do you leave computer on all the time

[fartbarker]

I usually turn mine off at night.

if so what's your uptime

[majikstreet]

I usually turn mine off at night.

if so what's your uptime
I personally don't, but I may soon...

Zenrox (I know him mainly from #ubuntuforums on freenode) leaves his computer on all the time... maybe he'll respond:)

Majikstreet

(PS- my uptime is only a few minutes... I just installed breezy and i had to reboot then run some x configuring stuff..)

[XDevHald]

I personally don't, but I may soon...

Zenrox (I know him mainly from #ubuntuforums on freenode) leaves his computer on all the time... maybe he'll respond:)

Majikstreet

(PS- my uptime is only a few minutes... I just installed breezy and i had to reboot then run some x configuring stuff..)
I leave it on all night, but you can set it to turn on every morning by F8 or F12 and set the timer to whatever time, works well and is great if you have your desktop set to auto login :)

My reason: I don't have one yet ;)

[poofyhairguy]

Only when I'm downloading things. Otherwise I turn it off when not in use.

[Orunitia]

Yeah I leave it on all the time, not sure why.

And my uptime is only one day right now because I messed something up and had to restart my computer. Otherwise before that it was probably around 10 days. I always end up restarting for one reason or another.

[xequence]

Main computer - On all day, off at night
My Computer - Off when not in use, except I leave it on all night sometimes to download large files.

[manicka]

I leave mine on most of the time.
My uptime varies depending on when other members of the family reboot into windows. They're a hard nut to crack

[Ubunted]

I used to when I ran Folding@Home, but I decided I liked energy savings and a quiet home better.

[aysiu]

I understand there's a tiny controversy about which is better for your company/ saves more energy, and that either leaving your computer on all the time or shutting it down every time you leave it is the best option.

My parents leave their computers on all the time. There are a few reasons why I don't:

1. Occasionally, we get blackouts, and if the computer is on all the time, it will definitely be on when these blackouts occur, and I'd rather shut down the computers properly.

2. Fans have come a long way, but computers still make noise. If I'm not using the computer, I don't need that little low hum in the background.

3. Both our computers have a blinking light when they sleep, and the blinking lights get annoying.

[macgyver2]

No...though sometimes I have a loose definition of "off" that includes suspending my notebook some nights. I'm pretty energy-conscious...I'm happy to see so many others are as well.

[majikstreet]

My server has an uptime of:


majikstreet@ripleyhost:~$ uptime
20:48:22 up 36 days, 2:16, 1 user, load average: 0.24, 0.05, 0.02
majikstreet@ripleyhost:~$


:)

[jyank]

I really have no problem with keeping my PC up, but most nights I turn it off. Not for energy saving or anything, but my desk is right next to the head of my bed, and hearing the hum and the green light on the power button, really tick me off when I'm trying to sleep.

I usually only keep it on when I'm not home, or downloading something

[WildTangent]

i usually turn my computer off at night. but my servers are always on (for obvious reasons). its a good thing theyre quiet :P

-Wild

[bored2k]

no

[skoal]

yes

\\//_

[pmj]

Yeah, both computers are always on. I have free electricity so I don't don't see any reason to ever turn them off. :)

Uptime right now is only 4 days though.

[matthew]

I voted yes, but that's a bit deceptive as I have three computers running Ubuntu.

My laptop I turn off at night, but it has at least 12 hours uptime daily on overage.
My kids computer (the old P3) is only on for a couple of hours a day.
My wife's computer also acts as our family server and is on 24/7 with an average uptime of at least 30 days between reboots depending on when/if I upgrade the kernel or we take a trip.

[Gary Powers]

I have one machine on at all times .... for no particular reason.

Gary

[poofyhairguy]

I'm pretty energy-conscious...I'm happy to see so many others are as well.

I just feel so bad, being a nerd and an environmentalist, know how much juice my P4 sucks down.

Need an Athlon.

[oddabe19]

Yes... ever since i lived in the dorms about 3 years ago. My computer was probably the only one on campus that was virus free (Millersville is natorious for viruses)... Yay Gentoo (at the time).

Now, i don't know why I do. Could just be habit, and I use AIM as my answering machine.


I had an uptime at one point of 63 days. Then I thought... 'Hmmm... i've updated my kernel about 20 times since... maybe I should reboot.'

My one server... well... what I consider a server (PII 233 and 96 megs ram) had an uptime of 246 days (Gentoo stage 1... yes... it took about 5 1/2 days to compile)........ then it died. :-(

[Galoot]

Generally, I shut it off at night to save power.

Since installing Ubuntu, though, I've been leaving it on deliberately so I can needle my Windows friends by saying "I haven't rebooted for 28 days and 16 hours. What about you?"

I'll get tired of that game eventually, probably when the power bills start adding up.

[drizek]

there is no way in hell i can ever fall asleep with my beast going all night. plus, i have 3 differnt OS's on it, so i reboot often.

and it really does cost a lot of money to keep a computer running like that. its basically 1-2, depending on your hardware, 100watt lightbulbs.

[WildTangent]

there is no way in hell i can ever fall asleep with my beast going all night. plus, i have 3 differnt OS's on it, so i reboot often.

and it really does cost a lot of money to keep a computer running like that. its basically 1-2, depending on your hardware, 100watt lightbulbs.
ya, my computer is a noisy one too. its my case, it had bad airflow so requires many fans, and one of them has a bad grille, which creates A LOT of noise :( im hoping to fix this someday...

-Wild

[drizek]

i had to RMA the harddrive that came with it and the replacement is VERY VERY loud. i bought quiet fans and my system is whisper quiet except for taht damn harddrive. i was just looking to buy a new 80gig hard drive today actually because the whirring drives me crazy.

[Ampersand]

My main computer is back in Wales at the moment, and so is turned off. I used to keep it on as a web server when it was here. My laptop is on most of the time, sometimes turned off during the day while I'm out. I tend to use sleep 8h && beep-media-player as an alarm, so I need to have a computer on overnight.

[mtron]

my office computer (also running ubuntu) only reboots for a linux image update, otherwise it stays on all the time, because our backup is configured at 1:00 am every night.

Uptime now is only some minutes, because there was a Kernel update for hoary coming in today.

[Vulpus]

My PCs are on as long as I am awake.

If I had exclusive use of my PCs and i was only running Ubuntu I would leave it on all the time. As it is I have to share one with the rest of the family (games!) and the other runs Ubuntu/WinME. The chance of WinME running 24/7 is pretty remote. I would like to ditch ME and move totally to Ubuntu but i need it for the 'My Briefcase' function to work on the other PC.

[Kvark]

Yeah, both computers are always on. I have free electricity so I don't don't see any reason to ever turn them off. :)

Uptime right now is only 4 days though.
Same here, free electricity, plus my computer is unusually quiet, so I leave it on.

Only 5 days uptime atm. Dunno what it usually adds up to between reboots, haven't paid attention to uptime.

[mike998]

Okay, so it's a laptop... But I voted yes as I don't like turning it off and keep it on as long as possible...
My server is up quite a bit (I'm not posting the uptime, as I have just moved).
My girlfriend's machine is again left up as much as possible, but with a one year old who has just discovered buttons are fun to press, it tends to get it's uptime killed every so often!

[macgyver2]

I just feel so bad, being a nerd and an environmentalist, know how much juice my P4 sucks down.

Need an Athlon.
Are Athlons that much better? I don't know details about processor power consumption...it just seems to me that they're not really much better. They put off a lot of heat...which pretty much just amounts to wasted energy.

[fartbarker]

Are Athlons that much better? I don't know details about processor power consumption...it just seems to me that they're not really much better. They put off a lot of heat...which pretty much just amounts to wasted energy.

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050713/energy_crisis-16.html

[krusbjorn]

I did leave my computer online at all times during the summer, because then i put it out on the balcony, mostly because it was to warm inside, but also because the noise is irritating. Now, however, when fall is nearing, i have it inside and turn it off whenever my seeding ratio is high enough ;)

[macgyver2]

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050713/energy_crisis-16.html
Wow, very interesting. Thanks for the link.

[bob_c_b]

We have frequent power issues in my neighborhood so it prevents me from leaving it on all the time. I have both my PCs on UPSs but I'm still paranoid so I tend to run something like...

Mon - Thurs off during work hours, on from around 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Fri - Sun on all the time

I'm in and out on the weekends so even if the power flicks on and off I am around to catch it if the power stay off more than a brief period.

[Ubunted]

Well I'm fairly confident that having my computer turned off for 20 hours out of the day is more efficient than leaving it on with the CPU at 100% 24/7.

