Re: [gentoo-user] system uptime

[Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@gmail.com>]

On 30/08/2015 17:56, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Sunday 30 August 2015 00:04:43 Philip Webb wrote:
>> How long do desktop users typically leave their systems between reboots ?
>> How long between power off/on's ?
>>
>> I've long been in the habit of switching everything off while I sleep,
>> then restarting after I've woken & got going again myself.
>> However recently, I've run into delays getting my router
>> (only  1  device attached) to shake hands successfully with my ISP's server,
>> which have been requiring several power off/on's before it works.
>> As a result, I've started rebooting only after my weekly system update
>> -- it means I get to use the new versions of everything --
>> & not powering off at all ; the monitor + Xscreensaver are off
>> whenever I'm away from the machine for  >= 1 hr  (approx).
>>
>> Are there any pro's/con's I sb aware of ?
> 
> No-one has yet mentioned taking backups. I'm still using a brute-force 
> approach, in which I shut down each of my two machines once a week to make a 
> backup to external disk. Otherwise they're on 24 hours a day running BOINC 
> projects. On the desktop PC kmail makes a daily archive of messages, and once 
> a day a cron job copies my user directory to /home/<me>.bu/ .
> 
> I know it burns energy but I'm prepared to make my small contribution to what 
> I think is a good cause.
> 


A desktop or laptop will typically draw far less power than a single 60W
incandescent bulb. I bet you have quite a lot of those. Even if not, the
CFLs you'll have to give you light at night still draw much much more
than a computer.

If saving energy is your personal driver, then you should be looking at
water heaters, central heaters, aircon and stove as the main culprits.
Everything else, whilst measurable, is a small drop in the bucket and
probably not worth worrying about.

Assuming of course that your computer is a desktop/laptop, and not a 42U
cabinet jam packed full of Dell 2950s

-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com