Linux Ecology HOWTO
 Werner Heuser < [email protected] > Wade W. Hampton <whamp-
 [email protected]>
 v0.5, 4 January 2000

 The Ecology-HOWTO discusses ways Linux computers can be used as a mean
 to protect our environment, by using its features to save power or
 paper. Since it does not require big hardware, Linux may be used with
 old computers to make their life cycle longer. Games may be used in
 environmental education and software is available to simulate ecologi-
 cal processes.
 ______________________________________________________________________

 Table of Contents




















































 1. Introduction

    1.1 Objectives
    1.2 Caveats
    1.3 About the Document and the Authors

 2. Reduction of Power Consumption

    2.1 Advanced Power Managment (APM/ACPI)
       2.1.1 Linux Compatibility Check
       2.1.2 Introduction
       2.1.3 Caveats
       2.1.4 Troubleshooting
       2.1.5 ACPI
    2.2 Turn Monitor off, use Keyboard LEDs
    2.3 Screensavers
    2.4 Energy Star Label
    2.5 Miscellaneous Power Saving Techniques

 3. Alternative Power Supplies - Sun, Wind, Water

 4. Noise Reduction

    4.1 Fan
    4.2 Harddisk
    4.3 Speakers

 5. Saving Consumables (Paper, Ink, etc.)

    5.1 Printing of Drafts / Multiple Pages on One Sheet of Paper
    5.2 Reading From the Monitor Instead From Paper
    5.3 Other Techniques

 6. Recycling of Consumables (Paper, Printer Cartrigdes, CD, Floppies, Tapes)

 7. Reduction of Radiation, Electro Magnetic Fields, Heat

 8. Extending the Life Cycle of your Hardware

    8.1 Recycling of Hardware
       8.1.1 Supported CPU Families
       8.1.2 Dealing with Limited Resources or Tuning the System
          8.1.2.1 Related HOWTOs
          8.1.2.2 Introduction
          8.1.2.3 Small Space
             8.1.2.3.1 Introduction
             8.1.2.3.2 Techniques
          8.1.2.4 Harddisk Speed
          8.1.2.5 Small Memory
             8.1.2.5.1 Related HOWTOs
             8.1.2.5.2 Techniques
          8.1.2.6 Low CPU Speed
          8.1.2.7 Tiny Applications and Distributions
    8.2 Other Techniques
    8.3 Other Operating Systems

 9. X10 - Home Automation System

 10. Uninterruptable Power Supply - UPS

 11. Games

 12. Ecology Software (Simulation, Datacollection, Statistics, etc.)

    12.1 Ecolab
    12.2 OpenClassroom
    12.3 Tierra
    12.4 Linux in Environmental Research
    12.5 SWARM
    12.6 Climate-Dynamics
    12.7 UNCERT
    12.8 EcoTopia

 13. Related Projects, Mailing Lists and Newsgroups

 14. Credits

 15. Revision History

 16. Copyright and Disclaimer

 17. Appendix A - Linux with Laptops

    17.1 Battery
    17.2 PCMCIA Card Services and Advanced Power Management
    17.3 Power Saving Techniques

 18. Appendix B - MP3-Hardware-Decoder at Parallel Port

 19. Appendix C - Bibliography

 20. Appendix D - Recommendations for Buying a New Computer

 21. Appendix E - A New Environmentally Friendly Hardware Design

 22. Appendix F - Computer Related Eco Labels

 23. Appendix G - Other Operating Systems

    23.1 DOS
    23.2 MS-Windows

 24. Appendix H - URLs of Recylers



 ______________________________________________________________________


 11..  IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn

 Life is the first gift, love is the second, and understanding is the
 third. -- Marge Piercy <http://www.capecod.net/~tmpiercy/>


 Though computers can be seen as part of environmental pollution, there
 are also ways to use computers in a more reasonable manner to help
 protect the environment. So I have just started to collect some means
 to do so with Linux.


 11..11..  OObbjjeeccttiivveess

 Some objectives of the howto:


 +o  Reduction in power consumption.

 +o  Reduction in consumables like paper and inks.

 +o  Reduction in waste by reusing older components or keeping them in
    service longer.
 +o  Reduction in toxic waste such as used batteries.

 +o  Use of Linux in environmental education and research.


 11..22..  CCaavveeaattss

 Some of the recommendations in this text are discussed controversial,
 for instance: powering down a device, when it's not in use. This may
 save power, but not under all circumstances. Also it may have other
 additional ecological costs, e.g. the life time of the device can be
 shortened.

 I don't have enough technological knowledge to make a decision between
 these alternatives. Also some alternatives might be rated differently
 by different persons. So finally the decision what to choose is up to
 you. Anyway if you have better alternatives please let me know.


 11..33..  AAbboouutt tthhee DDooccuummeenntt aanndd tthhee AAuutthhoorrss

 If I didn't provide an URL for a program or a package, you may get it
 from Debian <http://www.debian.org> or as a RPM package, from your
 favorite RPM server, for instance Rufus
 <http://rufus.w3.org/linux/RPM/ByName.html>.

 Some parts are modified chapters from my Laptop-HOWTO and my
 IR-(InfraRed)-HOWTO http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html
 <http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html>.

 The document is included in the LINUX DOCUMENTATION PROJECT
 <http://linuxdoc.org/LDP>.

 The latest version of this document is available at LiLAC
 <http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html> .

 Since Wade W. Hampton provided a great amount of information included
 into this text I consider him as a co-author. Though all
 responsibility for any mistakes is taken by me.

 Please feel free to contact me for comments or questions about the
 HOWTO. I know this material is not finished or perfect, but I hope you
 find it useful anyway.

 Werner Heuser <[email protected]>


 22..  RReedduuccttiioonn ooff PPoowweerr CCoonnssuummppttiioonn

 There are some means to save power when using a computer which are
 supported by Linux: Advanced Power Management, certain harddisk
 settings, working without monitor and others.


 22..11..  AAddvvaanncceedd PPoowweerr MMaannaaggmmeenntt ((AAPPMM//AACCPPII))


 22..11..11..  LLiinnuuxx CCoommppaattiibbiilliittyy CChheecckk

 From the Battery-Powered-mini-HOWTO " .. for APM to work on any
 notebook or energy-conscious desktop, the system BIOS ROM in the
 machine must support the APM standard. Furthermore, for APM to work
 with the Linux operating system, the system BIOS ROM must support
 either the 1.0 or 1.1 version of the APM standard, and it must also
 support 32-bit protected mode connections. A system that supports APM
 1.1 is preferred, as it provides more features that the device driver
 and supporting utilities can take advantage of."

 You may get information about the APM version with the dmesg command
 and in the /proc/apm file.


 22..11..22..  IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn

 When you first install Linux, you will probably have to recompile the
 kernel. The kernel that came with your distribution probably does not
 have APM enabled.

 APM support consists of two parts: _k_e_r_n_e_l support and _u_s_e_r_-_l_a_n_d
 support.

 For _k_e_r_n_e_l support, enable the parameters in the corresponding kernel
 section. AFAIK not all features work with laptops. AFAIK the feature
 CONFIG_APM_POWER_OFF works with most laptops.

 The utilities for _u_s_e_r_l_a_n_d support may be found at
 http://worldvisions.ca/~apenwarr/apmd/
 <http://worldvisions.ca/~apenwarr/apmd/>. APMD is a set of programs
 that control the Advanced Power Management system found in most modern
 laptop computers. If you run a 2.2.x kernel and want to experiment,
 Gabor Kuti <[email protected]> has made a kernel patch that
 allows you to _h_i_b_e_r_n_a_t_e any Linux system to disk, even if your
 computers APM BIOS doesn't support it directly.

 Richard Gooch wrote: I'have had a look at the beta version of apmd,
 and I still don't like it, because:


 +o  Only supports one command to run at suspend time.

 +o  Doesn't distinguish between user and system suspends.

 +o  doesn't provide a way to disable policy (the sync(); sleep(0) ;
    sync(); sleep(1); sequence)

 +o  Does not document extra features.

 +o  And I'm not sure that what we want is a single super daemon. A
    collection of smaller daemons might be better, since it allows
    people to pick and choose. A super daemon is bloat for those who
    only want one small feature.

 Though this topic was discussed controversly Richard Gooch has put
 together a package suspendd at http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/
 <http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/> .