[lothar_m]

you can set it to turn on every morning by F8 or F12 and set the timer to whatever time



sorry but could you explain this one? you press F8 or F12 when exactly?

[drizek]

sorry but could you explain this one? you press F8 or F12 when exactly?
its just his computer. yours might have that option, you have to look in your motherboard manual or your BIOS. its not a linux thing.

[Stormy Eyes]

I shut mine down when leaving town for more than a day.

[drizek]

i think the best cpu out there right now in terms of performance/watt is the pentium m. amd also has a new 40ishwatt one which should be a good match for it.

i heard they were making a 3.33ghz celeron. i honestly cannot think of anything more retarded than a 3.33ghz cpu which only has 256kb of cache(compared to 2mb on the pentium m).

[poofyhairguy]

i honestly cannot think of anything more retarded than a 3.33ghz cpu which only has 256kb of cache(compared to 2mb on the pentium m).

Someone actually buying one.

(that was harsh of me, but I have a very low opinion of new celerons)

[bob_c_b]

Someone actually buying one.

(that was harsh of me, but I have a very low opinion of new celerons)

That is a shame because the Celeron D is actually a very competent CPU, easily going toe to toe with comparable Northwood PIVs and not lagging far behind the Prescotts in some task. I am running a Celeron D 3.06 right now and find it quite good and with a much lower heat disipation than I originally expected. Northwood based Celerons were pretty poor overall but the Celeron D is more than respectable for the price. I had a decent amount parts laying about for a second PC but needed a CPU and mobo, the Celery D allowed me to build a fast system without breaking the bank.

My Celeron D stomps all over my Barton 2800 system for everything but gaming, but seeing as I don't game much this doesn't break my heart.

[Phantasman]

Computer on all the time, unless a storm comes, then I turn it off. At idle a computer uses very little electricity since it is low voltage. I do let the monitor go to sleep as not to get burn-in (image ghosting). At idle a computer pulls 25 watts, about like 2 nightlights.

[TrailerTrash]

I have a Celeron 2.4ghz, 512ram 2 HDs, 17inch CRT, yada, yada, yada....I leave it on all the time unless im going out of town for a couple of days.

[jnoreiko]

Same here, free electricity, plus my computer is unusually quiet, so I leave it on.

Free in terms of money.
Not free for the planet :( ... unless you have your own wind turbine of course! :)

PC Pro has launched a campaign to encourage people to switch off their PCs when not in use: Switch IT off (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/html/switch_it_off/)

[jeremy]

I normally leave it on all the time unless I am away for more than a day, uptime can vary from a few days to a month or so, reboot for new kernel or whatever.

[Stormy Eyes]

Free in terms of money.
Not free for the planet :( ... unless you have your own wind turbine of course! :)

Global Warming is caused by politicians and environmentalists spewing hot air.

[jnoreiko]

Global Warming is caused by politicians and environmentalists spewing hot air.

If you really think that... then I'm quite worried for you.

[Stormy Eyes]

If you really think that... then I'm quite worried for you.

Personally, I blame the sun for the 4 billion years of climate changes this planet has faced, but I can't find its thermostat in order to turn the damned thing down. As for the 'hot air from politicians' hypothesis -- it's as plausible as cow farts or car exhaust, IMHO.

[krusbjorn]

Personally, I blame the sun for the 4 billion years of climate changes this planet has faced, but I can't find its thermostat in order to turn the damned thing down. As for the 'hot air from politicians' hypothesis -- it's as plausible as cow farts or car exhaust, IMHO.

There is something called (directly translated) the Principle of Carefulness. Maybe the sun is to blame, but maybe not. If you are 100% sure that we arent responsible for the climate changes, you are really quite ignorant. There is a possibility that we are responsible, and i'm not willing to gamble with the environment as we do today.

[Stormy Eyes]

If you are 100% sure that we arent responsible for the climate changes, you are really quite ignorant.

[QUOTE=krusbjorn]There is a possibility that we are responsible, and i'm not willing to gamble with the environment as we do today.

Sure, there's a possibility, but if J. Random Politician told me that if I had blue eyes, I'd reach for a mirror. I do not trust politicians at all, I don't trust the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency), I don't trust Greenpeace, and I don't trust scientists who get their money from the government. And, frankly, I'm not willing to change my lifestyle just because something bad might happen after I'm dead. In the 1970s, environmentalists were predicting another ice age as a result of the West's "excesses". It's as warm now as it was fifteen years ago, when I nearly died of heat exhaustion.

[macgyver2]

There is something called (directly translated) the Principle of Carefulness. Maybe the sun is to blame, but maybe not. If you are 100% sure that we arent responsible for the climate changes, you are really quite ignorant. There is a possibility that we are responsible, and i'm not willing to gamble with the environment as we do today.
Personally, I think what is ignorant is the position that some people (including many politicians) take...they can't differentiate between natural global warming and human-induced global warming. There is clear evidence that the planet is in a period of warming that has been taking place since the end of the last ice age. The debate that is still open due to a lack of good enough evidence is how much humans are accelerating that warming. They take the uncertainty that exists regarding the human contribution to global warming and apply it to all global warming.

My opinion is that there is a significant human contribution to global warming and that it is only a matter of time before that can be proven with clear, credible evidence. I believe that within my lifetime we'll have that evidence...and not just because I'm considering going back to school for an advanced degree in climate studies. :)

[krusbjorn]

Personally, I think what is ignorant is the position that some people (including many politicians) take...they can't differentiate between natural global warming and human-induced global warming. There is clear evidence that the planet is in a period of warming that has been taking place since the end of the last ice age. The debate that is still open due to a lack of good enough evidence is how much humans are accelerating that warming. They take the uncertainty that exists regarding the human contribution to global warming and apply it to all

I agree to that, but i still dont eat a cookie if i know there's a 50%, 30% or 10% chance that it is full of arsenic.

[macgyver2]

...and I don't trust scientists who get their money from the government.
Cool that you mentioned that...just a few days ago I came across this article (http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0337,baard,46901,1.html). I thought it was a very interesting read...maybe you might too.

[Stormy Eyes]

Cool that you mentioned that...just a few days ago I came across this article (http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0337,baard,46901,1.html). I thought it was a very interesting read...maybe you might too.

It is an interesting article, especially since I had once considered becoming a scientist myself. I decided against it, because I did not want to place my intelligence in the service of a corrupt society.

[macgyver2]

It is an interesting article, especially since I had once considered becoming a scientist myself. I decided against it, because I did not want to place my intelligence in the service of a corrupt society.
I am a scientist and I know what you mean. However, if all of the good people refuse to go into science for reasons like that, how are we ever going to find any scientists who can fight the corruption in the field? Some scientists actively partake (by altering results and such) and out of those that don't, most just don't care. We need more who do care.

*steps off soapbox*

[Stormy Eyes]

I am a scientist and I know what you mean. However, if all of the good people refuse to go into science for reasons like that, how are we ever going to find any scientists who can fight the corruption in the field? Some scientists actively partake (by altering results and such) and out of those that don't, most just don't care. We need more who do care.

*steps off soapbox*

I see where you're coming from, but I don't think you can purge corruption from science until you purge corruption from society. You won't purge society of corruption until you attack the ideas at the root of the corruption: the idea that a noble cause can justify ignoble methods. There are too many people who think that the ends justify the means, and their actions show it -- from the President who thinks that one must burn a village to save it to the schoolboy who cheats on his tests in order to get the grades his parents demand -- their actions show it.

I am not willing to do more than earn my living in such am altruistic society. You still think you can help, and I applaud your benevolence. I know there's nothing I can do but take care of myself and those I value.

[izmaelis]

Main desktop PC is On after I'm back home from work, Off when I'm asleep. Uptime no longer than 8 hours every day except on sometimes weekends.
Funny, but my notebook with preinstalled Win XP Home runs all the time. I leave it just because of BitTorrent and my girlfriend (she knows little in computer things). When I'll finish downloading some anime (~9GB) I will use Azureus from Ubuntu installation.

[Galoot]

I shut mine down when leaving town for more than a day.Given the direction this thread has taken, I have to ask: When leaving town, do you also extinguish the burning tires in your back yard?

O:)

Anyway, I'm all for doubt and skepticism, but until there's a serious study that tells me I'm doing actual harm by shutting off the lights or taking the bus instead of the car, I'll keep doing so. I don't spout off about global warming, but nobody's demonstarted to my satisfaction that it hurts anything to assume there's some validity to the idea.

BTW, are you a Niven/Pournelle fan?

[YourSurrogateGod]

I can't sleep with the fans running and the hard-drive clicking occasionally. If I have the air-conditioner running, then I leave it on (the AC drowns out the PC.) I probably would leave it on all night long (I don't have to boot in the morning) if my PC was not in my room.

