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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@ppc970.osdl.org>2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@ppc970.osdl.org>2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700
commit1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 (patch)
tree0bba044c4ce775e45a88a51686b5d9f90697ea9d /Documentation/cpu-freq
Linux-2.6.12-rc2v2.6.12-rc2
Initial git repository build. I'm not bothering with the full history, even though we have it. We can create a separate "historical" git archive of that later if we want to, and in the meantime it's about 3.2GB when imported into git - space that would just make the early git days unnecessarily complicated, when we don't have a lot of good infrastructure for it. Let it rip!
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/cpu-freq')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/cpu-freq/amd-powernow.txt38
-rw-r--r--Documentation/cpu-freq/core.txt98
-rw-r--r--Documentation/cpu-freq/cpu-drivers.txt216
-rw-r--r--Documentation/cpu-freq/cpufreq-nforce2.txt19
-rw-r--r--Documentation/cpu-freq/governors.txt155
-rw-r--r--Documentation/cpu-freq/index.txt56
-rw-r--r--Documentation/cpu-freq/user-guide.txt185
7 files changed, 767 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/cpu-freq/amd-powernow.txt b/Documentation/cpu-freq/amd-powernow.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..254da155fa4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/cpu-freq/amd-powernow.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+
+PowerNow! and Cool'n'Quiet are AMD names for frequency
+management capabilities in AMD processors. As the hardware
+implementation changes in new generations of the processors,
+there is a different cpu-freq driver for each generation.
+
+Note that the driver's will not load on the "wrong" hardware,
+so it is safe to try each driver in turn when in doubt as to
+which is the correct driver.
+
+Note that the functionality to change frequency (and voltage)
+is not available in all processors. The drivers will refuse
+to load on processors without this capability. The capability
+is detected with the cpuid instruction.
+
+The drivers use BIOS supplied tables to obtain frequency and
+voltage information appropriate for a particular platform.
+Frequency transitions will be unavailable if the BIOS does
+not supply these tables.
+
+6th Generation: powernow-k6
+
+7th Generation: powernow-k7: Athlon, Duron, Geode.
+
+8th Generation: powernow-k8: Athlon, Athlon 64, Opteron, Sempron.
+Documentation on this functionality in 8th generation processors
+is available in the "BIOS and Kernel Developer's Guide", publication
+26094, in chapter 9, available for download from www.amd.com.
+
+BIOS supplied data, for powernow-k7 and for powernow-k8, may be
+from either the PSB table or from ACPI objects. The ACPI support
+is only available if the kernel config sets CONFIG_ACPI_PROCESSOR.
+The powernow-k8 driver will attempt to use ACPI if so configured,
+and fall back to PST if that fails.
+The powernow-k7 driver will try to use the PSB support first, and
+fall back to ACPI if the PSB support fails. A module parameter,
+acpi_force, is provided to force ACPI support to be used instead
+of PSB support.
diff --git a/Documentation/cpu-freq/core.txt b/Documentation/cpu-freq/core.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..29b3f9ffc66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/cpu-freq/core.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+ CPU frequency and voltage scaling code in the Linux(TM) kernel
+
+
+ L i n u x C P U F r e q
+
+ C P U F r e q C o r e
+
+
+ Dominik Brodowski <linux@brodo.de>
+ David Kimdon <dwhedon@debian.org>
+
+
+
+ Clock scaling allows you to change the clock speed of the CPUs on the
+ fly. This is a nice method to save battery power, because the lower
+ the clock speed, the less power the CPU consumes.
+
+
+Contents:
+---------
+1. CPUFreq core and interfaces
+2. CPUFreq notifiers
+
+1. General Information
+=======================
+
+The CPUFreq core code is located in linux/kernel/cpufreq.c. This
+cpufreq code offers a standardized interface for the CPUFreq
+architecture drivers (those pieces of code that do actual
+frequency transitions), as well as to "notifiers". These are device
+drivers or other part of the kernel that need to be informed of
+policy changes (ex. thermal modules like ACPI) or of all
+frequency changes (ex. timing code) or even need to force certain
+speed limits (like LCD drivers on ARM architecture). Additionally, the
+kernel "constant" loops_per_jiffy is updated on frequency changes
+here.
