If CPU Frequency scaling is supported you can check after the starting the powersaved and having a look in: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq -> there must exist files. If you don't find any, but you know your system should support it, browse/post the mailing list: cpufreq@www.linux.org.uk.
All configuraton variables are described in detail in the /etc/sysconfig/powersave/cpufreq configuration file.
You may want to override these (or other) variables in the scheme_* files. A scheme and its configuration is activated when switching between AC and battery power source or could be switched by using: powersave -x (to display available schemes) and powersave -e scheme_name (to switch to a specfic scheme)
You can also use other front-ends like kpowersave or wm_powersave clients to switch schemes.
You may want to edit existing or create new schemes: This can be done by using the YAST power-management module (recommended) or (not all variables are editable through YAST) modify the config files themeselves (/etc/sysconfig/powersave/scheme_*) To add an additional scheme by hand, just copy one scheme file and rename it to scheme_"whatever" (in the same directory). Be sure that you modify the SCHEME_NAME variable in the file or the powersave daemon will be confused.
Restart the powersaved or send a SIGHUP signal after you modified any config files.
For some specific machines, you need special hacks for loading the cpufreq modules. The ones we know of are listed here, with a description of the chipset, so you can try this out on similar machines. Note that you may need to reboot the machine (or at least unload all cpufreq modules including speedstep_lib and freq_table and after that restart powersaved) to get those working since powersaved does not unload the modules at stop and you need to reload the modules to make those settings effective). Also note that after changing modprobe.conf you need to run "depmod -a" first.
List of machines:
SHARP PC-AR10 ============= lspci excerpt: 0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03) 0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03) /proc/cpuinfo excerpt: processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 8 model name : Pentium III (Coppermine) stepping : 3 cpu MHz : 647.300 cache size : 256 KB
POWERSAVE_CPUFREQD_MODULE="speedstep-smi" POWERSAVE_CPUFREQD_MODULE_OPTS="smi_sig=1 smi_cmd=0x82 smi_port=0xb2"
COMPAQ ARMADA E500 ================== These are available in different flavours. I have seen one, (with a P III Coppermine, 800MHz) where adding "options speedstep_lib relaxed_check=1" to /etc/modprobe.conf.local and setting POWERSAVE_CPUFREQD_MODULE="speedstep-smi" was enough to get it going, another one (P III Coppermine, 700MHz) needs those and additional POWERSAVE_CPUFREQD_MODULE_OPTS="smi_cmd=0x82 smi_port=0xb2". This one has a (lspci): 0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03) 0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03) and (/proc/cpuinfo): processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 8 model name : Pentium III (Coppermine) stepping : 6 cpu MHz : 697.155 cache size : 256 KB
IBM Thinkpad T20 (model 2647-21G) ================================= 0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03) 0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03) processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 8 model name : Pentium III (Coppermine) stepping : 1 cpu MHz : 647.401 cache size : 256 KB
P III Coppermine, 650MHz, just set POWERSAVE_CPUFREQD_MODULE="speedstep-smi".