 Also, have a look at apmcd (apm based crontab) at
 ftp://ftp.binary9.net/pub/linux/ <ftp://ftp.binary9.net/pub/linux/> .
 A tool made by Nicolas J. Leon <[email protected]>
 http://mrnick.binary9.net/ <http://mrnick.binary9.net/>.

 Note: I didn't check wether this features are merged into one package
 (apmd eventually) already.


 22..11..33..  CCaavveeaattss

 If you have another operating system preinstalled or use another
 operating system at the same disk, make sure there is no "hibernation"
 or "suspend" tool installed, which could severely interfere with
 Linux, e.g. it might use disk space which is occupied by Linux or vice
 versa.
 22..11..44..  TTrroouubblleesshhoooottiinngg

 If your machine worked with 2.0.x kernels but not with the 2.2.x
 series, take this advice from Klaus Franken [email protected] :
 "The default changed in 2.2. Search in the init-scripts for halt and
 change it to halt -p or poweroff. See man halt , if you don't have
 this option you need a newer version of halt." You may find it in the
 SysVinit package.

 Sometimes X windows and APM don't work smoothly together, the machine
 might even hang. A recommendation from Steve Rader: Some Linux systems
 have their X server hang when doing apm -s. Folks with this affliction
 might want switch to the console virtual terminal then suspend chvt 1;
 apm -s as root, or, more appropiately.sudo chvt 1; sudo apm -s. I have
 these commands in a script, say, my-suspend and then do xapmload
 --click-command my-suspend .

 On some new machines (for instance HP Omnibook 4150 - 366 MHz model)
 when accessing /proc/apm, you may get a kernel fault general
 protection fault: f000. Stephen Rothwell
 <[email protected]> http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~sfr/
 <http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~sfr/> explaines: "This is your APM BIOS
 attempting to use a real mode segment while in protected mode, i.e. it
 is a bug in your BIOS. .. We have seen a few of these recently, except
 all the others are in the power off code in the BIOS wher we can work
 around it by returning to real mode before attempting to power off.
 Here we cannot do this."


 22..11..55..  AACCPPII

 The latest standard is ACPI. The ACPI4Linux project has started at the
 beginning of 1999. The ACPI4Linux project is a kernel driver project
 aimed at implementing full ACPI support for Linux, including fan
 control, dock/undock detection and a WindowMaker dockable temperature
 meter. You may reach it at http://phobos.fachschaften.tu-
 muenchen.de/acpi/ <http://phobos.fachschaften.tu-muenchen.de/acpi/> .


 1. hdparm
    <ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/sources/sbin/hdparm-3.0.tar.gz>
    _h_d_p_a_r_m is a Linux IDE disk utility that lets you set spin-down
    timeouts and other disk parameters. It works also for some SCSI
    features.

 2. Mobile Update Daemon
    <http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/ulrich/linux/tips.html> This is a
    drop-in replacement for the standard update daemon, mobile-update
    minimizes disk spin ups and reduces disk uptime. It flushes buffers
    only when other disk activity is present. To ensure a consistent
    file system call sync manually. Otherwise files may be lost on
    power failure. mobile-update does not use APM. So it works also on
    older systems.

 3. Toshiba Linux Utilities
    <http://www2.prestel.co.uk/hex/toshiba.html> This is a set of Linux
    utilities for controlling the fan, supervisor passwords, and hot
    key functions of Toshiba Pentium notebooks. There is a KDE package
    _K_l_i_b_r_e_t_a, too.

 4. LCDproc <http://lcdproc.omnipotent.net/> . "LCDproc is a small
    piece of software that will enable your Linux box to display live
    system information on a 20x4 line backlit LCD display. AFAIK it
    connects only to the external Matrix-Orbital 20x4 LCD display
    Matrix-Orbital <http://www.matrix-orbital.com/>, which is a LCD
    display connected to a serial port.
 5. Dial Daemon <http://www.loonie.net/~eschenk/diald.html> . The Diald
    daemon provides on demand Internet connectivity using the SLIP or
    PPP protocols. Diald can automatically dial in to a remote host
    when needed or bring down dial-up connections that are inactive.


 22..22..  TTuurrnn MMoonniittoorr ooffff,, uussee KKeeyybbooaarrdd LLEEDDss

 There are some tools which allow to get information from your computer
 without using the monitor:


 +o  bl : Blink Keyboard LEDs

 +o  blinkd : "Blinks keyboard LEDs for an answering machine or fax
    machine. Blinkd is a client/server pair, that lets the keyboard
    LEDs blink, indicating things like the number of incoming voice
    calls in the voice box or incoming faxes in the spool."

 +o  mailleds : Shows new mails with the keyboard LEDs, mailleds is a
    quiet, unobtrusive way to signify that you have  new mail: a user
    daemon to blink LEDs when there is new mail.

 +o  tleds : Blinks keyboard LEDs indicating TX and RX network packets.
    They blink Scroll-Lock LED when a network packet leaves the
    machine, and Num-Lock LED when one is received.


 22..33..  SSccrreeeennssaavveerrss

 Do they only prevent the screen from being burned in or do they save
 power, too?

 Some recommendations from Wade W. Hampton:

 Screensavers usually display graphics, look for ETI, or perform other
 tasks.  When using your screensaver in this manner, you may actually
 consume MORE power. For example a computer using XSETI as a
 screensaver might get far warmer (hence use more power) than when it
 was being used to edit a document or perform a compile.

 To really save power, and if your X server plus monitor supports it,
 use the dpms option of xset (see the manual page for xset). For
 example, to enable the DPMS (Energy Star) features of you X server:
 xset +dpms

 You may also manually change the mode of your X display:

 ______________________________________________________________________
 xset dpms force standby
 xset dpms force suspend
 xset dpms force off
 ______________________________________________________________________




 AFAIK a CRT consumes on the order of 25 percent more power when
 displaying a _p_l_a_i_n _w_h_i_t_e screen than displaying a _p_l_a_i_n _b_l_a_c_k screen.
 So, a screensaver that's mostly black can help save power, even if it
 doesn't actually use DPMS to power down the screen. Of course, one
 that's very bright and colourful, or that keeps the CPU running fast
 is not much help.



 Some screen saver programs:


 +o  The purpose of xscreensaver is to display pretty pictures on your
    screen when it is not in use, in keeping with the philosophy that
    unattended monitors should always be doing something interesting,
    just like they do in the movies. The benefit that this program has
    over the combination of the xlock and  xautolock programs is the
    ease with which new graphics hacks can be  installed: you don't
    need to recompile this program to add a new display mode, you just
    change some resource settings. Any program which can be  invoked in
    such a way that it draws on the root window of the screen can now
    be used as a screensaver without modification.  The programs that
    are being run as screensavers don't need to have any special
    knowledge about what it means to be a screensaver.

 +o  LockVC is a console-locking-program combined with a starfield
    screensaver. Executing LOCKVC on a virtual console brings up a
    starfield that starts to rotate around all three axes.


 22..44..  EEnneerrggyy SSttaarr LLaabbeell

 Robert Horn <[email protected]> wrote: "

 I had a chance to discuss Energy Star with the designers of desktop
 printers. They confirmed that the allowable stand-by power targets
 depend on the device, and they only knew their targets. But they made
 some other interesting comments:

 1. Energy Star ratings lead to significant operational power savings.
    Timer based power savings are the exception. Most savings come from
    designing in power on demand with low leakage drivers. For example,
    using stepper motors with low leakage current instead of high
    leakage.

    This savings is both from individual designs and from the resulting
    demand for low leakage products causing better and cheaper low
    leakage product designs. The old-style (e.g. typewriter) design
    with one motor (always on) and various clutches is no longer the
    least cost.


 2. Energy Star was good organizational engineering. It never required
    designers to compromise quality or performance, which made it much
    harder to argue against design changes to reduce power consumption
    while idle. Since most of the savings begin the millisecond that
    parts stop moving, these savings are considerable.

 3. The power ratings on PC's are a safety rating, not a usage rating.
    So the 235W and 300W power supplies that commonly found in PCs are
    specifying their safety limits. Actual full power usage is much
    less, typically 20-30 percent of the safe limit. The designers also
    noted that it is actually difficult to measure the power
    consumption of a switching power supply. You need to use specially
    designed power meters. The regular AC meters are designed for
    motors, and are rather inaccurate for switching power supplies.

    ..."