[uglysmurf]

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/computers.html

I leave both my desktop and server running all the time. Based on the above link, my estimated cost per month is about $5 per PC to run all the time.

Keep in mind I have no idea if this guy's watts/hour are accurate at all.


Computers

Desktop Computer 65 watts

Screen saver 65 watts (no savings)

Processor-intensive task 90 watts

Sleep / standby 3 - 35 watts

Laptop 15-45 watts

Monitors

Typical 17" CRT 80 watts

Typical 17" LCD 35 watts

Screen saver (any image on screen) same as above (no savings)

Sleeping monitor (dark screen) 0-15 watts

Monitor turned off at switch 0 watts

[endy]

I don't understand why so many people leave their PC on for no reason, I mean If you're not using it turn it off.

You may only lose $5 a month but when everyone is doing it then the amount of electricity being wasted is phenomenal and the electricity company is making a killing. Think of the coal burned to fuel this which will be huge and will of course pollute the atmosphere. All this and thats only the PC, what about everything else!

Waste is a such a terrible thing :(

[matthew]

I don't understand why so many people leave their PC on for no reason, I mean If you're not using it turn it off.
But it keeps my room warm. :)

[drummer]

I turn mine off most nights because it's a bit noisey... it gets left on when I'm downloading stuff and using off peak d/l time (2-9am). On occasion it's been left on for 3-4 days.

[poofyhairguy]

I now have to leave mine on. Something has happened to it, and the USB mouse only works sometimes. I can plug it in and out a lot to get it to get it to work eventually, but I'm scared that it won't work again so I'm going to try to not turn it off..

I tried to conserve energy. I even bought halogen lightbulbs this week.

[npaladin2000]

I leave my server on all the time. It's got pretty decent uptime considering it runs Windows XP Pro....it's gone 3+ months without a reboot.

My laptop, obviously, I do NOT keep on all the time..it either gets suspended or shut down or placed on standby when I'm done.

[lao_V]

I don't understand why so many people leave their PC on for no reason, I mean If you're not using it turn it off.

You may only lose $5 a month but when everyone is doing it then the amount of electricity being wasted is phenomenal and the electricity company is making a killing. Think of the coal burned to fuel this which will be huge and will of course pollute the atmosphere. All this and thats only the PC, what about everything else!

Waste is a such a terrible thing :(

Excellent point. I try to keep mine off as much as possible. However, sometimes I just feel like leaving it on only because the reboot takes such a long time - close to two minutes from the moment hitting the power on button to actually being able to use the system. If only Linux had a decent suspend feature.

But anyway, I think we should all think more about saving the energy and the environment. There are more ways then just switching off your computer. I leave it to your imagination and willingness....

[Stormy Eyes]

Given the direction this thread has taken, I have to ask: When leaving town, do you also extinguish the burning tires in your back yard?

I don't have a back yard. I rent a one-bedroom flat in a "crappy" neighborhood because the rent is cheap. I don't own real estate because the property taxes in the state of Connecticut are sheer extortion: in Waterbury, the tax rate is $53.50 per $1000 of assessed value. For a house that's worth more than $100,000, that's over $5350 in taxes per year, on top of the mortgage. I refuse to waste that kind of money on government.


Anyway, I'm all for doubt and skepticism, but until there's a serious study that tells me I'm doing actual harm by shutting off the lights or taking the bus instead of the car, I'll keep doing so. I don't spout off about global warming, but nobody's demonstarted to my satisfaction that it hurts anything to assume there's some validity to the idea.

Listen: I turn off the lights, turn off the air conditioner, and turn off the monitor and speakers when I leave the apartment. If I'm leaving town, I even unplug a few things for my wife's peace of mind. I don't even own a car; I walk or use public transit (not willing to pay municpal car tax, which is also extortion).

However, I leave my PC running because I've read that the more often one turns it off for a while and then on, the more likely one is to wear the parts out due to thermal expansion and contraction. A burnt out computer is more likely to end up in the trash, so keeping it running most of the time seems to me like the lesser of two evils.

Furthermore, I'm not an environmentalist. I am an egoist. I care primarily for my own happiness, comfort, and convenience. I don't care about anybody but my wife and myself, so I have no reason to make sacrifices. It is convenient for me to have my PC up so I can sit down and jack in whenever I want to. That is reason enough for me to keep it going unless I'm out of town for more than a day.


BTW, are you a Niven/Pournelle fan?

Not really. His science is solid, but I think his plots and characterization (the reason I read fiction) leave somewhat to be desired. I prefer Peter F. Hamilton and Robert Heinlein when I read science fiction.

[gatorbrit]

Is it better to leave the ubuntu PC on all the time or shut it down if I am not using the PC over night.

In a world where there are no power outages the answer would be to leave it on - but I am worried about the damage that might be done if the computer is shut down due to a power failure.

What do you guys do?

[bjourne]

The only thing that can be damaged is the data on your harddisk. But since Ubuntu uses ext3 and you probably won't be using the computer when (or if) a power outage occurs, the risk of data loss is very very minimal.

In fact, you are probably reducing the risk of damage by keeping it on 24/7. The most damaging thing you can do with a computer (and particularly a harddisk) is to turn it off or on. It is the same thing with car engines.

[Omnios]

Normaly I leave mine on for two or three day stretches without problems. There has been a lot of posts on this forum about Ubuntu slowing down after a couple of days so you may want to take this into account if you find your puter gets sluggish

[neoflight]

Is it better to leave the ubuntu PC on all the time or shut it down if I am not using the PC over night.

In a world where there are no power outages the answer would be to leave it on - but I am worried about the damage that might be done if the computer is shut down due to a power failure.

What do you guys do?


this is very good question...
i would like to add one more into this...

does ubuntu generate temp files as windows do?
if yes? is that the reason ubuntu slowing down after a couple of days as one post mentioned? what else is the reason of slowing down?

please throw some light on this...

[AlphaMack]

this is very good question...
i would like to add one more into this...

does ubuntu generate temp files as windows do?
if yes? is that the reason ubuntu slowing down after a couple of days as one post mentioned? what else is the reason of slowing down?

please throw some light on this...


I could be wrong on this, but I assume that Ubuntu behaves the same way as OS X when it comes to memory management.

Just as OS X loves RAM, you'll be better off souping up the RAM on your Ubuntu box.

The system uses swap files to manage virtual memory. The more RAM you have, the less pageouts you're going to have and less will have to be written to VM. Over time, the swap files can get quite large if you have very little RAM and will result in constant R/W from the startup disk (your hard drive), thus slowing the system as a whole. A reboot will clear the swap files, but the process will repeat itself.

[gatorbrit]

OK - but what about when ubuntu shuts down - it goes through a long list of processes that are terminated etc, it seems that these are important and a power outage would prevent these from all nicely terminating.

Is it just the case that it doesn't matter too much if the machine looses power and I am not working on it.

[r4ik]

I turn it off even pull the main power.
House got struck by lightening once.
Killed two computers.
Not going to happen again.

[majikstreet]

hmphh- I turn mine off, mainly because the computer is next to my bed and I have a usb hub with a bright blue light... plus electricity..

I have a "server" running breezy.. here's the uptime right now:
19:30:59 up 11 days, 2:33, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Before I got a kernel update, I had 69 days!

majik

[Masteroc]

I always turn my computer off because sometimes i dont use it for days and i do not want to waste power. Also ubuntu slows down after a few days. I have a new HDD and am not really worried so much about power outages damaging the HDD.

[aysiu]

I turn it off even pull the main power.
House got struck by lightening once.
Killed two computers.
Not going to happen again. It wasn't lightning, but a power surge did the same thing to two of my parents' computers (which, by the way, they leave on all the time, never rebooting).

[MaximB]

the only thing that made my shutdown my computer was a power down in my city a week ago.
but besides that I shutdown my PC once in a cople of months.
is it bad ???

how often do you shutdown your PC ???

[aysiu]

It's not bad either way.

[jordilin]

I shut down mine, when I go to sleep and when I am at work. If I were downloading stuff from amule, then I would leave it up and running, but it's not the case.

[Stu09]

Last time I shutdown mine was because I was going on holidays for two weeks. I leave it on most of the time.

[kigina]

i shut mine down every night. i feel guilty if i leave it on. just the way i was raised.

[Fac51]

wtf is "shutdown"? lol

[lazyd2]

wtf is "shutdown"? lolExactly!:mrgreen::mrgreen:

[Jucato]

I have to shutdown my PC everyday, for a minimum of 6 hours. Not because I want to, but because I have to, just to do my part in keeping our bills down.

