Resources

The Laptop Optimization Manual

Battery, Brightness, and Sleep: Maximizing Portability on Tebian.

The Strategy

Most Linux "Desktop Environments" are built for PCs first. They have poor power management, leading to high battery drain and laptops that "don't sleep" correctly. Tebian is built for the **Mobile Professional**. This guide explains how to get 10+ hours of battery life and perfect "Lid Close" behavior on your laptop.

We use a C-based stack for power management: TLP, Powertop, and SwayIdle, ensuring your hardware is only active when you are.

1. The Power Governor (TLP)

Tebian's "Laptop Mode" includes a pre-configured TLP setup. It's an automated background daemon that manages your CPU's P-states and C-states based on whether you are plugged in or on battery.

  • Auto-Governor: Switches between powersave (battery) and performance (AC) automatically.
  • SATA Power: Puts your SSD into a low-power state when idle.
  • PCIe ASPM: Advanced State Power Management for your network and GPU.

2. Brightness & Backlight

Tebian includes brightnessctl, a lightweight C binary that talks directly to the kernel's backlight device. We've mapped it to your laptop's function keys and our "Screen" menu.

  • Hardware Access: No complex D-Bus calls. Direct /sys/class/backlight writes.
  • Smooth Dimming: We pre-configure swayidle to dim the screen before locking to save power.
  • No Flicker: We ensure your PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is configured for flicker-free brightness.

3. Sleep & Lid Behavior

The "Lid Close" bug is the most common Linux laptop complaint. Tebian solves this with a pre-configured Systemd-Logind and SwayLock setup. When you close the lid, your session is locked and the system enters suspend-to-ram (S3) instantly.

  • Instant Lock: We lock the screen before the CPU suspends.
  • Deep Sleep: We enable the deep sleep state (mem) over the shallower s2idle.
  • Wakeup: Instant wake on lid open, with zero screen flickering.

4. Hardware Killswitches

Tebian's "Status Bar" includes a real-time monitor for your hardware killswitches. If you have a ThinkPad or a Purism laptop, you can see if your WiFi or Bluetooth is physically disabled.

  • Radio Radio: We use nmcli radio and rfkill to ensure your hardware is completely powered off, not just "soft-blocked."
  • Bluetooth OFF: Bluetooth is physically powered off by default in Tebian to save 5-10% of battery.

Why Laptops on Tebian?

By using a minimal C-based compositor (Sway) instead of a heavy DE (GNOME), you are already saving 10-20% of your battery. Your CPU doesn't have to redraw a clock or a panel every second. When you combine this with our "Laptop Mode" optimizations, you get a machine that outlasts any Windows or macOS laptop. One ISO. One menu. All-day battery.