 22..55..  MMiisscceellllaanneeoouuss PPoowweerr SSaavviinngg TTeecchhnniiqquueess

 Linux halts the CPU in the idle cycle to further reduce power
 consumption. Early reports of OS/2, Win3.1/95, NT, and Linux showed
 Linux to use far less power than DOS-based O/S's that spun in the idle
 loop and consumed power -- this may have changed hence it would need
 research to validate.

 Most Linux-users tend to leave their computer on for years whenever
 possible. However, several modern BIOS's support an unattended
 powerup, and with cron you can even do an unattended shutdown. No need
 to leave the computer on night after night.


 33..  AAlltteerrnnaattiivvee PPoowweerr SSuupppplliieess -- SSuunn,, WWiinndd,, WWaatteerr

 See a survey of links at Eklektix <http://www.eklektix.com/solar> .


 44..  NNooiissee RReedduuccttiioonn

 Most of the noise emitted by a computer is produced by the fan, the
 harddisk and the speakers.


 44..11..  FFaann


 +o  libsensors0 is a library to read temperature/voltage/fan sensors

 +o  lm-sensors "Kernel drivers to read temperature/voltage/fan sensors.
    This is a module for reading the temperature/voltage/fan sensors in
    Linux via the LM78/79 chip and possibly sensors on the SMBus
    (System Management Bus, usually found in P6 and P-II systems). The
    LM80 and a LM78-clone called W83781D are also supported."
    http://www.lm-sensors.nu/ <http://www.lm-sensors.nu/>

 +o  ACPI, see APM chapter


 44..22..  HHaarrddddiisskk

 The noise of the hard disk can be very disturbing, see man hdparm to
 reduce the spin of the disk.


 44..33..  SSppeeaakkeerrss

 For the console setterm -blength 0 and for X xset b off turns the bell
 off. See also PCMCIA-HOWTO, and much more details in the Visible-Bell-
 mini-Howto by Alessandro Rubini.


 55..  SSaavviinngg CCoonnssuummaabblleess ((PPaappeerr,, IInnkk,, eettcc..))


 55..11..  PPrriinnttiinngg ooff DDrraaffttss // MMuullttiippllee PPaaggeess oonn OOnnee SShheeeett ooff PPaappeerr

 Use psutils package to put more than one page on one sheet of paper.
 This collection of utilities is for manipulating PostScript documents.
 Page selection and rearrangement are supported, including arrangement
 into signatures for booklet printing, and page merging for n-up
 printing.

 Often HTML pages are not optimised for printing. You may use html2ps,
 a HTML to PostScript converter, to print HTML pages. "This program
 converts HTML directly to PostScript. The HTML code can be retrieved
 from one or more URLs or local files, specified as parameters on the
 command line. A comprehensive level of HTML is supported, including
 inline images, CSS1, and some features of HTML 4.0."

 Or you may use mpage to print 2 up or 4 up (PS documents or ASCII
 text). This may be used to save up to 50 percent or more of your
 paper.


 55..22..  RReeaaddiinngg FFrroomm tthhee MMoonniittoorr IInnsstteeaadd FFrroomm PPaappeerr

 Or use less/xless/gless as a viewer instead of printing. You can view
 postscript documments with gs and view PDF documents with either xpdf
 or acroread (from Adobe <http://www.adobe.com>). Ask yourself, do you
 --really-- need a hardcopy each time you decide to print something
 out.

 What are the reasons why people don't read from the monitor:

 +o  Reading is slower up to 30 percent, see N.N.
    <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9602.html>. The speed can be
    improved by better hardware (e.g. TFT display, greater screen,
    though this is against the other below to take smaller CRTs) and
    better display software (type-1, t1lib, truetype, freetype).

 +o  Paper seems better organizable and more secure to some people. I
    suppose this can be treated by better software (e.g. Linux) and
    hardware, too.

 Some people use handheld PC (e.g. PalmIII, Newton Message Pad, Psion
 5) to carry around documents to read rather than printing them out.


 55..33..  OOtthheerr TTeecchhnniiqquueess

 Another means of saving paper is through the use of comments and
 redline/strikeout markings when exchanging a document with a co-
 worker/colaborator. For example, a draft could be written using
 WordPerfect, then E-MAILed to a co-worker. They could update the draft
 and send it back to you. You can use WordPerfect's redline/strikeout
 features to see the changes. The document need not be printed until it
 is "final" or in "final draft" status.

 Question: Can you use the back side of paper in a laser printer? I
 have not had much luck. You can use the paper that has been in a laser
 printer in an inkjet printer by using the other side.

 You should purchase smaller computers and monitors when possible. This
 will save packaging material translating into less solid waste. For
 example the box for a 15" CRT monitor is 2-3 times the size of the box
 for a 15" LCD monitor. Linux works well with 15" LCD monitors on
 smaller computers like the Netwinder or E3000
 <http://www.thinworks.com/campaign/try_e3000.html> .

 Some have expressed the concern that LCD displays may use more toxic
 materials and manufacturing processes than CRT displays, hence their
 usage actually may be worse on the environment. The original
 information above concerned the solid waste issue, which is fairly
 tangable and hence more controllable.

 Does anyone know of studies or additional research to help clarify and
 resolve this issue?

 Recycle your used paper, ink, and packing materials.

 You may use refillable printer cartridges. In Germany the are marked
 with the _B_l_a_u_e_r _E_n_g_e_l lable.

 Laser printer cartridges can often be used much more longer if you
 shake them when the message _t_o_n_e_r _l_o_w appears at the message panel.
 Wade W. Hampton provided the biggest part of this chapter.

 From Ralf Muschall I got this suggestions:


 +o  LaTeX documents: Using \usepackage{ccfonts} replaces the usual
    fonts by ones with wider lines and bolder serifes, improving
    readability at low resolutions. They are darker (i.e. use more ink)
    than the CM fonts and not as beautiful, so I would not recommend
    them for normal-size printings.

 +o  Size-Reduction: Instead of psnup or other parts of the pstools I
    recommend the psnup written in Perl4 by Malcolm Herbert (it's from
    1994, and no longer maintained but however there is a descendant of
    it called yup, available at yup
    <http://redback.spyda.net/~mjch/yup/>.


    It has a lot of options, which allow to set all 4 margins and the
    inner gutter separately. Since reduced documents are not very
    pretty anyway, this can be used to reduce the margin, leaving more
    place for the text. This probably requires some experimenting
    (trying new values over and over, checking the result with
    ghostview).

    The normally used options are:

 +o  -p2 (or -p4 etc., like -2 in the old psnup)

 +o  -NIH (don't decorate)

 +o  -l10 -r20 -b30 -t40 (add to margins)

 +o  -g50 (add to gutter)

    (these values vary depending on the papersize and the margins of
    the original, negative values are allowed).



 +o  Different ink printers are more or less capable to print on the
    backside of already used paper sheets. Try different manufacturers.
    Older Canon ink printers offer 360 dpi, older HP ink printers 300
    dpi. The readability of 4 pages/sheet using LaTex 10pt lies in
    between this features.

 +o  Non-Linux: If you have to work with MS-Windows you should get the
    original Adobe-Postscript-Driver, instead of using the ones from
    MS-Windows. These fonts offer more than one page per paper sheet.
    AFAIK both psnup programs dont' work with Adobe-PS, MS-Windows-PS
    and the Postscript extracted from MS-Windows-PDF files.

 +o  Ghostscript has a new output format pswrite, which creates output
    in correct Postscript. This feature can be used to repair broken
    Postscript e.g. from Microsoft drivers, allowing their
    postprocessing with psnup etc.

 +o  impose+ <http://imagic.weizmann.ac.il/~dov/freesw/impose+/> is a
    set of PostScript utilities. The main program is impose, which is
    used for two-up printing of DSC-compliant PostScript (including
    that from Netscape, dvips, and FrameMaker). It makes an effort to
    remove white space from the printout by probing the original
    PostScript for the bounding box of the printed area. This makes the
    output much more esthetic than does a simplistic layout of non-
    cropped original pages.

 66..  RReeccyycclliinngg ooff CCoonnssuummaabblleess ((PPaappeerr,, PPrriinntteerr CCaarrttrriiggddeess,, CCDD,, FFllooppppiieess,,
 TTaappeess))

 All of these consumables are recycleable. I have put a list of URLs
 into appendix H. You may start this process by separating different
 kinds of "waste". There should be included some words on the
 difficulties of recycling (data security, motivation, costs, ...).


