Ubuntu CPU scaling ignoring me more than my daughter does

[david-8uUts6sDVDvs2Lz0fTdYFQ at public.gmane.org (David Kramer)]

On 03/10/2011 08:25 PM, Dan Ritter wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2011 at 07:45:29PM -0500, David Kramer wrote:
>> On 03/10/2011 09:22 AM, Dan Ritter wrote:
>>> On Thu, Mar 10, 2011 at 07:27:59AM -0500, David Kramer wrote:
>>>>>> Hmm.  I don't even have that file.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sounds like you haven't loaded the appropriate module to control
>>>>> your CPU's power saving feature.
>>>>>
>>>>> What CPU? From /proc/cpuinfo, please?
>>>>
>>>> I thought the problem is it's controlling the speed *too much*.
>>>> This is a Dell Latitude D820
>>
>>> OK, what does acpitool -c tell you?
>>
>> david at lexa:/dload/graphics/tmp$ acpitool -c
>>   CPU type               : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU         T7200  @ 2.00GHz
>>   Min/Max frequency      : 1000/2000 MHz
>>   Current frequency      : 2000 MHz
>>   Frequency governor     : ondemand
>>   Freq. scaling driver   : acpi-cpufreq
>>   Usage of state C1      : 53057687 (97.5 %)
>>   Usage of state C2      : 1249655 (2.3 %)
> 
> The combination of ondemand and that state usage report strongly
> suggests that some process is pegging your CPU. Anything obvious
> on top?

This all became an issue because I needed to restore my iPhone using
iTunes, which I run in a VirtualBox VM Windows XP image.  I was
restoring to bare metal, so it had to reinstall them all, and something
was off, making it take hours.

Top said the VM was taking 99%-103% cpu, and Task Manager in the VM said
iTunes was taking 100% cpu.  Yet I could not get the CPUs to stay at
full speed.

However, I often run into the same frustration when I dare watch Flash
movies in Firefox and it will take like 80% of a cpu long after the
flash movie is done.

<rant>
This is yet another case of Linux (or maybe just Ubuntu) becoming WAY
too Windows-like in the fight for the desktop.  The battle-cry is "Who
*wouldn't* want their computer to work the way we envision?" instead of
"Let's add this feature, actually *tell* people about it, and how they
can opt out of it".

Really?  A service that checks every minute to make sure if you change a
setting, it resets it to what it thinks is right without telling you?  WTF?

And I thought removing the ability to create an X configuration file and
have X actually use it was bad.
</rant>