This is a never ending challenge for me. Here's my latest effort:
echo 0 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online echo 15 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio echo 55 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio echo 6000 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs echo 9000 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_expire_centisecs hdparm -B 1 -S12 /dev/sda echo 1 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save xbacklight -set 90 hal-disable-polling --device /dev/scd0 # to enable this again: # hal-disable-polling --device /dev/scd0 --enable-polling exit 0