 77..  RReedduuccttiioonn ooff RRaaddiiaattiioonn,, EElleeccttrroo MMaaggnneettiicc FFiieellddss,, HHeeaatt


 +o  monitors are a source of _r_a_d_i_a_t_i_o_n and _e_l_e_c_t_r_o _m_a_g_n_e_t_i_c _f_i_e_l_d_s.
    They may be reduced by lead filters, LCD displays. Some eco labels
    like TCO95 include maximum levels of radiation, etc.

 +o  escpecially larger number of PCs or can _h_e_a_t a room very much
    therefore it might be necessary to cool the room. This ca be
    reduced by using standby (powerdown) techniques.



 88..  EExxtteennddiinngg tthhee LLiiffee CCyyccllee ooff yyoouurr HHaarrddwwaarree


 88..11..  RReeccyycclliinngg ooff HHaarrddwwaarree

 The commercial computer market is largely driven by vendors seeking to
 sell new hardware and software. There is no commercial marketing
 benefit in promoting reuse.

 Hence Linux doesn't require big hardware, it's very useful if you like
 or need to use old and small hardware.


 88..11..11..  SSuuppppoorrtteedd CCPPUU FFaammiilliieess

 Linux runs on Intel-compatible processors, including Intel's 386, 486,
 Pentium, Pentium Pro and Pentium II, and compatible processors by AMD,
 Cyrix and others.

 Linux doesn't support the 286 CPU family yet. But there are some
 efforts at ELKS http://www.linux.org.uk/ELKS-Home/index.html
 <http://www.linux.org.uk/ELKS-Home/index.html> or
 http://www.elks.ecs.soton.ac.uk/ <http://www.elks.ecs.soton.ac.uk/>.

 If you like, you may use Minix <http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html>
 one of the predecessors of Linux. Minix supports 8088 to 286 with as
 little as 640K memory.

 Of coarse there are also ports to other systems, such as ALPHA,
 PowerPC, etc. For details about systems which are supported by the
 Linux Kernel, see the Linux FAQ
 <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/iwj10/linux-faq/> .

 The ARM is a fast AND low-power alternative. For example, the
 Corel/Rebel Netwinder is based on the ARM processor see Rebel
 <http://www.rebel.com> and Strong-ARM
 <http://developer.intel.com/design/strong/>.


 88..11..22..  DDeeaalliinngg wwiitthh LLiimmiitteedd RReessoouurrcceess oorr TTuunniinngg tthhee SSyysstteemm

 This chapter is taken from my Laptop-HOWTO.


 88..11..22..11..  RReellaatteedd HHOOWWTTOOss



 1. LBX-HOWTO

 2. Small-Memory-HOWTO


 88..11..22..22..  IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn

 To deal with limited space, memory, CPU speed and battery power, I
 have written this chapter.


 88..11..22..33..  SSmmaallll SSppaaccee


 88..11..22..33..11..  IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn

 There are different types of techniques to gain more disk space, such
 as sharing of space, freeing unused or redundant space, filesystem
 tuning and compression. Note: some of these techniques use memory
 instead of space. As you will see, there are many small steps
 necessary to free some space.


 88..11..22..33..22..  TTeecchhnniiqquueess



 1. Stripping: Though many distributions come with stripped binaries
    today it is useful to check this. For details see man strip. To
    find every unstripped file you can use the file command or more
    convenient the tool findstrip. Attention: don't strip libraries,
    sometimes the wrong symbols are removed due to a bad programming
    technique.

    A recommendation from Russell Marks <[email protected]>:

    These days a lot of people compile with -g, which I find a bit
    annoying (though AFAIK this _o_n_l_y loses you disk space, in
    practice).

    strip has a --strip-debug option which doesn't strip symbols, but
    does still get rid of the debugging stuff. This is almost as good,
    in many cases, and it's ok to use it on libraries. As it happens, I
    recently got SuSE 6.3, so I can give you a _l_i_v_e example:


    ___________________________________________________________________
    bash-2.03# cd /lib
    bash-2.03# ls -l libc.so.6
    -rwxr-xr-x   1 root     root      4223971 Nov  6 16:22 libc.so.6
    bash-2.03# strip --strip-debug libc.so.6
    bash-2.03# ls -l libc.so.6
    -rwxr-xr-x   1 root     root      1200355 Dec  8 00:13 libc.so.6
    ___________________________________________________________________




 2. Perforation: zum(1)reads a file list on stdin and attempts to
    perforate these files. Perforation means, that series of null bytes
    are replaced by lseek, thus giving the file system a chance of not
    allocating real disk space for those bytes. Example: find . -type f
    | xargs zum

 3. Remove Odd Files and Duplicates: Check your system for core files,
    emacs recovery files <#FILE#> vi recovery files <FILE>.swp, RPM
    recovery files <FILE>.rpmorig and patch recovery files. Find
    duplicates, you may try finddup. Choose a system to name your
    backup, temporary and test files, e.g. with a signature at the end.

 4. Clean Temporary Files: , e.g. /tmp, there is even a tool tmpwatch.

 5. Shorten the Log Files: usually the files in /var/log. There are
    some nice helpers for this task around, e.g. savelog .

 6. Remove Files: Remove files which are not "necessary" under all
    circumstances such as man pages, documentation /usr/doc and sources
    e.g. /usr/src .

 7. Unnecessary Libraries: You may use the binstats package to find
    unused libraries (Thanks to Tom Ed White).

 8. Filesystem: Choose a filesystem which treats disk space
    economically e.g. rsfs aka Reiser Filesystem. Tune your filesystem
    e.g. tune2fs. Choose an appropriate partition and block size.

 9. Reduce Kernel Size: Either by using only the necessary kernel
    features and/or making a compressed kernel image bzImage.

 10.
    Compression: I didn't check this but AFAIK you may compress your
    filesystem with gzip and decompress it on the fly. Alternatively
    you may choose to compress only certain files. You can even execute
    compressed files with zexec

 11.
    Compressed Filesystems:

    - For e2fs filesystems there is a compression version available
    e2compr , see http://debs.fuller.edu/e2compr/
    <http://debs.fuller.edu/e2compr/> .

    - DMSDOS which enables your machine to access Windows95 compressed
    drives (drivespace, doublestacker). If you don't need DOS/Windows95
    compatibility, i.e. if you want to compress Linux-only data, this
    is really discouraged by the author of the program. See
    http://fb9nt-ln.uni-duisburg.de/mitarbeiter/gockel/software/dmsdos/
    <http://fb9nt-ln.uni-
    duisburg.de/mitarbeiter/gockel/software/dmsdos/> .

 12.
    Partition Sharing: You may share swap-space (see Swap-Space-HOWTO)
    or data partitions between different OS (see mount). For mounting
    MS-DOS Windows95 compressed drives (doublespace, drivespace) you
    may use dmsdos
    http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/filesystems/dosfs/
    <http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/filesystems/dosfs/>.

 13.
    Libraries: Take another (older) library, for instance libc5 , this
    library seems to be smaller than libc6 aka glibc2 .

 14.
    Kernel: If your needs are fitted with an older kernel version, you
    can save some space.

 15.
    GUI: Avoid as much Graphical User Interface (GUI) as possible.
 16.
    Tiny Distributions: There are some distributions available which
    fit from one 3.5" floppy to 10MB disk space and fit for small
    memories, too. See Laptop-HOWTO
    http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html
    <http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/index_li.html>


 88..11..22..44..  HHaarrddddiisskk SSppeeeedd

 Use the tool hdparm to set up better harddisk performance. Though I
 have seen laptop disk enabled with _s_t_r_i_p_i_n_g, I can't see a reason to
 do so, because IMHO aka RAID0 striping needs at least to different
 disks to increase performance.


 88..11..22..55..  SSmmaallll MMeemmoorryy


 88..11..22..55..11..  RReellaatteedd HHOOWWTTOOss



 1. Small-Memory-mini-HOWTO by Todd Burgess <[email protected] >
    http://eddie.cis.uoguelph.ca/~tburgess
    <http://eddie.cis.uoguelph.ca/~tburgess>

 2. Modules-mini-HOWTO

 3. Kerneld-mini-HOWTO


 88..11..22..55..22..  TTeecchhnniiqquueess

 Check the memory usage with free and top.

