[OM] Less power consumption

[Helge Hafting]

Francesco de Virgilio wrote:
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> Hi all,
> I've searched around to get an answer, but nothing...
> 
> this is just a little question flogging in my mind since 2008.12 was
> released: when will we have a lower power-consumption kernel, getting
> the Neo FreeRunner usable for 3 or 4 days (suspending it frequently)?
> 
> Actually I use my Neo to call my girlfriend and to track with GPS for
> OpenStreetMap, but I move around with my Neo with the terror of an empty
> battery after a long call or a tracking session.

How do you move around? For a car, most lighter-to-usb chargers will 
work fine. And it also lets you charge the phone on the way to/from 
work/shopping, so you start out with a fully charged phone. Such a 
charger can be made to work on a motorbike too.

For bicycle, consider one of these:
* DIY connection to a bicycle generator.
* Bring extra phone batteries
* Bring a small 12V battery and the above mentioned usb charger. That
   battery can be much smaller than a car or motorcycle battery.

> The development is getting big steps quickly, I've read Paroli is now
> working, the first killer apps are on the road, but I think we need a
> decent WiFi support and a less hungry kernel... how near are we?

The kernel will always be hungry when you do gps logging, because the
processor must stay on in order to move coordinates from the gps
chip onto a file - once per second. (tangogps will need more power 
because it also draws a track (can be turned off) and your position on 
the map. "cgpxlogger" can be used to just log to a file without
displaying anything, maybe drawing slightly less power. Don't know if it 
is ported to arm though.

I find tangogps more useful for openstreetmap, because it shows me
what is in the map already.

Helge Hafting