+
+Reference counting is done by cpufreq_get_cpu and cpufreq_put_cpu,
+which make sure that the cpufreq processor driver is correctly
+registered with the core, and will not be unloaded until
+cpufreq_put_cpu is called.
+
+2. CPUFreq notifiers
+====================
+
+CPUFreq notifiers conform to the standard kernel notifier interface.
+See linux/include/linux/notifier.h for details on notifiers.
+
+There are two different CPUFreq notifiers - policy notifiers and
+transition notifiers.
+
+
+2.1 CPUFreq policy notifiers
+----------------------------
+
+These are notified when a new policy is intended to be set. Each
+CPUFreq policy notifier is called three times for a policy transition:
+
+1.) During CPUFREQ_ADJUST all CPUFreq notifiers may change the limit if
+ they see a need for this - may it be thermal considerations or
+ hardware limitations.
+
+2.) During CPUFREQ_INCOMPATIBLE only changes may be done in order to avoid
+ hardware failure.
+
+3.) And during CPUFREQ_NOTIFY all notifiers are informed of the new policy
+ - if two hardware drivers failed to agree on a new policy before this
+ stage, the incompatible hardware shall be shut down, and the user
+ informed of this.
+
+The phase is specified in the second argument to the notifier.
+
+The third argument, a void *pointer, points to a struct cpufreq_policy
+consisting of five values: cpu, min, max, policy and max_cpu_freq. min
+and max are the lower and upper frequencies (in kHz) of the new
+policy, policy the new policy, cpu the number of the affected CPU; and
+max_cpu_freq the maximum supported CPU frequency. This value is given
+for informational purposes only.
+
+
+2.2 CPUFreq transition notifiers
+--------------------------------
+
+These are notified twice when the CPUfreq driver switches the CPU core
+frequency and this change has any external implications.
+
+The second argument specifies the phase - CPUFREQ_PRECHANGE or
+CPUFREQ_POSTCHANGE.
+
+The third argument is a struct cpufreq_freqs with the following
+values:
+cpu - number of the affected CPU
+old - old frequency
+new - new frequency
+
+If the cpufreq core detects the frequency has changed while the system
+was suspended, these notifiers are called with CPUFREQ_RESUMECHANGE as
+second argument.
diff --git a/Documentation/cpu-freq/cpu-drivers.txt b/Documentation/cpu-freq/cpu-drivers.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..43c743903dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/cpu-freq/cpu-drivers.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,216 @@
+ CPU frequency and voltage scaling code in the Linux(TM) kernel
+
+
+ L i n u x C P U F r e q
+
+ C P U D r i v e r s
+
+ - information for developers -
+
+
+ Dominik Brodowski <linux@brodo.de>
+
+
+
+ Clock scaling allows you to change the clock speed of the CPUs on the
+ fly. This is a nice method to save battery power, because the lower
+ the clock speed, the less power the CPU consumes.
+
+
+Contents:
+---------
+1. What To Do?
+1.1 Initialization
+1.2 Per-CPU Initialization
+1.3 verify
+1.4 target or setpolicy?
+1.5 target
+1.6 setpolicy
+2. Frequency Table Helpers
+
+
+
+1. What To Do?
+==============
+
+So, you just got a brand-new CPU / chipset with datasheets and want to
+add cpufreq support for this CPU / chipset? Great. Here are some hints
+on what is necessary:
+
+
+1.1 Initialization
+------------------
+
+First of all, in an __initcall level 7 (module_init()) or later
+function check whether this kernel runs on the right CPU and the right
+chipset. If so, register a struct cpufreq_driver with the CPUfreq core
+using cpufreq_register_driver()
+
+What shall this struct cpufreq_driver contain?