 Mergemem Project  <http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/ulrich/mergemem/>.
 Many programs contain _m_e_m_o_r_y _a_r_e_a_s _o_f _t_h_e _s_a_m_e _c_o_n_t_e_n_t that remain
 undetected by the operating system. Typically, these areas contain
 data that have been generated on startup and remain unchanged for
 longer periods. With mergemem such areas are detected and shared. The
 sharing is performed on the operating system level and is invisible to
 the user level programs. mergemem is particularily useful if you run
 many instances of interpreters and emulators (like Java or Prolog)
 that keep their code in private data areas. But also other programs
 can take advantage albeit to a lesser degree.

 You may also reduce the _k_e_r_n_e_l _s_i_z_e as much as possible by removing
 any feature which is not necessary for your needs and by modularizing
 the kernel as much as possible.

 Also you may shutdown every service or _d_a_e_m_o_n which is not needed,
 e.g. lpd, mountd, nfsd and close some _v_i_r_t_u_a_l _c_o_n_s_o_l_e_s. Please see
 Small-Memory-mini-HOWTO for details.

 And of coarse use _s_w_a_p _s_p_a_c_e, when possible.

 If possible you may use the resources of another machine, for instance
 with X, VNC or even telnet. For more information on Virtual Network
 Computing (VNC), see http://http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/
 <http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc> .





 88..11..22..66..  LLooww CCPPUU SSppeeeedd

 You may want to overdrive the CPU speed but this can damage your
 hardware and I don't have experience with it. For some examples look
 at Adorable Toshiba Libretto - Overclocking
 http://www.cerfnet.com/~adorable/libretto.html
 <http://www.cerfnet.com/~adorable/libretto.html>.


 88..11..22..77..  TTiinnyy AApppplliiccaattiioonnss aanndd DDiissttrriibbuuttiioonnss

 A small collection yet, but I'm looking for more information.


 1. BOA - "Lightweight and High Performance WebServer. boa is a single-
    tasking HTTP server. That means that unlike traditional web
    servers, it does not fork for each incoming connection, nor does it
    fork many copies of itself to handle multiple connections. It
    internally multiplexes all of the ongoing HTTP connections, and
    forks only for CGI programs (which must be separate processes.)
    Preliminary tests show boa is capable of handling several hundred
    hits per second on a 100 MHz Pentium."

 2. MGR - a graphical windows system, which uses much less resources
    than X.

 3. Low Bandwidth X - Alan Cox in LINUX REDUX February 1998 " .. there
    are two that handle _n_o_r_m_a_l applications very nicely. LBX (Low
    Bandwidth X) is the _o_f_f_i_c_i_a_l application of the X Consortium (now
    OpenGroup www.opengroup.org). Dxpc
    http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~zvonler/dxpc
    <http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~zvonler/dxpc> is the alternative most
    people prefer. These systems act as proxy X11 servers and compress
    datastreams by well over 50 percent for normal requests, often
    reaching a reduction to 25 percent of the original bandwidth usage.
    With dxpc, X windows applications are quite usable over a 28.8
    modem link or across the Internet."

 4. blackbox - "This is a window manager for X. It is similar in many
    respects to such popular packages as Window Maker, Enlightenment,
    and FVWM2. You might be interested in this package if you are tired
    of window managers that are a heavy drain on your system resources,
    but you still want an attractive and modern-looking interface."

 5. linux-lite - distribution based on a 1.x.x kernel for systems with
    only 2MB memory and 10MB harddisk. URL see above.

 6. smallLinux -  http://smalllinux.netpedia.net/
    <http://smalllinux.netpedia.net/> . Three disk micro-distribution
    of Linux and utilities. Based on kernel 1.2.11. Root disk is ext2
    format and has fdisk and mkfs.ext2 so that a harddisk install can
    be done. Useful to boot up on old machines with less than 4MB of
    RAM.

 7. cLIeNUX - client-use-oriented Linux distribution.

 8. minix - not a Linux but a UNIX useful for very small systems, such
    as 286 CPU and 640K RAM http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html
    <http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html> . There is even X support
    named mini-x by David I. Bell
    ftp://ftp.linux.org.uk/pub/linux/alan/
    <ftp://ftp.linux.org.uk/pub/linux/alan/> .

 9. screen - tiny but powerful console manager. John M. Fisk
    <[email protected]> in LINUX GAZETTE July 1, 1996 :"It's
    a GUI, GUI, GUI, GUI world! " - or so the major OS manufacturers
    would have you belief. Truth is, that while this is increasingly
    the case, there are times when the command line interface (CLI) is
    still a very good choice for getting things done. It's fast,
    generally efficient, and is a good choice on memory or CPU
    constrained machines. And don't forget that there are still a lot
    of very nifty things that can be done _a_t _t_h_e _c_o_n_s_o_l_e." "screen is a
    full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal
    between several processes, typically interactive shells. Each
    virtual terminal provides the functions of the DEC VT100 terminal
    and, in addition, several control functions from the ANSI X3.64
    (ISO 6429) and ISO 2022 standards (e.g., insert/delete line and
    support for multiple character sets). Real multiuser support, split
    screen support, hardstatus emulation support, configurable window
    seperator and hardstatus strings, permanent window seperator, many
    new escapes, logfile timestamps and flush timeout, optional builtin
    telnet, optional Braille support, support for history compaction."

 10.
    tinyirc - "A tiny, stripped down IRC Client. Doesn't have most of
    the more advance commands in the ircII family of IRC Clients, nor
    does it have any color, but it works, and it's tiny."

 11.
    tinyproxy - "Tinyproxy is a lightweight HTTP proxy designed to do
    the job with a minimum of system resource use. It's ideal for small
    networks where a larger HTTP proxy such as squid might be overkill
    or a security risk. This simplicity also makes tinyproxy an ideal
    candidate for customization - it takes very little time to read and
    understand the tinyproxy source, and thus you can start adding your
    own desired features on short order."


 88..22..  OOtthheerr TTeecchhnniiqquueess

 NiCad batteries need to be discharged periodically to prevent the
 memory effect and prolong their lifespan.

 Batteries such as NiCad, Lead Acid, and NiMH contain TOXIC chemicals.
 Techniques should be taken to prolong their lifespan, and when you do
 discard them, they should be recycled, not thrown in the trash.

 One technology to watch is the "Iron" battery mentioned in the article
 at N.N. <http://news.excite.com/news/r/990815/01/science-battery-iron>
 . Such a battery could reduce some of the toxic waste problems
 associated with used batteries, however such a battery is probably a
 few years away.

 Some remarks about backlights in laptops, monitors (screensavers),
 harddisks (hdparm), etc. have to be written.


 88..33..  OOtthheerr OOppeerraattiinngg SSyysstteemmss

 Courtesy of George White <[email protected]>:

 Or you can buy an older computer (SGI, Sun, NeXT) that comes with unix
 and is capable of running a wide range of open source software. In
 some cases (SGI Indigo2) you can still run current OS versions, in
 others you may do better with an open source OS such as Linux, but in
 either case you have access to lots of good software and tools to
 write your own.

 The lower power consumption of older computers means you get more
 reserve time from an UPS or can use a small alternative power source
 if you don't have access to "mains" power.

 99..  XX1100 -- HHoommee AAuuttoommaattiioonn SSyysstteemm

 "X-10 modules are devices that plug into an electrical outlet and
 allow you to remotely control the power to a lamp or an appliance that
 is plugged into them. There are also X-10 modules that install in
 place of wall switches to control lights, and there's one that can be
 used to set back a thermostat."

 These X10 <http://www.x10.com> folks make a really cool dongle called
 the Firecracker. These allow for the control of X10 devices via a
 serial-port of your PC. Programs like bottlerocket and gtk-x10 allow
 Linux programs to control X10 devices using the Firecracker device.
 You may be able to get the Firecracker, a remote control, a receiver,
 and a lamp module for as little as $5.95 U.S. (special promotion).

 GNU Phantom.Home <http://www.joethielen.com/phantom/home/> is a
 computer controlled home automation system. The software includes a
 circuit diagram for building the Phantom.Home.Controller, a simple
 circuit board that attaches to your PC's parallel port. Using the
 combination of hardware/software you can control (i.e. flip on or off)
 nearly any 120V device. And with a little bit of electronics know-how,
 you can probably control nearly any device at any voltage by modifying
 the circuit board to meet your needs. The simple circuit included can
 be created and built for around $25. The modules cost around $10
 (basically a heavy duty relay).

