X Developers' Conference 2009 (September 28-30)

[Jim Gettys]

Alan Coopersmith wrote:
> Matthew Garrett wrote:

> 
> That would be good.   My comment was relating to the note in the Wikipedia
> entry that USB 3.0 adds "Link-, Device-, and Function-level power management"
> so I was imagining we could have per-device properties via Xi2 that could
> let you say "stop powering my tablet when it's idle for 5 minutes or there
> are no open apps selecting for events from it, but leave my mouse powered up
> so it can wake the system up".   Perhaps that's just silly given the power
> draw of most input devices, or I'm misunderstanding the description - that's
> why I was hoping someone who knew more could tell us if there's anything
> worthwhile to do there.
> 

No, it's not silly; particularly since the input devices may be 
generating the events that wake up the entire system. And I can foresee 
some of these input devices' power consumption increasing rather than 
decreasing. When you are able to turn most things (including the screen) 
"off", as e-ink (or PixelQi LCD's) but leave the system in an apparently 
usable state, input device power consumption starts to be important.
                            - Jim