+
+cpufreq_driver.name - The name of this driver.
+
+cpufreq_driver.owner - THIS_MODULE;
+
+cpufreq_driver.init - A pointer to the per-CPU initialization
+ function.
+
+cpufreq_driver.verify - A pointer to a "verification" function.
+
+cpufreq_driver.setpolicy _or_
+cpufreq_driver.target - See below on the differences.
+
+And optionally
+
+cpufreq_driver.exit - A pointer to a per-CPU cleanup function.
+
+cpufreq_driver.resume - A pointer to a per-CPU resume function
+ which is called with interrupts disabled
+ and _before_ the pre-suspend frequency
+ and/or policy is restored by a call to
+ ->target or ->setpolicy.
+
+cpufreq_driver.attr - A pointer to a NULL-terminated list of
+ "struct freq_attr" which allow to
+ export values to sysfs.
+
+
+1.2 Per-CPU Initialization
+--------------------------
+
+Whenever a new CPU is registered with the device model, or after the
+cpufreq driver registers itself, the per-CPU initialization function
+cpufreq_driver.init is called. It takes a struct cpufreq_policy
+*policy as argument. What to do now?
+
+If necessary, activate the CPUfreq support on your CPU.
+
+Then, the driver must fill in the following values:
+
+policy->cpuinfo.min_freq _and_
+policy->cpuinfo.max_freq - the minimum and maximum frequency
+ (in kHz) which is supported by
+ this CPU
+policy->cpuinfo.transition_latency the time it takes on this CPU to
+ switch between two frequencies (if
+ appropriate, else specify
+ CPUFREQ_ETERNAL)
+
+policy->cur The current operating frequency of
+ this CPU (if appropriate)
+policy->min,
+policy->max,
+policy->policy and, if necessary,
+policy->governor must contain the "default policy" for
+ this CPU. A few moments later,
+ cpufreq_driver.verify and either
+ cpufreq_driver.setpolicy or
+ cpufreq_driver.target is called with
+ these values.
+
+For setting some of these values, the frequency table helpers might be
+helpful. See the section 2 for more information on them.
+
+
+1.3 verify
+------------
+
+When the user decides a new policy (consisting of
+"policy,governor,min,max") shall be set, this policy must be validated
+so that incompatible values can be corrected. For verifying these
+values, a frequency table helper and/or the
+cpufreq_verify_within_limits(struct cpufreq_policy *policy, unsigned
+int min_freq, unsigned int max_freq) function might be helpful. See
+section 2 for details on frequency table helpers.
+
+You need to make sure that at least one valid frequency (or operating
+range) is within policy->min and policy->max. If necessary, increase
+policy->max first, and only if this is no solution, decrease policy->min.
+
+
+1.4 target or setpolicy?
+----------------------------
+
+Most cpufreq drivers or even most cpu frequency scaling algorithms
+only allow the CPU to be set to one frequency. For these, you use the
+->target call.
+
+Some cpufreq-capable processors switch the frequency between certain
+limits on their own. These shall use the ->setpolicy call
+
+
+1.4. target
+-------------
+
+The target call has three arguments: struct cpufreq_policy *policy,
+unsigned int target_frequency, unsigned int relation.
+
+The CPUfreq driver must set the new frequency when called here. The
+actual frequency must be determined using the following rules:
+
+- keep close to "target_freq"
+- policy->min <= new_freq <= policy->max (THIS MUST BE VALID!!!)
+- if relation==CPUFREQ_REL_L, try to select a new_freq higher than or equal
+ target_freq. ("L for lowest, but no lower than")
+- if relation==CPUFREQ_REL_H, try to select a new_freq lower than or equal
+ target_freq. ("H for highest, but no higher than")
+
+Here again the frequency table helper might assist you - see section 3
+for details.