 Turn that light off when not in use!


 1100..  UUnniinntteerrrruuppttaabbllee PPoowweerr SSuuppppllyy -- UUPPSS

 You should use a UPS if you have many thunderstorms in the area. That
 will save hardware, software, your time, and money, and help prevent
 you from throwing out that old monitor, CPU, or modem when it gets
 trashed by lightening. For details consult the UPS-HOWTO
 <http://linuxdoc.org/LDP>.

 UPSs do save hardware, save work, etc. In areas prone to lightening,
 they could save hours of work each week, potentially translating into
 power savings. They do save hardware in areas prone to power outages.
 There is some concern over their additional usage of AC power. If
 anyone has any studies or research on this issue, could they please
 forward it to us? That would be an interesting question to post to
 APC, BEST, etc.


 1111..  GGaammeess

 Personally I'm not much a player of computer games but probably they
 can be used for environmental education. In a first investigation I
 found lincity and Real Life, please check their usefulness by
 yourself.


 +o  lincity build & maintain a city/country. You are required to build
    and maintain a city. You must feed, house, provide jobs and goods
    for your residents. You can build a sustainable economy with the
    help of renewable energy and recycling, or you can go for broke and
    build rockets to escape from a pollution ridden and resource
    starved planet, it's up to you. Due to the finite resources
    available in any one place, this is not a game that you can leave
    for long periods of time. This game is similar to the commercial
    simulation game with a similar name. This package provides files
    common to both the X and SVGALIB versions of the game.


 +o  Real Life <http://www.sunysb.edu/philosophy/RealLife.html> - "In
    Conway's Game of Life every cell is either fully alive (has the
    value of 1) or completely dead (has the value 0). In Real Life this
    restriction to bivalence is lifted to countenance -real-valued-
    degrees of life and death. Real Life contains Conway's Game of Life
    as a special case; however, Real Life, in contrast to Conway's Game
    of Life, exhibits sensitive dependence on initial conditions which
    is characteristic of chaotic systems."

 +o  Sierra <http://www.sierra.com> has produced (some time ago) Eco
    Quest 1 - Lost in Rainforest and Eco Quest 2 - The Search for Cetus


 1122..  EEccoollooggyy SSooffttwwaarree ((SSiimmuullaattiioonn,, DDaattaaccoolllleeccttiioonn,, SSttaattiissttiiccss,, eettcc..))

 Though I know there is some MS-Windows based software which is used in
 ecological science (there is even a branch environmental informatic),
 I know only _E_c_o_l_a_b available for Linux yet. But I guess Linux software
 (for instance databases or statistics programs) may easily adopted.
 Also it might be possible to use a Linux cluster to solve ecological
 simulations.


 1122..11..  EEccoollaabb

 Ecolab is both the name of a software package and a research project
 that is looking at the dynamics of evolution.
 http://parallel.acsu.unsw.edu.au/rks/ecolab.html
 <http://parallel.acsu.unsw.edu.au/rks/ecolab.html> EcoLab is a system
 that implements an abstract ecology model. It is written as a set of
 Tcl/Tk commands so that the model parameters can easily be changed on
 the fly by means of editing a script. The model itself is written in
 C++.


 1122..22..  OOppeennCCllaassssrroooomm

 "OpenClassroom - distribution for Education. Pre-alpha. homepage:
 OpenClassroom <http://www.openclassroom.org/> is integrating a package
 of software that allows educational and community organizations to
 create communities of knowledge by connecting their existing PCs (old
 or new) into a network, both local and worldwide, such as the
 Internet. A central focus of this initiative is to allow such
 organizations to extend the usable life of their equipment by bringing
 them state-of-the-art software that runs on their existing PCs. Our
 toolset allows organizations and citizens to own and operate their own
 digital printing press."


 1122..33..  TTiieerrrraa

 Tierra <http://www.hip.atr.co.jp/~ray/tierra/tierra.html> is a tool
 for studying digital evolution and ecology that runs on Linux and
 other OSes.


 1122..44..  LLiinnuuxx iinn EEnnvviirroonnmmeennttaall RReesseeaarrcchh

 Courtesy of Wade W. Hampton: Linux is ideally suited for use as a
 research tool for environmental experiments. There are small embedded
 Linux solutions that can be used for remote monitoring or telemetry.
 There are VERY small Linux implementations from PC-104 systems to
 embedded systems like the uCsimm <http://www.uclinux.com>.  Linux even
 flew on the shuttle controlling biological experiments....  Linux has
 been used for weather research on NOAA's Hurricane Hunter aircraft.

 Linux is also an ideal platform for researching ecological and
 environmental information via the Internet using standard WWW-based
 tools like Netscape.

 Linux may even be used to model complex biological and environmental
 processes.  A (beowulf cluster <http://www.beowulf.org> could be used
 to run complex simulations of environmental processes, for example
 Earthdome <http://www.methaz.com/earthdome.htm> and a survey at A
 COLLECTION OF LINKS OF VISUALIZATION & SIMULATION OF SELF-ORGANIZED
 SYSTEMS <http://platon.ee.duth.gr/~soeist7t/Visualizations/>.


 1122..55..  SSWWAARRMM

 SWARM <http://www.swarm.org> is a software package for multi-agent
 simulation of complex systems that is being developed by the Swarm
 Development Group (SDG).

 Swarm is intended to be a useful tool for researchers in a variety of
 disciplines, especially artificial life. The basic architecture of
 Swarm is the simulation of collections of concurrently interacting
 agents: with this architecture, we can implement a large variety of
 agent based models. The source code is freely available under GNU
 Licensing terms.


 1122..66..  CClliimmaattee--DDyynnaammiiccss

 Climate-Dynamics <http://www.climate-dynamics.rl.ac.uk> is project to
 share computer client resources to analyze the climate.


 1122..77..  UUNNCCEERRTT

 UNCERT <http://uncert.mines.edu/> is a geostatistical uncertainty
 analysis package applied to groundwater flow and contaminant transport
 modeling. This package was developed for evaluating the inherent
 uncertainty in describing subsurface geology, hydraulic properties,
 and the migration of hazardous contaminants in groundwater flow
 systems. It is well suited for the aforementioned purposes, but is
 also sufficiently general to be usable by researchers in a wide range
 of disciples.


 1122..88..  EEccooTTooppiiaa

 The EcoTopia <http://www.ecotopia.org> web site uses computer
 simulation to model Santa Cruz, California as an ideal environmental
 community. For Ecotourists and Green Consumers, EcoTopia strives to
 offer the nation a model of integration of technology and
 environmental remediation using computer modeling and image
 forecasting.


 1133..  RReellaatteedd PPrroojjeeccttss,, MMaaiilliinngg LLiissttss aanndd NNeewwssggrroouuppss


 +o  Though I searched the WWW, I couldn't find neither a dedicated
    newsgroup nor a mailing list yet. So I decided to create the Eco-
    Com mailing list. You can subscribe to this list via email. Write
    to <[email protected]>, and you will be sent a
    verification message.

 +o  Repair FAQ <http://itp1.physik.tu-berlin.de/~schwarz/> .


 +o  Obsolete Computer Helpline
    <http://www.ncsc.dni.us/fun/user/tcc/cmuseum/helpline/helpline.htm>
    .

 +o  386 World <http://come.to/386> by Gaute Hvoslef Kvalnes
    <[email protected]> . He provides one of the greatest recources
    available on 386 computers and software. Though his work is mainly
    related to MS-Windows, he also supports Linux.

 +o  "The Electronic Green Journal <http://www.lib.uidaho.edu>,
    published by the University of Idaho Library, is a professional,
    refereed publication devoted to disseminating information
    concerning sources on international environmental topics including:
    assessment, conservation, development, disposal, education,
    hazards, pollution, resources, technology, and treatment. We are
    academically sponsored; our focus, however, is to publish articles,
    bibliographies, reviews, and announcements for the educated
    generalist as well as the specialist. We welcome original
    contributions from authors on any of the above topics." . You may
    also find a survey about Environmental Resources on the World Wide
    Web there.


