All articles tagged with #power management
Microsoft acknowledges that faulty third-party drivers have silently drained Windows 11 batteries and degraded performance for years. It will overhaul driver evaluation to assess power usage, heat generation, and performance, introduce automatic rollbacks to block problematic drivers, and shift away from crash-only criteria by incorporating telemetry to detect everyday usability issues.
Voyager 1, about 172.6 AU from Earth, continues to transmit from beyond the heliosphere on roughly 22 watts; seven of its ten original instruments are shut down to conserve power, with only the Plasma Wave Subsystem and magnetometer remaining and a small 0.5-watt motor kept spinning to preserve revival chances. The RTGs now deliver around 220 watts total, and NASA plans a long-term 'Big Bang' power-swap strategy—starting with Voyager 2 in mid-2026—to extend telemetry into the 2030s, though one-way signals already take about 23 hours to reach Earth.
NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 may keep transmitting deep-space data into the 2030s thanks to a high-risk power-management maneuver nicknamed the 'Big Bang' that will disable three instruments to prevent fuel-line freezing and replace them with new devices to save about 10 watts. Testing on Voyager 2 in May and June 2026, followed by Voyager 1, aims to extend instrument life by roughly a year as power from aging RTGs dwindles; the goal remains to reach about 200 astronomical units by around 2035, though the probes will continue to lose capability as power declines and the transmitter consumes most of the remaining power.
NASA commanded April 17 to shut down Voyager 1’s Low-energy Charged Particles instrument to conserve power as it drifts deeper into interstellar space, mirroring a similar move on Voyager 2 last year. Engineers hope a bold “Big Bang” power-swap upgrade—first tested on Voyager 2 this spring and then on Voyager 1 in July—will keep the venerable probes producing data for about another year, helping mark Voyager 1’s 50th anniversary while two other instruments remain active.
NASA’s Voyager 1 cut power to the Low-energy Charged Particles instrument to conserve energy after a power drop, leaving two instruments still operating as the aging probe drifts through interstellar space. The shutdown buys about a year while engineers pursue a long-term, lower-power “Big Bang” fix to swap in efficient hardware and extend the mission's life.
Facing a dwindling nuclear power source, NASA shut down Voyager 1’s Low-energy Charged Particles (LECP) instrument to conserve energy and prevent an automatic shutdown, as its power declines by about four watts per year. Only two instruments remain online—plasma waves and magnetic fields—with a bold plan dubbed the Big Bang to swap in lower‑power components on Voyager 2 first, then Voyager 1, in hopes of keeping the mission alive for at least another year while continuing exploration of interstellar space.
NASA has shut down Voyager 1’s Low-energy Charged Particles instrument to conserve dwindling power as the probe—about 15 billion miles from Earth—continues its interstellar voyage; seven of its ten instrument sets have been turned off so far, with Voyager 2’s LECP already disabled, and the team plans further shutdowns along with a 'Big Bang' power swap to keep data flowing from beyond the heliosphere.
The AMDGPU kernel driver’s DC patches introduce a new Linux "power module" to manage display power features such as backlight and panel self-refresh (PSR), aiming to better match Windows behavior. The Display Manager will be refactored to use the power module for replay/PSR/backlight control and improved VRR handling, unifying power-saving behavior across Linux and Windows—benefiting laptops and mobile devices. The patches also enable driver power gating, but they’re not in Linux 7.1 and are expected to land in 7.2 later this year.
Notebookcheck tests the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the top-end M5 Max (40-core GPU, 128 GB RAM, 8 TB SSD) and finds phenomenal raw performance on paper but serious cooling limits in a compact chassis: significant thermal throttling and inconsistent CPU behavior in High Power mode, driven by true limits on power input (~97 W) and a 96 W PSU. The result is faster short-burst gains but unstable sustained performance, plus battery drain under load. Despite the downsides, the 14" MBP still offers an excellent display, speakers and impressive battery life in light use; for sustained workloads the 16-inch MBP or the M5 Pro in 14" form may be a better fit, with 8 TB/128 GB RAM as the top-end option.
KDE Plasma 6.6 introduces new features including the ability to save visual settings as a global theme, enhanced Bluetooth widget, system restart indicators, and support for the oo7 Secret Service provider, along with various bug fixes and widget improvements.
Leaving your TV on all the time can lead to increased energy consumption, potential wear and tear, and safety concerns, but modern TVs are designed to handle continuous operation to some extent. It's generally more energy-efficient and safer to turn off your TV when not in use.
A Linux kernel patch series proposes a new runtime standby ABI similar to Windows' Modern Standby, enabling userspace control over device power states and notifications without suspending the kernel, enhancing low-power and instant wake capabilities.
The article discusses the challenges and frustrations with modern standby and suspend/hibernate support on Linux laptops, contrasting it with Apple's Silicon efficiency and macOS, and highlights the technical complexities involved in achieving low power consumption and reliable sleep modes on different hardware platforms. It emphasizes the need for better hardware-software integration and the potential of custom solutions like UKI for Linux hibernation, while also expressing optimism for future improvements in battery life and suspend support across various systems.
Power management company Eaton has reported strong fiscal results, surpassing analysts' estimates for quarterly profits due to high demand for its electrical components and equipment. The company's success reflects its ability to adapt to the industry's shift towards renewable energy. Eaton's CEO, Craig Arnold, announced plans to invest over $1 billion in capital to support further growth. Shares of Eaton rose over 3% following the announcement. CNBC's Jim Cramer also praised peer company Caterpillar for its positive outlook, citing increased government infrastructure spending as a key driver for future success.
A missing DR-DOS power management source code has been found in a patent. DR-DOS 6.0 has a built-in feature for putting the CPU in power-saving mode when idle, but it required a customized IDLE driver for each hardware platform to enable power management. No manufacturer ever bothered to develop one, leaving users with no option but to write a driver themselves. A U.S. patent includes dozens of pages of well-documented but poorly-scanned x86 assembly code, including source code for a basic IDLE86.SYS driver, which can be used to create a working IDLE driver.