Re: [ath5k-devel] [PATCH v2] ath5k: disable ASPM

[Luis R. Rodriguez]

On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 7:39 AM, Johannes Stezenbach <js@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 12:38:03PM -0700, Luis R. Rodriguez wrote:
>> On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 12:37 PM, Luis R. Rodriguez <mcgrof@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> > On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 12:31 PM, Johannes Stezenbach <js@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Does CONFIG_PCIEASPM provide a way for the user to modifiy
>> >> the settings at runtime?
>> >
>> > You can tune ASPM settings at runtime, regardless of CONFIG_PCIEASPM. See:
>> >
>> > http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/mcgrof/aspm/enable-aspm
>> > http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Documentation/ASPM
>> >
>> >> I have a Samsung N130 netbook which has a BIOS setting
>> >> called "CPU Power Saving Mode". ÂWhen enabled it activates
>> >> ASPM L1 and L0s for the ethernet chip (Realtek RTL8102e, 100Mbit)
>> >> and the PCIE bridge (with the BIOS setting off it's just L1).
>> >> The result is that the ethernet througput is reduced to 25Mbit/s.
>> >
>> > L0s is not going to buy you much gains, getting at least L1 will
>> > however. L0s is just a further enhancement. I recommend you test by
>> > enabling L1 and L0s, check how longer your battery lasts and then test
>> > again with just L1. Then test without both L1 and L0s.
>>
>> So defaults should always be sane and you should not have to play with
>> this stuff, unless you're a hacker, or are testing something for
>> development purposes. Tweaking ASPM settings is not something a user
>> should have to worry about. Period.
>
> OK, let me put the question another way:
>
> If enabling ASPM comes with a performance penalty (which is not unexpected,
> there is usually a tradeoff between performance and power consumption),
> do you think a boot time option (pcie_aspm=) or compile time option
> (CONFIG_PCIEASPM) is the right user interface?
>
>
> But meanwhile I found that CONFIG_PCIEASPM has a runtime
> interface, /sys/module/pcie_aspm/parameters/policy.
> http://lwn.net/Articles/266585/
>
> I have not tested it on my N130 yet.

Same thing, its to be used by developers not users, damn it we should
just remove this crap.

  Luis
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