But the longest time I didn't shutdown my PC when using Linux was 6 days. No reboots, although I did have to restart X once or twice because of some app.

The longest time I didn't shutdown my PC when using Windows was 2 days. I don't know why, but after 2 days, the system became sluggish as hell...

[aysiu]

Here's an interesting read:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1459260,00.asp

[aktiwers]

After 1 year and never shutting down the PC (only Reboots), I got my Power Bill... Now I do turn it off when I go to sleep :)

[Enigmus]

I shut mine down everynight. Unless of course I'm running a virus scan or big download

[bluenova]

I think it's immoral to leave an electrical appliance running if it's not doing anything, as it adds to the current energy crisis. I leave mine running if it's doing something like downloading, processing pictures etc. Otherwise I switch it off to save energy.

[RAV TUX]

I shut mine down and unplug all the surge protectors, when ever there is a bad lightening storm.

I figure the best way to avoid potential damage is to have everything unplugged.

[Piggah]

I leave mine on 24/7. The only time it restarts is during power outtages or when I do something that requires me to restart. I don't like the hassle of powering up and down everyday. Plus I sleep better with my computer on now. I don't sleep as well without the fans and lights. :P


Going by the poll, it looks like people either leave them on 24/7 or turn them off everynight. :P

[henriquemaia]

I shutdown my everytime whenever I'm not really using it - for energy saving sake. As bluenova (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=1292943&postcount=12) said, it's not good to have an electrical appliance turned on if it's not doing something important.

[beercz]

I shut down my laptop every time I finish with it and have to move it elsewhere (e.g. from the office to home).

I did have a server in one of our office running debian continuously for over two and a half years with out problems, and I managed it remotely too.

[bruce89]

Nice to hear the electricity problems of the world are being fixed. On that note, my full computer setup seems to only use 120W, which seems a bit low.

I switch it off when I am not using it/when it is not doing something. If I am downloading something big (Ubuntu 6.10 knot1 CD for instance), I shutdown at the end of each day, and start it up again the next day that I use it.

[tseliot]

Once a day. At midnight or later.

[ember]

It depends on the day. Currently I am switching it on when I get up and shut it down when I go to bed. Yet I also switch it off when I leave for longer than about half an hour. That's both for ecological and financial reasons.

[RichJacot]

I leave mine on 24/7. The only time I shutdown is to add/replace hardware or about once a year I shut it down to take it outside to blow it out.

[ComplexNumber]

i shut down my PC every day. there is going to be a law passed soon in the UK that is designed to discourage electricity wastage. they are going to prohibit the use of standby and hibernate on electrical equipment. http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/14/tv-standby-buttons-to-be-outlawed/

[apollo1900]

Shut mine down every night around 11:00 PM. I never leave it on when I go somewhere relatively far away.

[reacocard]

... prohibit the use of standby and hibernate ...
standby I can understand, but hibernate? hibernate turns off the computer, so it uses no power, but it's faster than shutdown and lets you resume where you left off.

[BWF89]

My parents yell at me if I leave the computer run for a couple of days in a row. If it were up to me I might shut it down once a week.

[halfvolle melk]

Here's an interesting read:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1459260,00.asp

The early versions presented a trade-off between power consumption and stress on components. Turning the computer on or off, so the theory goes and accurately I believe, is the most physically stressful thing you do to it all day, so I think most experts have advised that it's better to leave the system on.
Hmm, I don't think that's accurate.
Let's assume starting your computer takes a minute and puts full strain on the 450W supply (likely to be much less): a cost of 450*60=27 kJ.

On the other hand, running idle during a good 8 hours of sleep will consume 30W (likely to a bit more (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article313-page5.html)): a cost of 30*8*60*60=864 kJ.

Unless I'm missing something the experts didn't, it really does make a big difference.

[Lord Illidan]

I always shutdown promptly before I go to sleep, unless I have some p2p software going on...

Electricity in Malta is very expensive, and now that there's a surcharge imposed on people who jump a certain limit, I prefer not to impose any more bills on my parents.

And as for the hassle of switching on and powering down...it's just 2 minutes either way. Can you spare 4 minutes out of a day which contains 1440 of them?

[_simon_]

Apart from moving house and upgrades I haven't turned it off in years.

[Karma_Police]

...

Unless I'm missing something the experts didn't, it really does make a big difference.

They talk about physical stress, not power consumption. It's about the change from cold to hot, and hot to cold. expansion and contraction of the components, that could cause some physical damage... Although my computer all ready has some years, and I never had any problem with any of the components, even tough I switch it on and off every day.

[MaximB]

I frankly don't understand you...why do you turn it off ???
b/z of the bills ? , I don't know about you but here in israel it doesn't cost me much money to leave it on every day and night.

let me correct my question :
why do you turn off your computer ???
:)
and how often...

[UKer]

Mine's used as a web/ssh server so never turn it off.

[erikpiper]

Everytime I leave for a while or go to bed..

so once or twice a day..


Last comp I had, mobo died while I left it on and the AC went out.. Plus I sleep a foot away from the 10-fan monster...

[bluenova]

I frankly don't understand you...why do you turn it off ???
b/z of the bills ? , I don't know about you but here in israel it doesn't cost me much money to leave it on every day and night.

let me correct my question :
why do you turn off your computer ???
:)

To save energy which is made by the natural resources of our planet.


and how often...
When ever it's not doing anything (most nights).

[halfvolle melk]

They talk about physical stress, not power consumption. It's about the change from cold to hot, and hot to cold. expansion and contraction of the components, that could cause some physical damage...
Oh yeah, silly me again.

Although my computer all ready has some years, and I never had any problem with any of the components, even tough I switch it on and off every day.
Same here, except for a HD but that's what they do after years of service.

Why: Because it makes noise and is in my bedroom.

[frodon]

once or twice a year

I have some servers running, therefore i never shutdown my computer unless i leave my house for long vacations.

[bluenova]

lol halfvolle, Ik wil volle-room AUB

[ember]

I frankly don't understand you...why do you turn it off ???
b/z of the bills ? , I don't know about you but here in israel it doesn't cost me much money to leave it on every day and night.

let me correct my question :
why do you turn off your computer ???
:)
and how often...

Maybe in Isreal energy is a little cheaper, but here in Germany (and I guess other European countries have similar rates) we pay about 0,2 €/kWh.

So for a base calculation let's assume a standard 10 hours worktime and a standard PC which takes about 80W with an average load (e.g. office work, developing with some compiles or tests an hour), add 20 W for a TFT monitor. An average year in Germany has roughly 250 work days. Let us include Saturdays as work days, too (because you will tend to use your computer privately over the weekend sometimes).
So we end up with about 300 days a year the computer and monitor are running 10 hours a day day with 100W consumption. This gives us:

300 * 10h * 100W * 0,2 € / kWh = 60 €.

Yet if we assume, you never turn off your computer, we add another 14 hours per day of say 45W, because it is likely to be more idle and you have something like Cool 'n Quiet. Add 5W for monitor standby and we have 50W. Also it will run on sunday which gives us an additional 50 days power consuptiom (actually should be 52, but I am rounding all the time so it should not matter ;)). So we end with:

(300 * 14h * 50W + 50 * 24h * 50W) * 0,2 € / kWh = 54 €.

So you end up paying nearly 120 €, double the price you would pay when you switch off the computer every night. Plus you care more for the enviroment.

That reminds me of reading something in a German magazine a few weeks ago:

"The average German child uses the same amount of paper in its first year as a man from India in 50 years"

[missmoondog]

ooh!! i tied the vote at 69!!

no, not on all the time.

[Enigmus]

No. I shut down my computer at night except for when I'm downloading, virus scanning or other tasks. All it is really is a waste of energy in my opinion.

[OffHand]

I turn mine of at night and when I am at work unless I am downloading.
It's better for my wallet and mother nature (less energy use is less pollution)

[fuscia]

i can't. the day i saw this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9YNhs-RSs4&search=macbook%20cat
i came back into the room only to find my cat sitting in my chair watching my screensaver.

[gray-squirrel]

Shut down? For me, it's more like "lock down". :D


With APM, I only need to shut down the system when the thunderstorms (and ice storms) start rolling in, and when I go on long distance trips.

Of course, when hardware needs to be upgraded or I need to do my regular dust cleaning inside the box, the computer goes off, but fortunately neither situation happens often.

[MaximB]

plus 54 euro per YEAR it's almost nothing.
and about the enviroment - the power that you are not using goes away.
so basicly it doesn't matter if you use it or not (you will pay more but for the enviroment it doesn't matter).
the power plants generate some amount of power and it almost never uses all of that power - so therfore some power will get lost.
except for generators we can't keep power in a "safe place for later use" , so what we don't use - lost.

