From: John H. Kim (jokim_at_MIT.EDU)
Date: Thu Jun 13 1996 - 13:02:14 EDT
On Fri, 7 Jun 1996, Jonathan Berry wrote:
> calculation) on our laptop. In word processing, for example, the
> computer must be simply waiting for a keystroke 99.9% of the time
> (remember, word processors that ran as fast as you could type were
> available on 4.77 MHz 8088s). While it is waiting, the processor's
> clock could be slowed down (unless it has a governor on it that
> prevents its clock speed from being changed !?) and it would thus
> draw less power.
Many processors (I believe the 486SL and SL-enhanced, and the
Pentiums) already do this. There's an instruction to halt the CPU
until something happens.
Unfortunately, the idiots at Redmond don't use it. Linux runs cool
on my TP701. Some OS/2 users tell me OS/2 runs cool as well. DOS,
Win3.1, and Win95 run hot enough to make my lap uncomfortable.
-- John H. Kim There are only two industries that call their jokim_at_mit.edu customers 'users,' and one of them is illegal.
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