ACPI POWER MANAGEMENT

In computer terminology, sometimes things get so technical and it becomes difficult for a common computer user to understand them. ACPI is one such term. I am sure; you must have come across the term “ACPI” many times. But many of us still doesn’t know what exactly is the meaning of ACPI and what it does.

ACPI stands for “Advanced Configuration and Power Interface” that provides an interface for a power management scheme that can be configured through the computer’s operating system. ACPI is a power standard for computers and designed and developed collectively by industry majors like Microsoft, Intel, Compaq, Toshiba, and Phoenix Technologies. ACPI is now an open standard and can be used by any hardware or software developer.

Using ACPI, the operating system can determine how much power is allocated to individual peripherals. This allows devices to be powered down or turned off when not in use to conserve energy and save power. Before ACPI was introduces, Advanced Power Management (APM) was its predecessor that was BIOS based and not the operating system based. It was configured through BIOS.

Well, I believe, there is no need to explain why power conservation is important and what are the other benefits of being able to manage your computer’s power usage, aside from saving energy?

Most of the today’s operating systems support ACPI. For example: With Windows XP and ACPI, you can conserve power by tweaking some Power Options like the monitor will be turned off automatically after a prescribed time. One can also set up the computer to wake up automatically from sleep mode when it’s needed to perform prescheduled tasks, or even you can configure power options so that scheduled tasks will not be run if the computer is using battery power.

Most modern Operating systems like windows XP, 2000 or vista supports ACPI functions and more and more hardware vendors have started supporting ACPI guidelines for power management. You can configure power options for your computer by selecting “power Option” icon in the control panel. Power Options may vary from one computer to another, depending on the hardware configuration detected by the Power Options function. Only the options that are available with your hardware will be shown.

You can chose from different power schemes like Home/Office, Portable/Laptops, Presentations, Always On, Minimal Power Management or Max Battery etc for preconfigured power options or you may set is manually as per your requirements. ACPI supports one function called “Hibernation”. Under hibernation mode, you can simply shut down your computer without closing any of the opened application. Hibernation mode allows all the applications that were running at the time you shut down to be restored when you turn the computer back on. This is accomplished by saving everything in memory to the hard disk.

ACPI gives much flexibility in user’s hands to manage power usage and save precious energy resources. ACPI support is automatically installed while the operating system is set up for the first time, if your computer supports ACPI function. And if your computer supports ACPI, it is advised to make full use of such functions that not only helps you save electricity and but also precious energy resource

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