+
+
+1.5 setpolicy
+---------------
+
+The setpolicy call only takes a struct cpufreq_policy *policy as
+argument. You need to set the lower limit of the in-processor or
+in-chipset dynamic frequency switching to policy->min, the upper limit
+to policy->max, and -if supported- select a performance-oriented
+setting when policy->policy is CPUFREQ_POLICY_PERFORMANCE, and a
+powersaving-oriented setting when CPUFREQ_POLICY_POWERSAVE. Also check
+the reference implementation in arch/i386/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/longrun.c
+
+
+
+2. Frequency Table Helpers
+==========================
+
+As most cpufreq processors only allow for being set to a few specific
+frequencies, a "frequency table" with some functions might assist in
+some work of the processor driver. Such a "frequency table" consists
+of an array of struct cpufreq_freq_table entries, with any value in
+"index" you want to use, and the corresponding frequency in
+"frequency". At the end of the table, you need to add a
+cpufreq_freq_table entry with frequency set to CPUFREQ_TABLE_END. And
+if you want to skip one entry in the table, set the frequency to
+CPUFREQ_ENTRY_INVALID. The entries don't need to be in ascending
+order.
+
+By calling cpufreq_frequency_table_cpuinfo(struct cpufreq_policy *policy,
+ struct cpufreq_frequency_table *table);
+the cpuinfo.min_freq and cpuinfo.max_freq values are detected, and
+policy->min and policy->max are set to the same values. This is
+helpful for the per-CPU initialization stage.
+
+int cpufreq_frequency_table_verify(struct cpufreq_policy *policy,
+ struct cpufreq_frequency_table *table);
+assures that at least one valid frequency is within policy->min and
+policy->max, and all other criteria are met. This is helpful for the
+->verify call.
+
+int cpufreq_frequency_table_target(struct cpufreq_policy *policy,
+ struct cpufreq_frequency_table *table,
+ unsigned int target_freq,
+ unsigned int relation,
+ unsigned int *index);
+
+is the corresponding frequency table helper for the ->target
+stage. Just pass the values to this function, and the unsigned int
+index returns the number of the frequency table entry which contains
+the frequency the CPU shall be set to. PLEASE NOTE: This is not the
+"index" which is in this cpufreq_table_entry.index, but instead
+cpufreq_table[index]. So, the new frequency is
+cpufreq_table[index].frequency, and the value you stored into the
+frequency table "index" field is
+cpufreq_table[index].index.
+
diff --git a/Documentation/cpu-freq/cpufreq-nforce2.txt b/Documentation/cpu-freq/cpufreq-nforce2.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9188337d8f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/cpu-freq/cpufreq-nforce2.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+
+The cpufreq-nforce2 driver changes the FSB on nVidia nForce2 plattforms.
+
+This works better than on other plattforms, because the FSB of the CPU
+can be controlled independently from the PCI/AGP clock.
+
+The module has two options:
+
+ fid: multiplier * 10 (for example 8.5 = 85)
+ min_fsb: minimum FSB
+
+If not set, fid is calculated from the current CPU speed and the FSB.
+min_fsb defaults to FSB at boot time - 50 MHz.
+
+IMPORTANT: The available range is limited downwards!
+ Also the minimum available FSB can differ, for systems
+ booting with 200 MHz, 150 should always work.
+
+
diff --git a/Documentation/cpu-freq/governors.txt b/Documentation/cpu-freq/governors.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b85481acd0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/cpu-freq/governors.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+ CPU frequency and voltage scaling code in the Linux(TM) kernel
+
+
+ L i n u x C P U F r e q
+
+ C P U F r e q G o v e r n o r s
+
+ - information for users and developers -
+
+
+ Dominik Brodowski <linux@brodo.de>
+
+
+
+ Clock scaling allows you to change the clock speed of the CPUs on the
+ fly. This is a nice method to save battery power, because the lower
+ the clock speed, the less power the CPU consumes.