 1144..  CCrreeddiittss

 Thanks to:


 +o  Verena Lorenz-Meyer <[email protected]>

 +o  George White <[email protected]>

 +o  Wade W. Hampton <[email protected]>

 +o  Daniel Pirone <[email protected]>

 +o  Knut Suebert <[email protected]>

 +o  Ben De Rydt <[email protected]>

 +o  Hanno Mueller <[email protected]>

 +o  Bernhard Reiter <[email protected]>

 +o  Yan Wong <[email protected]>

 +o  Robert Horn <[email protected]>

 +o  Martin Pool <[email protected]>

 +o  Andreas Gohr <ballermann@>

 +o  Lionel, "trollhunter" Bouchpan-Lerust-Juery,
    <[email protected]>

 +o  Hristo Bojinov <[email protected]>

 +o  Ralf Muschall <[email protected]>

 +o  Russell Marks <[email protected]>

 +o  Martin Pool <[email protected]>

 +o  Malcolm Herbert <[email protected]>


 +o  Sotiris Vassilopoulos <[email protected]>

 +o  Thomas Boutell <[email protected]>

 +o  Matthias Scheller <[email protected]>

 +o  Martin <[email protected]>


 1155..  RReevviissiioonn HHiissttoorryy


 +o  v0.1, 18 June 1999, first draft

 +o  v0.2, 10 September 1999, changed <htmlurl ... > tag to <url ...>,
    another motto, added appendix B about MP3 player, created and added
    eco_com mailing list, added chapter about alternative power
    supplies, added recommendations for buying a new computer, improved
    screensaver section, added UPS chapter, added chapter about
    hardware design, minor changes

 +o  v0.3, 17 September 1999, added information about Tierra, added
    information about wasting of resources during computer production,
    added some comments about UPS, minor changes

 +o  v0.4, 05 December 1999, added appendix G about other operating
    systems, added information about CD recycling, added appendix H
    URLs of recyclers, removed link to Linux Games Survey, added links
    to SWARM, UNCERT and Climate-Dynamics, added chapter about Energy
    Star label (courtesy of Robert Horn), minor changes

 +o  v0.5, 04 January 2000, some additional information about PostScript
    utilities, new chapter Caveats, URL corrections and minor changes


 1166..  CCooppyyrriigghhtt aanndd DDiissccllaaiimmeerr

 Copyright (C) 1999 by Werner Heuser. This document may be distributed
 under the terms set forth in the LDP license at COPYRIGHT
 <http://linuxdoc.org/LDP/COPYRIGHT.html>.

 The information in this document is correct to the best of my
 knowledge, but there's a always a chance I've made some mistakes, so
 don't follow everything too blindly, especially if it seems wrong.
 Nothing here should have a detrimental effect on your computer, but
 just in case I take no responsibility for any damages incurred from
 the use of the information contained herein. All trademarks belong to
 their owners.


 1177..  AAppppeennddiixx AA -- LLiinnuuxx wwiitthh LLaappttooppss


 1177..11..  BBaatttteerryy

 Has to be written. See LDP - Battery-HOWTO <http://linuxdoc.org/LDP>
 by Hanno Mueller, too.

  apmd-rhcn-2.4phil-1 by RedHat ftp://rhcn.redhat.com/pub/rhcn/
 <ftp://rhcn.redhat.com/pub/rhcn/> contains an unofficial patch for
 shutting down the PCMCIA sockets before a suspend and patches for
 multiple batteries.




 1177..22..  PPCCMMCCIIAA CCaarrdd SSeerrvviicceess aanndd AAddvvaanncceedd PPoowweerr MMaannaaggeemmeenntt

 Quoted from the LDP - PCMCIA-HOWTO  <http://linuxdoc.org/LDP>: "Card
 Services can be compiled with support for APM (Advanced Power
 Management) if you've configured your kernel with APM support. ...
 The PCMCIA modules will automatically be configured for APM if a
 compatible version is detected on your system. Whether or not APM is
 configured, you can use cardctl suspend before suspending your laptop,
 and cardctl resume after resuming, to cleanly shut down and restart
 your PCMCIA cards. This will not work with a modem that is in use,
 because the serial driver isn't able to save and restore the modem
 operating parameters. APM seems to be unstable on some systems. If you
 experience trouble with APM and PCMCIA on your system, try to narrow
 down the problem to one package or the other before reporting a bug.
 Some drivers, notably the PCMCIA SCSI drivers, cannot recover from a
 suspend/resume cycle.  When using a PCMCIA SCSI card, always use
 cardctl eject prior to suspending the system."

 You should use the internal modem in a laptop instead of a PCMCIA
 modem, if possible (it may be a WinModem).


 1177..33..  PPoowweerr SSaavviinngg TTeecchhnniiqquueess


 1. If you don't need infrared support, disable it in the BIOS or
    shutdown the IrDA device driver. There are also some IrDA features
    of the kernel which are useful for saving power.

    In the specifications of my HP OmniBook 800 it is recommended to
    turn off the IR port, if it is not in use, because it may consume
    up to 10 percent of the battery time.

    If necessary, you may also try to disable the Fast RRs feature in
    the IrDA section of the kernel. This option will give you much
    better latencies but will consume more power.

 2. PCMCIA services consume much power, so shut them down if you don't
    need them.

 3. I'm not sure to which extend the _b_a_c_k_l_i_g_h_t consumes power. WARNING:
    AFAIK this device can only bear a limited number of uptime circles.
    So avoid using screensavers AFAIK this device can only bear a
    limited number of uptime circles. So avoid using screensavers too
    much.

 4. For some examples to build batteries with increased uptime up to 8
    hours look at Adorable Toshiba Libretto
    http://www.cerfnet.com/~adorable/libretto.html
    <http://www.cerfnet.com/~adorable/libretto.html>.

 5. For information about APM look at the APM chapter above.

 6. A hacked rclock  <http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~bbense/toys/>.
    Booker C. Bense has hacked the _r_c_l_o_c_k program to include a simple
    battery power meter on the clock face.

 7. xbatstat <http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~daisuke/Linux/xbatstat.html>. A
    battery level status checker for Linux and X.

 8. KDE http://www.kde.org <http://www.kde.org> provides _K_A_P_M, _K_b_a_t_m_o_n
    and _K_c_m_l_a_p_t_o_p. Written by Paul Campbell _k_c_m_l_a_p_t_o_p is a set of KDE
    control panels that implements laptop computer support functions,
    it includes a dockable battery status monitor for laptops - in
    short a little icon in the KDE status bar that shows how much
    battery time you have left. It also will warn you when power is
    getting low and allows you to configure power saving options.

    Similar packages you may find at the GNOME project
    http://www.gnome.org/ <http://www.gnome.org/> . See the software
    maps at both sites.

 9. Please see Battery Powered Linux Mini-HOWTO by Hanno Mueller,
    [email protected] http://www.lava.de/~hanno/
    <http://www.lava.de/~hanno/> for more information.

 10.
    toshiba-fan Turn the fan on a Toshiba Pentium laptop on or off.
    This is a command line utility to turn the fan of a Toshiba laptop
    on or off, or view its current state. It should work on all Toshiba
    Pentium laptops that have fans.


 1188..  AAppppeennddiixx BB -- MMPP33--HHaarrddwwaarree--DDeeccooddeerr aatt PPaarraalllleell PPoorrtt

 In the German computer magazine CT <http://www.heise.de/ct/> issue
 9/1999 p. 200 and 10/1999 p. 260 I found an article about turning an
 old PC (from 286 upward) into a MP3 player, by using a MP3-Hardware-
 Decoder at the parallel port. Authors Homepag <http://www.ieee.rwth-
 aachen.de/mp3/> .

 Also mentioned there, is a software by Klaus Peichl <http://cip8.e-
 technik.uni-erlangen.de:8080/hyplan/kspeichl/mpegcd.htm>, which
 doesn't need a hardware decoder.

 Though both programs are DOS based, I mention them here. I hadn't time
 to look for an according Linux solution.

 Cajun <http://www.cajun.nu/> is a program that allows you to turn any
 computer (>75mhz) into a massive audio jukebox for your car or home.
 It uses the matrix-orbital serial display and supports the IRman
 infra-red remote control interface. Soundcard output is delivered to
 your (car or home) stereo for amplification. The software supports a
 hotlist and shuffle mode. It includes FM/Video4Linux support,
 icecast/shoutcast support, CrystalFontz serial display support, and
 choice of mpg123 or xaudio for driving the sound card.