[ember]

Well

a) It depends on your income. For me 54 € are a respectable amount of money.

b) Power generation works somewhat dynamical - of course they will not turn off a power plant for my saving of 270kWh a year. Yet if there are more people who do so, it may be possible. If I am informed correctly most powerplants have more than one generator. Thus they are able to operate at say "half throttle".

I do not say we should go back to our caves and light them with candles, but when power can be saved easily, we should do so.

[OffHand]

i can't. the day i saw this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9YNhs-RSs4&search=macbook%20cat
i came back into the room only to find my cat sitting in my chair watching my screensaver.

Nice vid, enjoyed watching it. Cats are cool.

[bruce89]

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=221815

[bruce89]

They could shut down one nuclear power station in Britain if everyone put off their computers when they are not being used.
My vote is Hunterston B (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunterston_B_nuclear_power_station), as it is the closest one to me.
If people want to keep their desktop in the same state that they are in, just hibernate it, it doesn't use any power.

[FISHERMAN]

If I'm not behind my computer, I turn it off.

[aysiu]

By the way, I don't agree with that article I linked to earlier. I just thought it was an interesting read.

Here at work, we have a "training room" with ten Windows computers. They are, by policy, not allowed to be left on overnight. If they get left on overnight, that room (which is always locked) gets unbearably hot.

Computers do emit heat if they're on.

[bruce89]

Computers do emit heat if they're on.

Mine certainly does, had to put a fan in this room during the heatwave we've been getting recently.

This is another thing, all these fans required to cool down computer rooms need energy.

[aysiu]

Wow! You've been getting a heat wave in Glasgow, too? I thought it was just here in California that it was unbearably hot...

[bruce89]

Wow! You've been getting a heat wave in Glasgow, too? I thought it was just here in California that it was unbearably hot...

Well, it's rather warm, it is 23C at the moment, which is average for here at this time of year.

It got up to 33C last week though.

My rabbit doesn't enjoy the heat, she just flops right over the place.

[aysiu]

I had to do my quick conversion on that... so around 80 Fahrenheit. Yup, that's quite hot for Glasgow indeed!

[bruce89]

Sorry about the offtopicness.


I had to do my quick conversion on that... so around 80 Fahrenheit. Yup, that's quite hot for Glasgow indeed!

It was 99F in England a few days ago. What is it over there?

[aysiu]

I'm in Northern California, and it's supposed to be high of 108F. I'm in a cooler area, so it's closer to around 90F during mid-day.

The computer gets shut off when not in use!

[matt_man22]

118F/47.7C here three days ago in Phoenix, Arizona. Therefore, I shut my computer down every night. Every little less bit of heat helps.

[bruce89]

118F/47.7C here three days ago in Phoenix, Arizona. Therefore, I shut my computer down every night. Every little less bit of heat helps.

Yikes, nasty. Computer overheating must be a problem in that heat.

[MaximB]

learn - water freezes at ZERO !
:)

[Compucore]

On my main ubuntu box I shut it down everynight before I hi tehsack. I have one computer that is not that power hungry which I do leave on at most 2-3 dtraight for emergency log ons for something when I have to do a netmeeting connection to a friend or a client. Otherwise they all get shut down as normally they would don't want to waiste energy.

Compucore

[Bezmotivnik]

I power down as soon as I'm done with whatever I'm doing. I try to get what I need done in one session, put if I have to go up and down a few times a day, that's fine. In about twenty-five years of working with computers, I've never had a failure due to powering up/down, and it's a lot less likely today. We're not using vacuum tubes or a lot of DIP-socketed RAM these days. In any case, my components always get upgraded long before they fail.

These boxes generate an ungodly amount of heat. With the temperature hitting 115F with a heat index of 120F yesterday, I don't need any more heat in the office, thanks.

There's no point to leave a box on if you're not using it.

[TeeAhr1]

To answer your query, here is a little excerpt from the Stagihatra. (http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/The_Stagihatara)


And it ran Unix
And it ran
And it ran
And it ran
And it ran
And it ran
And it ran
And it ran
And it ran
And it ran
And then they needed to upgrade the kernel

[bensexson]

Kinda depends on which machine. My file and print server only reboots when there is a kernel upgrade or a power outage. My laptop will of course shutdown when I need to move.

[fuscia]

Cats are cool.

they're the best.

[John T. Monkey]

I normally shut it down when I'm not using it. I always shut it down when I go out, there was once an incident involving overheating and smoke with this computer - it's fixed but I don't have enough faith to go out and leave it on....

I'll leave it on at night if it's doing something important like downloading...

The longest I've run Kubuntu is probably about 40 hours, and then I shut it down just because I was going out,

[BigRedJake]

I leave mine on 24 hours a day most of the time. Half because I've almost always got something downloading and half because I'm just plain lazy.

As far as the humming of the fans goes, I had my computer in my room for so long when I was a kid I actually had trouble sleeping without that low hum when I moved out.

[Christmas]

I leave it on 24/7. I had 2 weeks uptime, and on Ubuntu the maximum only was 8 days because I had to restart it due to UT2004 and ET not working properly (I don't know why sometimes the system become very slow, not only in the games mentioned above, but in applications).
13207

[Derek Djons]

Only sometimes when I'm downloading large images or whatever :)

[ubuntu_demon]

I voted yes. I only have my second machine; a p3 which is my fileserver/gateway running permanent.

[ubuntu_demon]

I only have my second machine; a p3 which is my fileserver/gateway running permanent.

[ericesque]

About the only time I shutdown is when I take my notebook somehwere. Once I'm done with summer classes, it will probably be very rarely.

[Zyzzyx]

Simple question... do you shutdown and turn on your system overnight (or when not in use) or do you leave your system on 24/7?

If you dual-boot, well... do you leave it off, or do you just reboot and keep it on 24/7?

Situations different than this, well... would've made the poll too complicated.

[enopepsoo]

I always fall asleep with the computer on. Otherwise it would be too quiet in my room.

I do feel bad about this in terms of wasting energy (a significant amount of which is generated using coal fired plants here in Ontario). I have not dreamed up a solution yet though. :confused:

[K.Mandla]

Off. If I'm not using it, it's off. Electricity costs too much these days.

[Zyzzyx]

Well, to answer my own question, along with taking the poll, my systems are on 24/7. All four of them. Admittedly, I could easily cut back to just leaving one on all the time, my email/web server. But with the external relay mail storage I've got set up, I could even turn that off. Kinda screws with the timestamp on emails though when they end up all coming in at once.

The other stuff that's on is a tiny little SFF box that is just for backups of my server, runs twice/day. Then there's my main system. Don't like turning it off as I'm on/off of it all day long. Yeah, guess I could kill it overnight, but I don't. The fourth, and newest (as of tonight) is my Ubuntu server install (on an old Celery 500). Fair chance it will get shut off more often, as its the noisiest, by far, of all my systems. The other three I've put good effort into silencing, haven't gotten to this one yet.

But, with the systems on all the time, I do run Folding@Home (http://folding.stanford.edu) on them all.

Oh, and with the three systems going, they draw ~325 watts. So basically, a few lightbulbs worth. With both 19" CRT monitors going though, those suck down just as much or more power. This measured with a Kill-a-Watt.

[Klaidas]

Off. Why keep it on if it's not in use?

[jason.b.c]

I always fall asleep with the computer on. Otherwise it would be too quiet in my room.

I do feel bad about this in terms of wasting energy (a significant amount of which is generated using coal fired plants here in Ontario). I have not dreamed up a solution yet though. :confused:

I'm the same way..:D , It's too quiet for me if i don't hear the cooling fans running..


Off. If I'm not using it, it's off. Electricity costs too much these days.

A computer usually dosen't use more than an 80-100 watt light bulb...:roll: :wink: Even less now-a-day's with newer technology emerging...

[blackened]

I have my main machine set to hibernate after 30 minutes idle, but my BT machine and router are always on. All my other machines are powered down when not in use.

[MaximB]

24/7 for me
I always using the computer - even when I sleep
I always downloading stuff
just have to try more Linux distro's ... and see some movies ;)

and it's bad to turn off your computer every day
the power downs hurt the computer more then anything.

[AlphaMack]

PowerBook stays on 24/7 when it's at my desk...dual booting OS X and Kubuntu (or Ubuntu, depending on how I'm feeling). I haven't killed off a HDD yet from doing so.

[Lord Illidan]

it's on normally all day, except when I'm at school. Then I switch off before going to bed...otherwise parents would kill me for wasting electricity...which is very expensive here...and becoming worse.

