limit processor usage by %

[Jim Higson]

On Sunday 26 September 2004 16:14, Francisco Figueiredo Jr. wrote:
> Nifty Hat Mitch wrote:
> > On Sat, Sep 25, 2004 at 08:28:49PM -0300, Francisco Figueiredo Jr. wrote:
> >>I'd like to know if there is some way I could limit the processor usage
> >>of an application.
> >>
> >>I mean, I have a cpu eat application but I'd like to give it just 30% of
> >>my processor. Is there some way I could do that?
> >>
> >>I saw ulimit, but it limits the processor usage by time.
> >
> > The most common way to address this is with the nice and renice
> > commands.
>
> Hmmmm, how I could use it? Nice is meant to let me adjust the process
> priority isn't it?
>
> But my process is to be run, but not to run at 100% processor usage :)

When a process has low priority, it will take up as much as it needs, upto 
100%, except when a higher priority process needs the CPU. So if you set it 
to a lower priority it won't slow down other processes.

> The process I'm trying to use is zsnes, an snes emulator. I know
> emulation does take a lot of cpu, but as I have a piv 2.8, I think that
> 30% of this processor power is enough. I mean, I have a pentium 166 and
> zsnes runs with an acceptable performance. As I'm running Chrono Trigger
> game which is an rpg and so not so much graphics intensive.
>
> So, the problem to me is not not get responsive system. zsnes is polite
> enough to even being at 100% usage, I didn't notice any hung of my
> system while using it. In fact, I can see other programs hanging it :)

> I just don't want to use all the processor power to allow better battery
>   usage and mainly keep my processor temp as low as possible. I mean, I
> didn't want to keep my cpu running at 100% for one, two hours in a row.
> Without sleep.

Ah, you're on a laptop! Have you tried athcool et al? (if you have an athlon 
that is)

> I hope it helps clarify what my problem is.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Regards,
>
> Francisco Figueiredo Jr.