Mint on Macbook cpu usage problems

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nephilim

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I installed Linux Mint 15 on my Macbook (1.8 ghz 4g RAM core 2 duo) and bought a new battery. However when I run it unplugged I get critically low battery warnings even at 96%. It says I have about 1hr 45mins on a 100% battery and I can watch it drain.

To investigate I installed powertop and to my dismay the cpu usage at idle is 90% or more. It lists 3 cpus - one at 0%, one at 1%, and the last at 90-95%. Even using the "tunables" and shutting down almost everything, it still idles at 90-95%. Any ideas? Maybe a different flavor of linux? I would be down with that, I just need some advice.
 


Which macbook model is it? The specific model number does matter.
Try installing the indicator-cpufreq. This is an applet that can allow you to set the cpu frequency (speed). Also take a look at this:
https://wiki.debian.org/MacBook
In particular
https://wiki.debian.org/MacBook#Processor
I know these wiki pages are for Debian, but remember that Debian is the base for Mint. (actually Ubuntu is, but Debian is the base for Ubuntu. So Debian --> Ubuntu --> Mint).
 
Also,
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mactel-support
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install macfanctld
 
Thanks for the help. After playing with your suggestions I discovered that powertop seems to have been reading my cpu info wrong and installing the needed packages helped with the battery issues. The regular system monitor that comes with mint cinnamon has very different readings than powertop (much more normal). Still need some tweaks, but directing me to the debian/macbook wiki put me in the right direction, thanks.
 

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