+
+
+Contents:
+---------
+1. What is a CPUFreq Governor?
+
+2. Governors In the Linux Kernel
+2.1 Performance
+2.2 Powersave
+2.3 Userspace
+
+3. The Governor Interface in the CPUfreq Core
+
+
+
+1. What Is A CPUFreq Governor?
+==============================
+
+Most cpufreq drivers (in fact, all except one, longrun) or even most
+cpu frequency scaling algorithms only offer the CPU to be set to one
+frequency. In order to offer dynamic frequency scaling, the cpufreq
+core must be able to tell these drivers of a "target frequency". So
+these specific drivers will be transformed to offer a "->target"
+call instead of the existing "->setpolicy" call. For "longrun", all
+stays the same, though.
+
+How to decide what frequency within the CPUfreq policy should be used?
+That's done using "cpufreq governors". Two are already in this patch
+-- they're the already existing "powersave" and "performance" which
+set the frequency statically to the lowest or highest frequency,
+respectively. At least two more such governors will be ready for
+addition in the near future, but likely many more as there are various
+different theories and models about dynamic frequency scaling
+around. Using such a generic interface as cpufreq offers to scaling
+governors, these can be tested extensively, and the best one can be
+selected for each specific use.
+
+Basically, it's the following flow graph:
+
+CPU can be set to switch independetly | CPU can only be set
+ within specific "limits" | to specific frequencies
+
+ "CPUfreq policy"
+ consists of frequency limits (policy->{min,max})
+ and CPUfreq governor to be used
+ / \
+ / \
+ / the cpufreq governor decides
+ / (dynamically or statically)
+ / what target_freq to set within
+ / the limits of policy->{min,max}
+ / \
+ / \
+ Using the ->setpolicy call, Using the ->target call,
+ the limits and the the frequency closest
+ "policy" is set. to target_freq is set.
+ It is assured that it
+ is within policy->{min,max}
+
+
+2. Governors In the Linux Kernel
+================================
+
+2.1 Performance
+---------------
+
+The CPUfreq governor "performance" sets the CPU statically to the
+highest frequency within the borders of scaling_min_freq and
+scaling_max_freq.
+
+
+2.1 Powersave
+-------------
+
+The CPUfreq governor "powersave" sets the CPU statically to the
+lowest frequency within the borders of scaling_min_freq and
+scaling_max_freq.
+
+
+2.2 Userspace
+-------------
+
+The CPUfreq governor "userspace" allows the user, or any userspace
+program running with UID "root", to set the CPU to a specific frequency
+by making a sysfs file "scaling_setspeed" available in the CPU-device
+directory.
+
+
+
+3. The Governor Interface in the CPUfreq Core
+=============================================
+
+A new governor must register itself with the CPUfreq core using
+"cpufreq_register_governor". The struct cpufreq_governor, which has to
+be passed to that function, must contain the following values:
+
+governor->name - A unique name for this governor
+governor->governor - The governor callback function
+governor->owner - .THIS_MODULE for the governor module (if
+ appropriate)
+
+The governor->governor callback is called with the current (or to-be-set)
+cpufreq_policy struct for that CPU, and an unsigned int event. The
+following events are currently defined:
+
+CPUFREQ_GOV_START: This governor shall start its duty for the CPU
+ policy->cpu
+CPUFREQ_GOV_STOP: This governor shall end its duty for the CPU
+ policy->cpu
+CPUFREQ_GOV_LIMITS: The limits for CPU policy->cpu have changed to
+ policy->min and policy->max.
+
+If you need other "events" externally of your driver, _only_ use the
+cpufreq_governor_l(unsigned int cpu, unsigned int event) call to the
+CPUfreq core to ensure proper locking.