[Yossarian]

For me as well, if I'm not sitting at the desk the computer is off. Even my debian sarge server only gets turned on when people want to access the drive or print.

[Kindred]

I leave it on to download/compile/render.

[argie]

Off. If I'm not using it, it's off. Electricity costs too much these days.

Me too. Unless I have something to compile, in which case I set it to shutdown in gcrontab in a couple of hours. Or something to download, in which case I leave it on. Fortunately not too many updates these days and nothing new that I want.

[Rhubarb]

I can afford electricity, but I sure don't like wasting it.
So I've got 2 laptops, 1 for general use, is allways switched off when not in use. The other is a tiny Crusoe laptop, uses about as much power as a VCR when it's on standby mode, has no fans - I use it as a web server / linux distribution downloader. Even when I've finished using it for the month I turn 'er off too.

[æþeling]

thejollybloke@pub:~$ uptime
13:21:50 up 21 days, 11:04, 3 users, load average: 0.45, 0.42, 0.38


:-\"

[Anonii]

My PC is on from 16:00-04:00 every day. Most days its open from 04:00-16:00 too, when I want to download torrents, movies etc. When its downloading its always with the monitor off.


@æþeling: rofl :P Whats the load average btw?

[Kernel Sanders]

Off when I dont need it. Otherwise it will just sit there doing nothing? And i'm way too tight with electricity to do the folding at home thing overnight! :biggrin:

[æþeling]

My PC is on from 16:00-04:00 every day. Most days its open from 04:00-16:00 too, when I want to download torrents, movies etc. When its downloading its always with the monitor off.


@æþeling: rofl :P Whats the load average btw?


Load average is the average CPU load (0.00 is 0%, 1.00 is 100%), and the three numbers are CPU load stats for the last 10 minutes, for the last 60 minutes and for the entire session (If I remember correctly).

And btw, what's so funny?:)

[Anonii]

it was on for 21days.

[DoktorSeven]

Bleh. If it wasn't for kernel updates, I'd have months of uptime ;)

[æþeling]

it was on for 21days.

I think my record is somewhere betwen 45 and 50 days;)

[pay]

The sad thing is I'm never not using my computer. I'm either downloading large files or using it.

[christhemonkey]

Headless server, 4 days uptime.
My desktop pc, is off when not in use.

My laptop has not been booted in the last 2 weeks....

[grizzly]

wouldn't dream of leaving computer on, unless me is downloading something.
Electricity is very costly where I live - 10x my Internet bill!!

btw does anyone knows how much a PC draws in a monitor off, downloading stuff position?

[BrokeBody]

24/7

[NiceGuy]

Here is one for someone to work out if they are bored. On an 'average' system eg. (mine ;)) - AMD Athlon XP2600 with 512 ram, 1 seagate IDE HD and a geforce FX5200.

What kind of power usage can I expect a) at boot and b) when idle (or even better in standby mode)

So basically what I'm asking is how long does my pc need to be off for it to be worth while.

[BrokeBody]

For the past 3 and a half years I've been sleeping with the music on. For those 3 1/2 years, there have been 2 months max spent without the music. So, it's 24/7, but that's not the only reason afcourse.:KS

[PatrickMay16]

I leave my computer on all the time, except for when I'll be staying away from home for a few days or so.

[Demio]

I used to leave it online 24/7 (used to run servers and stuff from it) but now I quit that stuff and with a 8mbit download stream I don't need to leave it all night up when downloading stuff so I turn it off whenever I can.

[beercz]

I think my record is somewhere betwen 45 and 50 days;)

One of our office servers, running debian sarge, had an uptime of 412 days. It was only switched off when we had to move it.

[IYY]

I often leave it on. I want to get a low-power system one day, like this: http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS6828123924.html

[jason.b.c]

Bleh. If it wasn't for kernel updates, I'd have months of uptime ;)

I think you mean't "downtime" ..

Does your I.S.P. regulate how much you can download before your internet speed is reduced..?

Something like this..?


The Home Solution
Concurrent Users: 1
Upload speed varies up to: 128 Kbps
Download speed varies up to: 700 Kbps*
Download threshold: 175 MB
Recovery Rate: 50 Kbps†
IP: Dynamic (NAT)
Email Accounts: 5
Standard Equipment: DW7000 Satellite Modem combined
with a .74M satellite dish antenna
No Phone Line Needed



*Download Threshold is the volume of data that can be downloaded continuously before the Fair Access Policy may restrict the download speed.
†Recovery rate is the speed at which a service plan recovers the Download Threshold.

[catatonic]

24/7, i live in the mountains electric is cheap

[rfruth]

:mad: Thats the spirit cat use it up, so what if it pollutes ... :mad:

[chaosgeisterchen]

I have no flatrate so why should I let it run? It's simply too loud and it does not let me sleep.

[UltraMathMan]

Inspiron E1505 stays on during the day, sleeps at night, and is off during extended transit.

[henriquemaia]

I shut it down whenever I'm not using it, for energy saving reasons.

[Weav]

Is there any research anywhere that leaving your computer on at night will slowly drain away the components? I realize that just plain using your computer will slowly wear it down, but does leaving the computer on for those extra 7-8 hours really make that big of a difference?

I usually always leave my computer on since the cost of electricity does not matter to me.

[AndyCooll]

I leave my fileserver on 24/7. All my networks home directories are stored on it so it needs to be switched on for folk to access their files.

My other boxes/laptops are switched on or off according to use.

:cool:

[Omnios]

Personally I am running 24/7 but ctrl-alt-backspace restart Xserver when things start to get slow.

[mdsmedia]

It's not really the simple question that you think.

My main machine is a notebook, which I leave on when at home, and shut down or suspend when I go to work or go out.

I answered that I leave it on 24/7 but it's rarely on for more than a couple of days.

My desktop, which I installed Breezy on some months ago but have not upgraded or used to any great extent, stays on all the time.

[Dr. Nick]

Off whenever im not using it. If Im gone and its doing something I usually shut off the monitor and set a shutdown timer.

Think you computer is the only thing that draws the electricity?

Processor = Heat
CRT Monitor = More Heat

I read somewhere that typical computer and monitor can raise the temp in the room several degrees, which in the summer will cause the Air Conditioner to run more often, The A/C is one of the biggest power consuming items in most houses, So you must factor in the computer consumption and the additional A/C usage when computing energy costs.

Now the winter is a different story I guess :)

[jpkotta]

Boy, can CRTs ever raise the temperature in a room. I always leave my computer on, but I only notice it heating up the room when the CRT is on (I should really get an LCD, but my CRT looks nice and there's nothing wrong with it).

I leave it on because component failure rate increases as the components are subjected to thermal stress (temperature changes). I have anecdotal evidence too: Our family PC's hard drive was set to go off after 30 minutes of inactivity. It died after about 3 years. My hard drive is about 3 years old now, and I'm confident that it will last much longer.

Also, I run Folding@Home.

[xhaan]

On all the time.
Once in a while I'll shut one down if I can't sleep and it's too noisy.

[Anduu]

24/7...4.3 gigs of sheep and counting :p

[Anduu]

Load average is the average CPU load (0.00 is 0%, 1.00 is 100%), and the three numbers are CPU load stats for the last 10 minutes, for the last 60 minutes and for the entire session (If I remember correctly).

And btw, what's so funny?:)

You got me curious...I have a cron job set up to mail me my uptimes...here is one I got:


00:01:01 up 4:11, 1 user, load average: 7.01, 6.53, 5.69

From these numbers I would have to assume it doesn't quite work like that.I wonder what the numbers actually mean :-k

I guess I'll hafta Google it up ;)

EDIT : More than you ever wanted to know about load averages (http://www.luv.asn.au/overheads/NJG_LUV_2002/luvSlides.html)

[Zdravko]

Off. If I'm not using it, it's off. Electricity costs too much these days.

The same here!


and it's bad to turn off your computer every day
the power downs hurt the computer more then anything.
Yes, I know, but we shouldn't waste energy.

[Dr. Nick]

I was typing a reply lasnight and the power went out :-\"

[Dr. Nick]

I am sitting in one of the computer labs at my university, thier are 4 other people in here with me, yet looking around the room I see about 50 of them stupid bouncing windows xp screensavers. The school leaves the computers and monitors on 24/7 and keeps the room at about 72F

Then they charge everyone a computer usage fee of over 100$ and a fee to cover rising energy costs, as if we dont get enough of that at home and with our cars.

These computers do nothing when idle except show the stupid sceensaver, even those marked "out of order" are on. Pretty annoying when you think about it.

I have heard about the hardware failure with shutting down, yet I have never had any piece of hardware fail in any of my computers, and they get powered up and down several times a day for the last several years.