 1199..  AAppppeennddiixx CC -- BBiibblliiooggrraapphhyy


 +o  Ellringmann, H. /Hrsg.): Softwarefuehrer Umweltschutz. Anbieter -
    Produkte - Maerkte; 1999ff.

 +o  Koellner, W. / Fichtler, W.: Recycling von Elektro- und
    Elektronikschrott; 1996

 +o  Rohwedder, W.J. "Rocky" / Alm, Andy: Using Computers in
    Environmental Education; 1994

 +o  Schloegl, M.:Recycling von Elektro- und Elektronikschrott; 1995

 +o  Tiltmann, K.O. (Hrsg.): Recyclingpraxis Elektronik; 1994

 +o  Andreas Grote: (be): Gruene Rechnung - Das Produkt Computer in der
    Oekobilanz - Report, Oekologie, Rohstoffverbrauch, Energieverbrauch
    und Schadstoff-Emissionen bei Herstellung, Betrieb und Entsorgung,
    EPA, Energy Star, Green-PC (c't 12/1994, Seite 92) CT
    <http://www.heise.de/ct/> .



 2200..  AAppppeennddiixx DD -- RReeccoommmmeennddaattiioonnss ffoorr BBuuyyiinngg aa NNeeww CCoommppuutteerr

 Courtesy of Wade W. Hampton (modifications by wh): Purchase a low-
 power computer such as a laptop or network computer. These typically
 don't use as much power as desktop systems. For example, someone on
 the WWW had a Corel/Rebel Netwinder powered by solar cells. I find it
 funny that an "Energy Star" desktop still has a 300W power supply and
 uses far more power than a computer like the Netwinder which uses
 something like 10 Watts of power, (though this is consistent with the
 Energy Star goals for computer equipment, since they have targeted
 unused power consumption).

 Maybe there should be a new class of computers called "Energy Miser"
 (or similar) that use nearly an order of magnitude less power than
 Energy Star systems?

 To save power for the display, one could purchase a LCD monitor
 instead of a CRT. LCD monitors consume 30-40 Watts of power versus the
 100's of Watts used by most monitors.  The price of an LCD is still
 2-3 times that of a similar monitor, but as LCDs become more widely
 used, the price will come down.

 Make sure that any new computer purchase includes APM-compliant
 hardware and low-radiation. Use TCO, DPMS or Energy Star compliant
 monitors.

 R Horn <[email protected]> wrote: $dquot; I personally have found the
 Lawrence Berkeley Labs - LBL <http://eande.lbl.gov/> web site to be
 the best source for information on energy efficient equipment. They go
 into considerable details on how to reduce energy consumption from
 many kinds of equipment, including much more than computers.  They
 also have a good collection of links to related sites. The Energy Star
 program is defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency, which
 has a web site on it. So far all of the Energy Star regulations have
 been defined to reduce energy usage without requireing change or
 restrictions on regular usage.  There is an amazingly large amount of
 electricity consumed by idle equipment (computers, televisions,
 microwave ovens,...) and also large amounts consumed unnecessarily by
 equipment that must be continuously one (emergency exit signs, traffic
 lights, ...). Since this energy can be saved without asking users to
 make any compromises on performance, it is being targeted first.

 Somewhere on the LBL web site they have the actual power consumption
 figures for various PCs. The 300W power supply is quite misleading.
 Actual power usage varies depending upon what programs you run and
 whether the disks can be powered down. Genuine usage while in
 operation is usually in the 50-75W range. When the system is idle, it
 drops significantly.

 The NetWinder is a nice machine, but does force operational
 compromises. The peak CPU performance is much lower.  The operating
 system is not Windows.  And there are other limitations. A closer
 comparison is the typical laptop PC.  These can generally be operated
 from a modest solar panel because their average power drain is quite
 low.  With these you can see the cost vs power consumption tradeoff.
 They achieve the same performance as the desktop units, but the low
 power consumption has doubled or tripled the cost.

 (I personally use a Psion.  A decent slow computer that requires only
 200mw of power. It may even run Linux once they deal with some of the
 ROM issues.)

 The big debate in setting the energy star regulations was deciding
 which would have greater overall benefit: small negligible cost
 improvements to almost all equipment sold, or greater improvements at
 much higher cost? Could that cost be invested elsewhere to greater
 benefit?  How will the purchasers react to the higher cost? So far the
 consensus has been that improving a large number of machines at
 negligible cost is wiser than improving a smaller number of machines
 at high cost."


 2211..  AAppppeennddiixx EE -- AA NNeeww EEnnvviirroonnmmeennttaallllyy FFrriieennddllyy HHaarrddwwaarree DDeessiiggnn

 Courtesy of Wade W. Hampton and Knut Suebert: New hardware designs
 that plan to use Linux should take advantage of environmentally
 friendly technologies such as low-power CPUs e.g., the ARM from: Intel
 <http://developer.intel.com/design/strong/>, environmentally friendly
 battery design, low-power displays (e.g., non-backlit LCDs), smaller
 packaging, etc.  Linux supports a WIDE variety of hardware and
 technologies. These could be leveraged into powerful, flexible,
 environmentally friendly Linux-based solutions.

 An "Environmental Rating" could be created for new Linux-based
 hardware and even some Linux-based software such as bottlerocket
 (X10). Devices such as the Netwinder or the uCsimm would receive high
 ratings for their size, power consumption, capabilities, etc.

 At Telepolis (German Computer Magazine)
 <http://www.telepolis.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/te/1367/1.html> you might
 find an article about wasted resources during computer manufacturing.

 Generally speaking PPC CPUs consume less power than x86 CPUs.


 2222..  AAppppeennddiixx FF -- CCoommppuutteerr RReellaatteedd EEccoo LLaabbeellss

 Currently I have only this small list: TCO, DPMS or Energy Star Blauer
 Engel <http://www.blauer-engel.de/> (Germany), Energy Label - Group
 for Efficient Appliances (GEA).


 2233..  AAppppeennddiixx GG -- OOtthheerr OOppeerraattiinngg SSyysstteemmss


 2233..11..  DDOOSS

 To my surprise there are still many tools available to make old 286 PC
 useful. I started a search for _2_8_6 at Simtel.Net
 <http://www.simtel.net/> and found many useful shareware programs. For
 instance:


 +o  Full-featured LAN for MSDOS computers, 286+req
    <ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/lan/neos-10.zip>

 +o  RoseMail, PCBoard offline mail, 8086/286 exe's
    <ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/pcboard/rm172b.zip>

 +o  Multitasking/multiuser environment for 286-586
    <ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/sysutl/vmix285.zip>

 There is even a free DOS around, see The OS Developers Homepage
 <http://www.500mhz.net/ndx.html>


 2233..22..  MMSS--WWiinnddoowwss

 A power saving utility CPUIDLE
 <http://www.bugcomputer.com/cpuidle/index.html > is available. Another
 one for older versions of MS-WindowsNT is available at Niteskate
 <http://members.aol.com/niteskate/ntpwr.zip>.
 2244..  AAppppeennddiixx HH -- UURRLLss ooff RReeccyylleerrss


 +o  REMEDIA <http://www.remedia.de/mitte.htm> - Germany - recycling of
    data storage media (CD, floppy, tape)

 +o  ALCAD <http://www.alcad.com/site_map.htm > - worldwide - Ni-Cd
    Battery Recycling

 +o  CD-COLLECT <http://www.cd-collect.com/> - CD recycling

 +o  Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation <http://www.rbrc.org/>
    RBRC is a non-profit, public service organization created to
    promote the recycling of Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cd) rechargeable
    batteries.

 +o  The European Portable Battery Association (EPBA) <http://www.epba-
    europe.org> is the European organisation of companies
    manufacturing, selling or distributing portable batteries. The
    mission of the EPBA is to ensure that the ideal conditions are
    created for responsible development of the portable battery
    industry in Europe. Acting in the common interests of all of its
    members, the EPBA aims to sustain a competitive industry in an
    increasingly complex commercial climate.

 +o  Battery Council International <http://www.batterycouncil.org > is a
    not-for-profit organization with the mission of promoting the
    interests of the international lead-acid battery industry. With
    more than 175 members worldwide, the Battery Council International
    (BCI) brings together lead-acid battery manufacturers and
    recyclers, marketers and retailers, suppliers of raw materials and
    equipment, and industry consultants.

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