+
+
+The CPUfreq governor may call the CPU processor driver using one of
+these two functions:
+
+int cpufreq_driver_target(struct cpufreq_policy *policy,
+ unsigned int target_freq,
+ unsigned int relation);
+
+int __cpufreq_driver_target(struct cpufreq_policy *policy,
+ unsigned int target_freq,
+ unsigned int relation);
+
+target_freq must be within policy->min and policy->max, of course.
+What's the difference between these two functions? When your governor
+still is in a direct code path of a call to governor->governor, the
+per-CPU cpufreq lock is still held in the cpufreq core, and there's
+no need to lock it again (in fact, this would cause a deadlock). So
+use __cpufreq_driver_target only in these cases. In all other cases
+(for example, when there's a "daemonized" function that wakes up
+every second), use cpufreq_driver_target to lock the cpufreq per-CPU
+lock before the command is passed to the cpufreq processor driver.
+
diff --git a/Documentation/cpu-freq/index.txt b/Documentation/cpu-freq/index.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5009805f937
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/cpu-freq/index.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+ CPU frequency and voltage scaling code in the Linux(TM) kernel
+
+
+ L i n u x C P U F r e q
+
+
+
+
+ Dominik Brodowski <linux@brodo.de>
+
+
+
+ Clock scaling allows you to change the clock speed of the CPUs on the
+ fly. This is a nice method to save battery power, because the lower
+ the clock speed, the less power the CPU consumes.
+
+
+
+Documents in this directory:
+----------------------------
+core.txt - General description of the CPUFreq core and
+ of CPUFreq notifiers
+
+cpu-drivers.txt - How to implement a new cpufreq processor driver
+
+governors.txt - What are cpufreq governors and how to
+ implement them?
+
+index.txt - File index, Mailing list and Links (this document)
+
+user-guide.txt - User Guide to CPUFreq
+
+
+Mailing List
+------------
+There is a CPU frequency changing CVS commit and general list where
+you can report bugs, problems or submit patches. To post a message,
+send an email to cpufreq@lists.linux.org.uk, to subscribe go to
+http://lists.linux.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cpufreq. Previous post to the
+mailing list are available to subscribers at
+http://lists.linux.org.uk/mailman/private/cpufreq/.
+
+
+Links
+-----
+the FTP archives:
+* ftp://ftp.linux.org.uk/pub/linux/cpufreq/
+
+how to access the CVS repository:
+* http://cvs.arm.linux.org.uk/
+
+the CPUFreq Mailing list:
+* http://lists.linux.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cpufreq
+
+Clock and voltage scaling for the SA-1100:
+* http://www.lart.tudelft.nl/projects/scaling
diff --git a/Documentation/cpu-freq/user-guide.txt b/Documentation/cpu-freq/user-guide.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7fedc00c3d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/cpu-freq/user-guide.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+ CPU frequency and voltage scaling code in the Linux(TM) kernel
+
+
+ L i n u x C P U F r e q
+
+ U S E R G U I D E
+
+
+ Dominik Brodowski <linux@brodo.de>
+
+
+
+ Clock scaling allows you to change the clock speed of the CPUs on the
+ fly. This is a nice method to save battery power, because the lower
+ the clock speed, the less power the CPU consumes.
+
+
+Contents:
+---------
+1. Supported Architectures and Processors
+1.1 ARM
+1.2 x86
+1.3 sparc64
+1.4 ppc
+1.5 SuperH
+
+2. "Policy" / "Governor"?