[graabein]

My box hums like a friggin vacuum cleaner and generates alot of heat so I have to turn it off at night and when not in use. Even though I have the computer in the livingroom and not the bedroom. I'm thinking of replacing the fan on the graphics card and I allready bought a better case and power supply.

[Beamerboy]

There was a study done a few years back on this issue, which illustrated that the power used from booting your system frequantly was more than the power required to leave it on all the time. It basically explained that all the drive access etc when you initially boot surges power consumption.

It is similar to flourescent lighting. It costs more money to charge the phosphorous in the tube when you initially turn it on than it does to leave the tube powered for 24 hours.

So long as you physically turn your monitor off (as in off not allow it to go into standby) then power usage on a PC (especially when it is not actually being used) is negligable.

I suspect with new APM features available now that didn't exist back when the original study was done, that PC's use even less power now than they did then.

Personally my PC is on 24/7 but I always turn my monitors off when I am not physically sat in front of the system.

Furthermore I watch TV and play music on my system which means I don't need a TV or CD Player powered up. Since the computer does the job of 3 different pieces of equipment I am actually using significantly less power.

[bruce89]

And you wonder why global warming is happening...

[Dragonbite]

We keep one computer on because during the day, if my wife gets a chance to do something on the computer she doesn't get much time (3 kids between 1.5 - 6 years old) and she would waste most of it with just the time it takes to boot it up. We do turn off the CRT monitor and peripherals when we can.

I would prefer being able to put the desktop in a sleep or hibernate mode when it's not in use. In our near future, though, we are looking at a laptop which may work out better for putting it in hibernate/sleep when we close the lid.

Of course I'm also setting up a 2nd computer to be used as a server and in that case it would need to be 24/7 just because it's going to be in the basement where it is less accessible.

If it could be set up to wake-up when somebody logs onto the network, and shuts down when nobody's on the network for a period of time then that would be the balls! It's not like it's running as a mail server right now since we have dial-up.

Does anybody know of a desktop that is particularly energy-efficient (like is the KooBox or Mac Mini)?

[DarkN00b]

I've got Ubuntu running on my HP laptop, so it gets shut off when I'm not using it.

[BWF89]

I voted for the 2nd one but neither fully matches my systems on/off cycle.

I'll usually leave it run for a couple of days streight if I'm on a bittorrent downloading spree and than turn it off at night for another couple of days.

[aysiu]

I shut it down every day. It makes too much noise when on (just a subtle hum, but enough to be annoying if left on all the time), and the light stays on even when the computer's put to sleep.

My older computer I've shut down just about every day for five years and not had any problems with hardware breaking or electricity bills being unreasonable.

[skymt]

On, for instant access. I'd suspend if Ubuntu supported that on my hardware, but since it doesn't, I just leave it on.

[The Noble]

My laptop has had its hinges break after two years (damn you 15 inch screens!), so no more BT downloading at night. Also, I grew up using windows 2000 on a 133 mhz system, so I restarted every 2 hours to make sure no residual programs resided; I have gotten better but I still shut down every night/every so often. I don't know about you guys, but I have that Pentium 1 laptop I used to use a lot and nothing has ever failed on it -- That makes it 9 yer old laptop I think! Computers are usually either very sturdy or fall apart on you in a weeks period... sad really.

[Dr. Nick]

I have a pentium 2 laptop, no hardware on the laptop itself broke, Just 2 power adapters #-o

I think the most enery consuming bit is the crt monitors though, I always shut mine off when not in use. I usually only power cycle my system once per day, sometimes twice. I turn it on when I need it, if I know ill need it again soon ill just power off the monitor and leave the rest on, then I shut it down at night.

[Zyzzyx]

Well, to add a bit of info, I do have power management set on my dual 19" CRTs. I've got screensaver set to 8 minutes, warns me that at 10 minutes, they're powering off. This works well being on/off the computer throughout the day, just have to wake up the monitors when I come in.

Can definitely tell a temperature difference in the room when the two CRTs have been on most of the day, opposed to shut off. The Samsung makes a great handwarmer on chilly days.

[glotz]

A computer usually dosen't use more than an 80-100 watt light bulb...:roll: :wink:I believe that even old power sources were 200 watts. I've got a 400 watt myself. Modern video cards use a lot power as does burning CDs and having multiple harddisks. And then comes the monitor and any other peripherals, sound systems, printers, etc.

Besides the power consumption I've got real loud fans so definitely kill the puter when not using it...

[Dr. Nick]

Can definitely tell a temperature difference in the room when the two CRTs have been on most of the day, opposed to shut off. The Samsung makes a great handwarmer on chilly days.


I had a old 14in crt and left a 5 1/4 floppy on it for a few months on accident, guess what happaned :rolleyes:

dang thing melted lol

[ekuliak]

My computer is always on (except when no one will be home for more than a day).

I like the noise my fans make, it helps cancel out a lot of the noise that others make in my house. :D Helps me sleep.

[Zyzzyx]

To derail my own thread a bit, here's some hard info for those of you that have stated, or are wondering, about wattages for various systems. Using a Kill-A-Watt (http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/7657/) meter, here's what I gathered for power usage.

But first, some system specs:

Computers
- Main - 2.2ghz AthlonMP (overclocked), 1gb, 80g & 160g Seagate HDs, nVidia 6800, five undervolted (to 5v) system fans
- Server - 950mhz AthlonXP (underclocked), 384mb, 80g Seagate, three system fans (yes, undervolted as well)
- Backup - small form factor P3 500mhz, 128mb, 60g Seagate, external power brick, one fan
- Server2 - P3 500mhz, 192mb, 80g Seagate, one fan

Monitors
- Samsung 955DF 19" CRT
- Dell (Sony) Trinitron 19" CRT


So, what's the power usage?

With everything going, I'm using 490 watts. Yeah, that's a fair chunk, but the monitors are 180 watts themselves (Samsung 70w, Trinitron 110w). That leaves 310 watts spread across FOUR computers. So most of the time that's what I'm using. Here's their power:

Main - 130w
Server - 70w
Backup - 25w (yeah, not much!)
Server2 - 45w


The astute mathematicians out there noticed, that's not everything. All the other ancillary stuff adds up to about 40w of stuff. This includes the base draw of the computers just being plugged in, 3-5w each. Linksys router, 6w; speakers, 8w; cordless mouse (on charge), 6w.


Over the next week or so I'm gonna keep the power meter on everything, see what kind of average usage I get. Yeah, it costs a lil' bit, but sure does keep the computer room warm, basically a 500w heater going. ;)

[bruce89]

With everything going, I'm using 490 watts. Yeah, that's a fair chunk, but the monitors are 180 watts themselves (Samsung 70w, Trinitron 110w). That leaves 310 watts spread across FOUR computers.

That is the same as 5 high power light bulbs, or one bar on a heater.

Mine uses just over 100 watts usually (with router, speakers, monitor, computer)

[sgbeamer]

Tend to leave it on when I know I'll be around (weekends) and tend to turn it off nightly during the week when at work.

[stryderjzw]

Got into discussion the other day.

Do you shutdown your computer? I know my roommate says he just put his laptop to sleep. I'm convinced that the computer needs "rest".

What are some pros/cons for shutting down your computer?

[henriquemaia]

hmmmmmmmm. Well, yes - for energy saving purposes. No. my other pc is running folding@home during winter.

[maniacmusician]

the pros for shutting down your computer: i guess saving energy. though some people have said that it conserves more energy to leave your computer on because the intial power on uses a surge of power. I dont know how much truth there is to this.

cons:
well its not good for your computer to turn on and off a lot. your parts (specifically hard drive) will last longer if you keep it on as much as possible. also, it's much easier to resume working on the computer. you just move the mouse and type in the password (i also turn off my screen so i obviously have to turn that back on too), and i'm good to go. I have to wait a little if i'm turning it on. not long, no, but more than if i just left it on.

[kerry_s]

I just let my screen go to sleep and move the mouse to wake it up. I do reboot to change to other WM's i have installed on other disk's/partions or if i'm testing a distro. The electric bill is still the same whether i leave it on or off, don't no whether that's a good or bad thing. :-k I just really see no need to turn it off.

[slimdog360]

I always shutdown when I dont need it. Save power and money that way.

[Bree]

I just let my screen go to sleep and move the mouse to wake it up. I do reboot to change to other WM's i have installed on other disk's/partions or if i'm testing a distro. The electric bill is still the same whether i leave it on or off, don't no whether that's a good or bad thing. :-k I just really see no need to turn it off.

