[ltp] enumeration of BIOS actions?

[Alex Deucher]

On 12/22/06, Paul Fox <pgf@foxharp.boston.ma.us> wrote:
> alex wrote:
>  > The bios does what it does on boot.  there may be some scratch regs
>  > that save some state, but I suspect it varies from bios to bios.  the
>  > acpi methods handled by ibm_acpi call bios methods that mess with the
>  > actual hardware.  what you probably want is to call the appropriate
>  > ibm acpi hooks in a resume script to call the appropriate acpi methods
>  > to get you hardware into the state you want it on resume.
>
> hmmm.  okay.  i guess i need to find acpi docs, then.  so, i take
> it that you're saying that the BIOS doesn't do anything independently
> after initial boot?  i guess that's how i've always assumed things
> were, but lately i've been seeing reference to comments like "the bios
> does this", or "the bios does that", as if it were managing some h/w
> aspects without kernel intervention.

No, it can depending on the state the bios is in.  acpi just provides
nice, easy interface to a lot of stuff that was previously/currently
controlled by the bios.  For example, consider hotkey control.
ibm_acpi can be configured to have the hotkeys produce acpi events, or
be handled directly by the bios can call their methods directly.

>
> is there a log, or a way to turn on logging, for _all_ acpi/bios events
> as they're reported up to the kernel?  (okay, i guess i'm starting
> to ask non-thinkpad-specific questions... :-)

probably.  you may want to ask on the linux acpi MLs.

Alex

>
> paul
> =---------------------
>  paul fox, pgf@foxharp.boston.ma.us (arlington, ma, where it's 36.5 degrees)