+2.1 Policy
+2.2 Governor
+
+3. How to change the CPU cpufreq policy and/or speed
+3.1 Preferred interface: sysfs
+3.2 Deprecated interfaces
+
+
+
+1. Supported Architectures and Processors
+=========================================
+
+1.1 ARM
+-------
+
+The following ARM processors are supported by cpufreq:
+
+ARM Integrator
+ARM-SA1100
+ARM-SA1110
+
+
+1.2 x86
+-------
+
+The following processors for the x86 architecture are supported by cpufreq:
+
+AMD Elan - SC400, SC410
+AMD mobile K6-2+
+AMD mobile K6-3+
+AMD mobile Duron
+AMD mobile Athlon
+AMD Opteron
+AMD Athlon 64
+Cyrix Media GXm
+Intel mobile PIII and Intel mobile PIII-M on certain chipsets
+Intel Pentium 4, Intel Xeon
+Intel Pentium M (Centrino)
+National Semiconductors Geode GX
+Transmeta Crusoe
+Transmeta Efficeon
+VIA Cyrix 3 / C3
+various processors on some ACPI 2.0-compatible systems [*]
+
+[*] Only if "ACPI Processor Performance States" are available
+to the ACPI<->BIOS interface.
+
+
+1.3 sparc64
+-----------
+
+The following processors for the sparc64 architecture are supported by
+cpufreq:
+
+UltraSPARC-III
+
+
+1.4 ppc
+-------
+
+Several "PowerBook" and "iBook2" notebooks are supported.
+
+
+1.5 SuperH
+----------
+
+The following SuperH processors are supported by cpufreq:
+
+SH-3
+SH-4
+
+
+2. "Policy" / "Governor" ?
+==========================
+
+Some CPU frequency scaling-capable processor switch between various
+frequencies and operating voltages "on the fly" without any kernel or
+user involvement. This guarantees very fast switching to a frequency
+which is high enough to serve the user's needs, but low enough to save
+power.
+
+
+2.1 Policy
+----------
+
+On these systems, all you can do is select the lower and upper
+frequency limit as well as whether you want more aggressive
+power-saving or more instantly available processing power.
+
+
+2.2 Governor
+------------
+
+On all other cpufreq implementations, these boundaries still need to
+be set. Then, a "governor" must be selected. Such a "governor" decides
+what speed the processor shall run within the boundaries. One such
+"governor" is the "userspace" governor. This one allows the user - or
+a yet-to-implement userspace program - to decide what specific speed
+the processor shall run at.
+
+
+3. How to change the CPU cpufreq policy and/or speed
+====================================================
+
+3.1 Preferred Interface: sysfs
+------------------------------
+
+The preferred interface is located in the sysfs filesystem. If you
+mounted it at /sys, the cpufreq interface is located in a subdirectory
+"cpufreq" within the cpu-device directory
+(e.g. /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/ for the first CPU).
+
+cpuinfo_min_freq : this file shows the minimum operating
+ frequency the processor can run at(in kHz)
+cpuinfo_max_freq : this file shows the maximum operating
+ frequency the processor can run at(in kHz)
+scaling_driver : this file shows what cpufreq driver is
+ used to set the frequency on this CPU
+
+scaling_available_governors : this file shows the CPUfreq governors
+ available in this kernel. You can see the
+ currently activated governor in
+
+scaling_governor, and by "echoing" the name of another
+ governor you can change it. Please note
+ that some governors won't load - they only
+ work on some specific architectures or
+ processors.
+scaling_min_freq and
+scaling_max_freq show the current "policy limits" (in
+ kHz). By echoing new values into these
+ files, you can change these limits.
+
+
+If you have selected the "userspace" governor which allows you to
+set the CPU operating frequency to a specific value, you can read out
+the current frequency in
+
+scaling_setspeed. By "echoing" a new frequency into this
+ you can change the speed of the CPU,
+ but only within the limits of
+ scaling_min_freq and scaling_max_freq.
+
+
+3.2 Deprecated Interfaces
+-------------------------
+
+Depending on your kernel configuration, you might find the following
+cpufreq-related files:
+/proc/cpufreq
+/proc/sys/cpu/*/speed
+/proc/sys/cpu/*/speed-min
+/proc/sys/cpu/*/speed-max
+
+These are files for deprecated interfaces to cpufreq, which offer far
+less functionality. Because of this, these interfaces aren't described
+here.
+