Re: [Tracker] [Strigi-devel] Indexers comparison

["Michael Biebl" <mbiebl gmail com>]

2007/1/17, jos poortvliet <jos mijnkamer nl>:
> Op woensdag 17 januari 2007, schreef Jamie McCracken:
> > Im not so sure - the problem is on some machines using a sustained 100%
> > cpu can cause laptops to heat up quickly, become more noisy (fans),
> > drain battery life faster etc
>
> well, that would be a reason not to use 100% cpu, but i guess you can use some
> interface to tell the kernel to use energy-saving mode even tough you're
> indexing... would be a much better solution than optimizing for laptops...

While I like trackers unobtrusive way, the point about longer battery
life is very likely incorrect.
Having a processor run for 10min at 100% rather than 20min at 50% (or
even longer as cpufreq enabled kernels will reduce the cpu frequency
automatically) will most likely save more power, as the kernel can
enter deeper sleep states.
Throttling down the indexer process artifically prevents the
kernel/cpu from doing that.

I mostly agree with Jamie though. Having noisy fans and hot laptops is
not great either and you have to  find a compromise somehow.
Maybe hal could be used to determine if the system is a desktop
machine or laptop (on battery) and change the behaviour accordingly.

Michael