Yeah, I do the same... as for the electric bill, I'm not the one who pays that but believe me if was astronomical my mother would do something about it! xD

[kerry_s]

My bill is anywhere from $250 to $300 a month, i'm pretty sure it's because of that dang dryer and the extra freezers we keep for those bulk meat buys when it's on sale. LOL. I once thought it was because of the computers so i took all the power cords and didn't let anyone use computers for a month to see what the difference would be. Well there was no real difference in the bill, just everyone mad at me for testing. ](*,) I can't wait till they grow up and start getting there own bills :twisted:

[towsonu2003]

less electricity = less usage of resources = better environment.

[ericesque]

duz ur keybrd hav all it keys?

[aysiu]

I shut down my computer every day. My wife puts her laptop to sleep. Our electric bill is usually about US$30 a month.

I also have an older computer (five years old) I shut down regularly as well--it still runs well.

[cunawarit]

At home, yes, I shut them down at night.

I didn't used to at work till they got paranoid and asked everyone to shut the desktop machines down at night.

[_simon_]

Only time I shutdown is when I'm cleaning the case out or need to move the machine.

Apart from the above I've been running my current setup 24 / 7 for the last 3 or 4 years.

[Rhubarb]

For me, I always shutdown both my laptops when not in use. I also usually disconnect them from the mains to prevent power surges from frying things.

I do however like the idea of running folding at home during winter. If you normally have a small heater on during winter, then why not put your heater (computer) to good use?

[Kateikyoushi]

No my smaller notebook is almost always on, except during lectures or when it is in my bag, it uses about 10W so no problem i put it to standby or hibernate it sometimes.
I hibernate the bigger one also when i do not use it.

[Josh1]

No my smaller notebook is almost always on, except during lectures or when it is in my bag, it uses about 10W so no problem i put it to standby or hibernate it sometimes.
I hibernate the bigger one also when i do not use it.

Only if the power goes off or I accidently kick the power cord. ;)

[beercz]

I answered yes - I carry my laptop around all over the place.

[dca]

There's a lot of variables. Laptop or PC, Ubuntu or M$, file server being accessed remotely or being used direct. For all intents & purposes on the PC side, if you're running M$, it's good to shutdown when done so the memory gets cleared. PC(s) by design can run 24hrs a day escpecially when being accessed remotely like for file storing/sharing purposes... But when you have (on the M$ side) Outlook open, Excel open, couple of web browser sessions open, yada yada it gets jumbled up... Then there's the difference between a restart and a shutdown...

I'll go back to the original question, I shutdown my laptop when done and place back in bag. The file server at my house runs 24 hours a day but it rarely accessed by keyboard/monitor... I tell my wife to shutdown her MEPIS PC because, quite frankly, the screensaver is rather annoying...

[MKR.]

I have no real reason to shut down. This one is pretty low power; just as much power as I need to get the job done. All my power comes from a mix of nuclear and hydroelectric, so the environment is less of a concern in my situation. :P

[crane]

This is kind of like gnome vs.KDE
Ford/Chevy
Coke/Pepsi
Alabama/Auburn <local football

There is no right and wrong. I shut down my work computer, mainly because windows works better if shut down regulary.
I do not shut down my home computer, no reason, I just don't.
I also have a file server running nonstop as well.
I hate when I lose power because it kills my server uptime!LOL

[the.dark.lord]

You can't leave a comp on here.... electricity problems sometimes

[newlinux]

I shut down all my PCs when not in use for long periods of time, like overnight (if you don't count my crappy Motorola HD-DVRs). Just habit. My desktop is kind of loud too. Usually I'll have my laptop on most of the evening in the living room, even if I'm not using it. I turn it off each night though (if I'm not downloading or transfering large files over the network or anything).

[mushroom]

not unless there's a purpose in doing so. like big updates and stuff.

[bonzodog]

I don't actually shutdown my machine - it runs in cool'n'quiet mode, and is downstairs, so it can't be heard in the bedroom. I do reboot it occasionally - mainly for kernel/udev/init upgrades.

I came from the slackware school of 'linux is not designed to be shutdown'.

It makes almost no difference at all to my elec bill.

[Omnios]

I rarely shut down but rather periodicly use ctrl-alt-backspace to restart X. I do shutdown when going out for a while though.

[Zyzzyx]

Hmm, I started a nearly identical thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=259198) a couple weeks ago, just phrased things differently. Be interesting to see how the poll results compare.

Mine stay on. 24/7. I did some figuring and it costs me about $177/year to leave them on all the time.



Ford/Chevy
Coke/Pepsi
Alabama/Auburn <local football
This is kind of like gnome vs.KDE
Hmm, I never have fit in.

Dodge
DrPepper
college football? meh...
and... ok, ya got me. Using Gnome so far.

But yeah, I offer the same comparisons to folks.

[%hMa@?b<C]

unless im seeding/leeching big files, i turn it off.

[RAV TUX]

Hmm, I started a nearly identical thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=259198) a couple weeks ago, just phrased things differently. Be interesting to see how the poll results compare.

Mine stay on. 24/7. I did some figuring and it costs me about $177/year to leave them on all the time.



Hmm, I never have fit in.

Dodge
DrPepper
college football? meh...
and... ok, ya got me. Using Gnome so far.

But yeah, I offer the same comparisons to folks.

I am merging these two threads, I actually remember the exact same thread months ago....if anybody can supply a link to the older thread I will merge both of the new threads/poll with the oldest thread.

[RAV TUX]

I am merging these two threads, I actually remember the exact same thread months ago....if anybody can supply a link to the older thread I will merge both of the new threads/poll with the oldest thread.

I found the original thread on this same subject matter, it was started by MAXDDARK July 24th 2006.


Titled:

how often do you shutdown your PC ???thread#221815

I remind everyone here, do an advanced search before posting your Poll or Thread to avoid this kind of duplication in the future.

merging this thread now.

[Colly]

My Windows PC hasn't been shutdown since I built it in 1997, except when I've done upgrades on CPUs, memory, video card, drives, etc., or replaced the battery in its UPS (OK - so it's the same motherboard, power supply and cabinet.) It's hosted an IIS server since a few months after I got XP Pro in 2000. And it finally became able handle the second CPU without hanging during video capture after MS released SP2. I had to pull one of the 2 CPUs before doing video capture before SP2 came out.
My Ubuntu PC is an old Win98 PC I was given that I've partitioned the 30GB drive on and made into a dual-boot Win98 (8GB) and Ubuntu (22GB) test machine. It gets shutdown any time I'm not playing with old Win98 games I never discarded, or when I'm experimenting with Ubuntu to learn about it before Microsoft eventually discontinues XP a few years down the road. I've already decided I'm never buying Vista (tired of paying Microsoft again and again) or Mac's (never did go for proprietary hardware - I like to tinker inside my machines.)
My wife's PC is on 24/7 also. All three are on our home LAN and sharing a cable modem connection that just got upgraded from 3mbps to 5mbps.

Now somebody should poll me on how I backup a 9 year old PC with over 1.2 million files on it. Answer: I pretty much don't. I have all my media files copied to DVD or CD, I have My Documents folder on a jump drive and assume I will have to spend 6 months simply reloading the machine if drive C fails. I listen closely to the drives though. When I hear the beginnings of the "whine of death", I know the drive has less than a few days life left, so I shut it down, run out and buy a new (and larger) drive, install it and clone the failing drive to the new one. 1.2 million files, are you kidding? It takes hours just for an anti-virus program to scan them.

[wh0rd]

I never really shutdown my PCs, until I recieved an electric bill over $200 recently.

[linuxwizard]

I usually shutdown once a month for maintenance,clean fans.

[steven8]

at the end of each session.

[adam.tropics]

Once a week, which given that it's a laptop, will doubtless shorten its life, but hey...!

[xyz]

I shut it down every day and suspend/hibernate while, for instance, I eat or do any activities that will take more than a quater of an hour.

It's really not only about my own electricity bill but I read somewhere ,a couple of months ago, that, in France, 1 single computer on the whole year long costs 162 Euros in electricity...so just imagine!!

Do you have any idea how much it would cost in other countries?

[steven8]

That's 208.53 USD to me. Ouch! I'm glad we shutdown after each session.

[Zdravko]

I shut it down every day. This is the way to spare energy.

[bigken]

my laptop is constantly switched on and off as I use to try different distros but my main box ssh server is never switched off unless we
have a power failure

my partners laptop is never turned off she just shuts the lid

and my 6 year old daughters pc well who knows lol ;)

[kuja]

Hm, I only shut down/restart when testing something with regards to the boot-up process (playing with usplash, seeing how different things affect boot time), when setting up certain kernel modules (most don't require a reboot, some seem to if you want them to behave), or when I get a kernel upgrade.