cpu governing rather than the discrete radeon or internal intel graphics. But even after disabling the dedicated radeon with vgaswitchero the laptop heats up very fast. So there must be some other reason I did not figure out yet. I did even try to shut it off with the acpi_call module (see Sources & Links). I have to retest this but it seems to me that it helped. Fan speed control is another topic I have not tried yet.
Scripts and Downloads
-
Modified PM powersave script from crunchbanglinux. Put it into
/etc/pm/power.d/
PM has its own hooks which are executed when going into battery mode. By using the script with96_
these tweaks will be overwritten.You can test it by executing the script likesh 96_powersave true|false
. -
UPDATED August 26th 2012
- This script provides functions to turn off wifi and bluetooth. Either both or separately. Still working on extending and improving this script
-
changes I have made to grub default config – UPDATED June 6th 2012
- xorg.conf adjustments for touchpad
se tweaks will be overwritten.You can test it by executing the script like sh 96_powersave true|false
. UPDATED August 26th 2012 Disable/Enable wireless connections This script provides functions to turn off wifi and bluetooth. Either both or separately. Still working on extending and improving this script /etc/default/grub
configuration changes I have made to grub default config – UPDATED June 6th 2012 xorg.conf adjustments for touchpad –
Sources and Links
No special order whatsoever...
- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel
- Arch Linux Intel Graphics description wiki article
- https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1030190
- Discussion about heat problems with sandy bridge
- https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=132077
- Another discussion about heat problems with sandy bridge
- https://github.com/mkottman/acpi_call/
- mkottman’s acpi_call module github development page
- http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11160983
- Discussion about battery life and power consumption with intel graphics
- http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1906363
- Discussion about kernel 3.2 with Ubuntu Oneiric
- http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTYwNA
- Phoronix article about linux power regression bug
- http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel_i915_power&num=1
- Phoronix article about power saving with intel i915
- http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=linux_aspm_solution
- More Phoronix on power regression, battery life and power consumption with pcie
- http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTAwNjU
- Phoronix article about i915 rc6’s ups and downs
- http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/11/linux-power-regression-overheating-problem-on-thinkpad-fixed/
- Blog article about overheating problem with thinkpad X300
- https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=41682
- Bug Report – sometimes enabling rc6 leads to rendering issues
- http://www.codemonkeyjava.com/2012/01/14/getting-the-samsung-chronos-7-touchpad-working-in-ubuntu-11-10/
- Blog article about how to get the touchpad working – you need kernel 3.2 at least
- http://www.webupd8.org/2011/06/linux-kernel-power-issue-fix.html#comment-339773934
- More on rc6 and tweaking – I might have to switch back to Ubuntu 10.10 to solve the temperature issue, though…
- http://www.williambrownstreet.net/blog/?p=387
- Blog article and a lot of information about battery life improvement tweaks
- http://fridge.ubuntu.com/2011/04/21/the-power-user%E2%80%99s-guide-to-unity/
- Unity information portal – might help with unity related issues
- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HybridGraphics
- Ubuntu help pages about hybrid graphics – vgaswitcheroo and other cool stuff
- http://superuser.com/questions/355836/compatibility-of-linux-with-samsung-series-7-chronos
- Discussion about Linuxo on Chronos – initial reading hast not been that encouraging…
- http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic/11954
- Thread about power saving – Nice (quick and dirty) power saving script
- http://schibum.blogspot.de/2011/11/ubuntu-oneiric-on-samsung-series-7.html
- Blog article about Oneiric on Chronos – made me buy this laptop
- http://openideals.org/2012/04/15/tuning-ubuntu-on-samsung-series-7-laptop/
- Another blog article about Linux on Chronos with good insights – tipped me to the following project
- https://launchpad.net/~voria/+archive/ppa
- Project discussing and including tools for samsung laptops.While the tools seem to be great I would not recommend to try phc-intel and samsung-backlight… Unless you like kernel panics at boot…Also the samsung_brightness tool sometimes does not let me increase the brightness anymore
- http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Linux-3-4-will-use-Intel-s-power-saving-RC6-GPU-technology-1503382.html
- Article about RC6 in kernel 3.4
- http://brot.echorulez.de/doku.php?id=linux_powersave
- More details on the i915 issue (German)
- http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.4-precise/
- Ubuntu 3.4 Mainline kernel for precise pangolin
- http://wiki.colar.net/ubuntu_12_04_on_samsung_series_7_chronos_laptop
- Another Linux and Chronos user. Might help when installing the ati fgrlx drivers
- http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1930450
- Discussion and howto about using the chronos with the proprietary ati fglrx drivers
- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI#WORKAROUND
- Nick Andrik’s Workaround for 12.10
Todo
Find a way to use the discrete radeon card (and automatically switch it on/off when (not) needed)
Switch off sound and measure power saving
Write an (indicator) applet to toggle bluetooth, wifi and sound (when on battery). Or automate it