Battery Life Assesment Tool Kit HOWTO ------------------------------------- 1. Prepare to run the test 2. Run test 3. Get report 4. Create results table 5. Draw graph 1. Prepare to run the test ---------------------------------- a. Some workloads are sensitive to the user environment (e.g. 'cscope' used in Developer workload depends on environment variables), so it is recommended to create a new user account on your system for running 'bltk'. b. Unpack 'tar' archive to your disk c. Some installation routines could fail when installing remotely, so it is recommended to perform installation locally. d. Change to 'bltk' directory and type 'make' (note that it'll require X11 library) followed by 'make install' you will be prompted for root password (it is required for some installation routines) after you've entered password installation will continue automatically e. The tool kit requires separate installation for 32- and 64-bit modes, but you can use single 'extern' directory for both, creating link in each 'bltk' root directory. f. Disable battery warnings (it is required to allow the test to fully discharge the battery) and screensaver (required for proper battery life/performance rating). Examples: - SuSE (KDE): K Menu -> Control Center -> Appearance & Themes -> Screen Saver Un-check "Start automatically" Un-check "Make aware of power management" Apply K Menu -> Control Center -> Peripherals -> Display -> Select "Power Control" Tab Un-check "Enable display power management" Apply K Menu -> Control Center -> Power Control -> Laptop Battery Select "Low Battery Warning" select "System State Change": None Apply Select "Low Battery Critical" select "System State Change": None Apply Yast -> System -> Power Management -> Battery Warning Warning Level Action: Notify Low Level Action: Notify Critical Level Action: Notify OK Finish - SuSE (Gnome): Desktop -> Control Center -> Screen Saver Powersave (usually 'plug' icon in down-left corner of your desktop) -> Battery Warnings Yast -> System -> Power Management -> Battery Warning - Fedora Core 3 (KDE): K Laptop -> Battery... Control Center -> Appearance & Themes -> Screen Saver Control Center -> Peripherals -> Display -> Power Control Control Center -> Power Control -> Laptop Battery - Fedora Core 3 (Gnome): Applications -> Preferences -> Screen Saver Note: on particular system power management UI could differ, so above suggestions aren't universal. g. Unplug ALL external devices (USB-mouse, keyboard, Ethernet etc...) h. Disable wireless radio i. Reboot the system j. Charge the battery to its maximum capacity. k. Set screen brightness to minimum 2. Run test ---------------- a. Change to 'bltk' directory b. Type command 'bltk -[I/D/R/O/G/P]' to run 'Idle', 'Developer', 'Reader', 'Office', '3D Gaming' or 'Playback' workload. The test could be executed in various configurations. See Manual for more info. c. Follow the instructions (you will be asked to minimize display brightness, unplug AC cable). The test will be executed in infinite loop, test continues till the battery fully discharged. d. After the battery died, plug the AC cable back and boot the system. 3. Get report ------------- a. Change to 'bltk' directory b. Type command 'bltk_report <results_dir>' the <results_dir> is the name of result directory ('./<workload_name>.results' by default) c. If the command passed (no messages printed) the 'Report' file will be available under <results_dir> directory. Command could fail if test is failed, hung, etc... In this case you can get report running command 'bltk_report -E <results_dir>' (see Manual for more options) 4. Create results table ----------------------- a. Change to 'bltk' directory b. Type command 'bltk_report_table <dir_list>' the <dir_list> is the list of result directories (see "3. Get report") c. If the command passed (no messages printed) the results will be printed to 'stdout', one result per string. Command could fail if one of the tests failed, hung, etc... In this case you can get report running command 'bltk_report_table -e <dir_list>' (see Manual for more options) d. To create result file simply redirect output to file: 'bltk_report_table <dir_list> > <file>' normally, the fields in each string separated by spaces, but you can replace them with tabs using '-t' option (it is required to export results to spreadsheets). e. You could get more sophisticated result tables, using various options (see Manual) 5. Draw graph ------------- a. Change to 'bltk' directory b. Type command 'bltk_plot <dir_list>' the <dir_list> is the list of one or more result directories (see "3. Get report") c. If the command passed (no messages printed) the graph will be drawn (using gnuplot), and console will go to interaction mode. d. To create graph file use '-p' option ('bltk_plot -p <filename> <dir_list>'). '.png' file will be created. e. You could get more sophisticated graphs using various options and interaction mode (see Manual) 6. Common results getting ------------------------- a. Download the results/raw directory or any part of it. b. Perform the command bltk_report_uncompres <raw_dir> <sort_dir> to get uncompressed directory of results, the <sort_dir> should be empty or should not exist. c. Perform bltk_report_table - with -R option (recursive work), usage of bltk_report_table -stSeR <sort_dir> >summary out file is recommended. d. Type command bltk_report_compress <sort_dir> <raw_dir> to get compressed directory of results, the <raw_dir> should be empty or should not exist. After that you can upload <raw_dir> (perrmission is needed) on server.