[SOLVED] How to disable wireless with TLP (a Linux power manager)?

[AgentofOdd]

Thanks to the imminent death of XP, I installed Linux on my Netbook (Linux Mint 13 XFCE on an Acer Aspire KAV10 if anyone's curious). Due to Linux draining the battery faster than XP, I also installed TLP (http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-linux-advanced-power-management.html) and it does seem to work. Still, I would like to tweak the setting a bit, but due to being a complete noob with the terminal, I've no idea how to do it. Specifically, I just want to disable the wireless. According to the site, it says:


Enable, disable or check the state of builtin wifi, bluetooth and wwan (3G or UMTS) radios:
wifi [ on | off | toggle ]

but I've no idea what to do with that. Any Linux users here who can help? I'd greatly appreciate it. :smallsmile:

Oh, also if anyone has any general tips/tricks about Linux I'd love to hear it. <---this guy knows virtual nothing :smallredface:

[factotum]

I'm not familiar with this particular tool, but if it follows typical Linux documentation practices, what you need to do is issue the command


sudo tlp wifi off

to disable the wifi. Run this from a terminal window.

(Why did you pick Mint 13, by the way? The current release is 16--was it just because 13 is a long-term support version?).

[Max™]

First, congratulations on your first steps towards ultimate beardiness!
http://i.imgur.com/EsBFyxE.jpg
(Mint counts as Ubuntu there)

Second, this should help with the different commands: http://ihaveapc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ihaveapc.com-Linux-Mint_Ubuntu-Cheat-Sheet.pdf

[AgentofOdd]

I'm not familiar with this particular tool, but if it follows typical Linux documentation practices, what you need to do is issue the command


sudo tlp wifi off

to disable the wifi. Run this from a terminal window.

(Why did you pick Mint 13, by the way? The current release is 16--was it just because 13 is a long-term support version?).First, thank you so much for your help. Unfortunately, that did not work. TLP says it's an unknown command. But then the site (http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-linux-advanced-power-management.html#commands) also says the command has a prerequisite of "radio device must be supported by the kernel's rfkill framework" so I'm guessing my card isn't supported. I did find a possible solution where I could edit the config file to turn off the wifi on startup. Will test this tomorrow cause it's late now. :smallsmile:

And yep, I picked Mint 13 cause of LTS. From what I understand, it won't have all the new features 16 has, but it'll be more stable. Since all I really need on it is a browser and Vlc, I figured I'd go with stable. Not to mention I'm hearing that upgrading can be problematic?
First, congratulations on your first steps towards ultimate beardiness!
http://i.imgur.com/EsBFyxE.jpg
(Mint counts as Ubuntu there)

Second, this should help with the different commands: http://ihaveapc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ihaveapc.com-Linux-Mint_Ubuntu-Cheat-Sheet.pdfBeard size determined by how long you need to hole yourself up to get the machine to work? :smallamused:

Also, thanks for the pdf! I'm looking at the tutorials on linuxcommand.org, but it's nice to just have a convenient list in front of your face.

[Max™]

Beard size is directly related to wizardry, if you're running Gentoo you qualify as a full wizard, hence the epic beard.

Haven't been on the Mint side in a while, been running Kubuntu for a year or two now, but it might help if we knew which wireless card is giving you the trouble, from searching it looks like the KAV10 is actually an Acer Aspire One AOD150, which might help you find more relevant information for your problem.

The AOD150 info was from here: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/510860/netbook-nightmare/ incidentally.

[AgentofOdd]

Well, luckily the disable wifi by modifying config file worked (enable DEVICES_TO_DISABLE_ON_STARTUP="bluetooth wifi wwan" by deleting the # next to DEVICES)! Only downside is, it seems if I want to turn wifi back on, I'll need to edit the file again and restart. Not the most elegant solution, but it's good enough for now I guess.
Haven't been on the Mint side in a while, been running Kubuntu for a year or two now, but it might help if we knew which wireless card is giving you the trouble, from searching it looks like the KAV10 is actually an Acer Aspire One AOD150, which might help you find more relevant information for your problem.

The AOD150 info was from here: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/510860/netbook-nightmare/ incidentally.Pretty sure you're correct about the model name. The netbook came with a sticker that said AOD### but that fell off a long time ago.

Netbook is currently using an Atheros AR5BXB63 wireless card. It's not what the netbook came with, but I had to replace it with a salvaged part cause the original card died.

[FLHerne]

First, thank you so much for your help. Unfortunately, that did not work. TLP says it's an unknown command. But then the site (http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-linux-advanced-power-management.html#commands) also says the command has a prerequisite of "radio device must be supported by the kernel's rfkill framework" so I'm guessing my card isn't supported.
Does 'rfkill list' show your device? If so, does rfkill [block|unblock] <device-id> work? In that case, TLP should too. :smalltongue:

[AgentofOdd]

Does 'rfkill list' show your device? If so, does rfkill [block|unblock] <device-id> work? In that case, TLP should too. :smalltongue:While I'm not 100% sure, I don't believe rfkill is seeing my device. "rfkill list" shows me:

0: phy0: Wireless LAN

Soft blocked: no

Hard blocked: no
1: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN

Soft blocked: no

Hard blocked: no

It says nothing about the Atheros card I'm using, and neither "rfkill block phy0" or rfkill block acer-wireless works. Both just tell me "Bogus block argument."

[factotum]

It says nothing about the Atheros card I'm using, and neither "rfkill block phy0" or rfkill block acer-wireless works. Both just tell me "Bogus block argument."

That's because that command isn't expecting the *name* of a connection--it's either expecting one of the named entities it *does* understand (e.g. wifi) or a number corresponding to the one in the list you got from rfkill list, so try using 0 or 1 instead of the names.

[AgentofOdd]

That's because that command isn't expecting the *name* of a connection--it's either expecting one of the named entities it *does* understand (e.g. wifi) or a number corresponding to the one in the list you got from rfkill list, so try using 0 or 1 instead of the names.That... worked perfectly. Once again, thank you. I'm in your debt. :smallbiggrin: