PDA

View Full Version : Torvalds: Linux ready to go green



The Fire Fly
March 21st, 2008, 04:28 PM
he infrastructure and tools required to make Linux a green operating system are now in place, according to Linux leader Linus Torvalds, who was in Melbourne this week attending Australia's largest Linux conference.

In an interview at the linux.conf.au conference, the developer of the Linux kernel admitted that the operating system was lagging behind on power-management and energy-diagnosis tools.

"It is an area we were pretty weak in a few years ago and just building up the infrastructure took a long time, but now we are at a point where we have most of it done," Torvalds said.

"That doesn't mean we are done. Now we have an infrastructure in place... we have the tools to measure power and notice when the power is higher and why that is, which is pretty important. Before, it used to be a black box," he said.

Linux safe with or without Linus
Speaking about the future of Linux, Torvalds said he is pleased that the kernel is stable and that the community of people helping to maintain it is going to keep it that way.

"We are still working on a lot of stuff, especially with new hardware. But I think, on the whole, a lot of the basics are there. What we work on is better maintainability, improving code so we can add features more easily," Torvalds said.

When asked about retirement, Torvalds said he has no intention to move on, and even if he did users would be "unlikely to notice," as the operating system has such a strong support community.

Chame_Wizard
March 21st, 2008, 04:49 PM
Go Linus GO :guitar:

cprofitt
March 21st, 2008, 05:30 PM
Interesting man Linus is.

regomodo
March 21st, 2008, 05:49 PM
where did you get that info from? I'd like to know the weblink

getaboat
March 21st, 2008, 05:56 PM
IMHO Linux is the only greeen OS. Most of my home PCs are home built or recylced old Windows PCs. My most powerful PC (a laptop) is what I use for my MS (XP) work stuff.

Every new MS OS needs more grunt - how many XP users could "upgrade" to Vista without a downgrade in performance?

OK for the few Ubuntu upgrades I've been through I have noticed that more oomph would be better with each upgrade but this appears to be gradual not in massive step changes like MS.

That having been said I still think the best performing OS I have based on the kit it is running is an old W98 box (500Mhx, 256Mb) - once it loads that is! Certainly quicker than my own home work horse (2Ghz, 512Mb) running Feisty (which subjectively seems to have got slower since I first put Feist on (from Dapper).

Mateo
March 21st, 2008, 06:15 PM
I hate the use of "green" in this respect. What is the threshold for green? Just because something uses less power than something else doesn't mean it's "green".

twisted_steel
March 21st, 2008, 06:16 PM
where did you get that info from? I'd like to know the weblink

It was copied and pasted from here:
http://www.news.com/Torvalds-Linux-ready-to-go-green/2100-7344_3-6228517.html

NightwishFan
March 21st, 2008, 06:18 PM
Interesting man Linus is.

Yeah I agree. He strikes me as very unconventional, I would like to meet him. He is different than people like Bill Gates.

billgoldberg
March 21st, 2008, 08:35 PM
Why do people obsess about the color green?

I like red more!

(lol!)

If my pc needs less ram, cpu power to use because I use linux instead or windows, that would make it greener?

I always power down the machine when I'm not behind it.

Booting takes 30 seconds.

NightwishFan
March 21st, 2008, 08:40 PM
True. Hardy runs like a monster on my machine. I can restart one OS and get to hardy desktop in like 40 secs. Greener can only be better I suppose, though.

tad1073
March 21st, 2008, 08:51 PM
In most fields the term green means lacking experience, unskilled etc.
The word "Eco Friendly" would be better suited for this new marketing trend.

kidux
March 21st, 2008, 08:51 PM
I hate the use of "green" in this respect. What is the threshold for green? Just because something uses less power than something else doesn't mean it's "green".

Green is used to refer to more environmentally friendly. An OS (or anything, for that matter) that uses less power to do the same tasks is considered "green" because it is causing less pollution in the bigger picture. Also, if it uses less energy then it costs me less in my energy bills, and then I see "green" in my wallet. :)

chucky chuckaluck
March 21st, 2008, 09:09 PM
is it greener to use lighter apps and wm's?

ruibernardo
March 22nd, 2008, 12:01 AM
[...]I think, on the whole, a lot of the basics are there. What we work on is better maintainability, improving code so we can add features more easily," Torvalds said.

"better maintainability, improving code so we can add features" is the biggest asset that Linux has, imho.

The free and open source software makes it a solid rock. It's free, can be redistributed, and because it's open (everybody can see its code), every bug can be reported/fixed by every body, helping in the development of the quality of the software. You can't do that with closed-source software, not with the same efficiency.

Plus, most of new features/software/features use another existing free software. Ubuntu works with GNU/Linux kernel, the Apache-MySQL-PHP trio, HAL with Gnome, python, etc, all work in conjunction, each one with its function, not wasting resources in duplicated features, but using the existing resources to create new ones. What a system! I admire it, I confess. And it's getting mature, we can see it. A thank you very much to all those that worked on and for it. Great job!

I believe Linux would survive a Linus retirement. Why not? But Linus has so much more to give, I find it unlikely to happen.

Solicitous
March 22nd, 2008, 12:39 AM
Every new MS OS needs more grunt - how many XP users could "upgrade" to Vista without a downgrade in performance?

Not to try and justify but there are how many years apart between Microsoft releasing each new version of Windows? 2001 for XP, 2007 for Vista? = 6 years. Ubuntu? 6 month cycle. If Ubuntu was updated every 6 years the jump would be a huge resource hog on your PC and probably require you to buy a new one.

That said....Linux will run in *most* cases more effectively on older hardware.