[ltp] lspnp & setpnp which distros?

[Michael Hagemann]

On Mon, 08 Dec 2003 15:26:49 +0100 Thomas Hood wrote:

> On Mon, 2003-12-08 at 14:36, Tony Sequeira wrote:
> > How would this impact a TP600E upgraded to 2.4.23?  Just what are the
> > pnpbios features required?  I'm not at home so cannot check?  I cannot
> > remember why I needed the Alan Cox patched kernel.  Is it for pcmcia
> > features?  Do I need to return to 2.4.22-ac4?
> 
> Linux 2.4.23 does not have the pnpbios driver and so lspnp and setpnp
> will not work with it.
> 
> For lspnp and setpnp to work you need the pnpbios driver and this
> is included only in -ac kernels.  The latest -ac kernel is 2.4.22-ac4 .
> I don't know whether or not this kernel includes the fix for the brk()
> vulnerability.

The advantage you get from a pnpbios enabled kernel is, that you can
change basically all device settings from inside linux, without the need
to boot into dos to use ps2.  This might come in handy if you only
occasionally want to switch on things like the ir port, the serial
interface etc.

If all is up and running for you, and you don't see a need to switch
such settings (which are basically a power saving issues) I wouldn't
bother and go with the latest release.


michael