[ltp] Re: I need an "ACPI for Dummies" reference

[Michael Perry]

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 12:23:24 -0700, Borislav Deianov
<borislav@users.sourceforge.net> wrote:
> On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 18:25:04 +0000 (UTC) C Sink <digitalpengwin@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi all. I know ACPI gets discussed a lot and apologies if I'm being
> > repetative but I'm very much in need of a "gentle introduction" to
> > ACPI and APM. I've got Gentoo (kernel 2.4.26) running on my T30 but
> > would really like to get suspend/hibernate and power throttling
> > working.  I've tried installing the ibm-acpi package but get errors on
> > compilation: "no rule to make target 'modules'".
> 
> I haven't tried porting ibm-acpi to 2.4 kernels, currently it's 2.6
> only. Patches are welcome :-). If you decide to try a 2.6 kernel, the
> current one is 2.6.9 but I've had better results with 2.6.7 + ACPI
> 20040715 patch.
> 
> Here is a link with some good ACPI howtos:
> 
> http://acpi.sourceforge.net/documentation/howto.html
> 
> Boris
> 

My own ACP for dummies reference guide is that even with a very recent
kernel like 2.6.7 or 2.6.8.1 (have not tried 2.6.9) that ACPI takes
some work.  On another non-IBM laptop I own, APM works like a charm. 
On my T23, it required a 2.6 kernel with the latest acpi patches to
get things stable.  I also had to create a script which would suspend
the laptop when I close the lid.  ON my Dell, APM takes care of all
that for me.  ACPI requires more reading of the existing knowledge,
ImO.  I also learned at least with 2.6.8.1 there was an order to
things regarding patching the kernel.  As an example, I could not
apply the software suspend 2 patch if I applied the acpi patch first. 
I got lots of rejected hunks.

As far as ACPI functionality I have now; I have a T23 with the latest
IBM BIOS and power management updates cleanly suspending by closing
the lid or doing an echo command to a variety of places.  A thing
which required another work around was the use of the Linuxant
drivers.  On my T23 if my WPC54G card is plugged in and chugging away,
the linuxant drivers stop a suspend from happening.  The folks at
Linuxant told me about a smallish program they have which stops the
card on the command line.  The regular wired ethernet, usb, video and
other stuff just works and does not require any removing before a
suspend event.

If you want to see my lid suspend scripts, drop me some mail.
-- 
Michael Perry
meperry@gmail.com