[ltp] SL 500

[Theodore Tso]

On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 01:55:15PM +0200, DVD wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 8:55 AM, Yves-Alexis Perez <corsac@debian.org>wrote:
> 
> > I'm sorry to say that, but you're on the wrong list. Despite Lenovo
> > claiming it, SL series are *not* Thinkpads. So you're out in the cold
> > wrt. all thinkpad support stuff.
> >
> OK, I have two more questions:
> 1. Do you have any idea where I should ask?
> 2. So the problem is that SL's not exactly a ThinkPad and so there is
> no/insufficient documentation to write these drivers, or just it is not a
> ThinkPad?

Well, the SL 500 is a Thinkpad in terms of the trademark and the logo
Lenovo chose to slap on the box.  And from the design perspective it
looks like Thinkpad --- although it doesn't have latches to keep the
lid closed like other Thinkpads, and its missing some of the more
robust protective features found in other Thinkpads.

The real problem is that its firmware that is much closer to that
found in the Lenovo Ideapads than what is found in the other Thinkpad
lines.  So from an OS/driver perspective it has to be treated
completely differently.  Its unlikely that it will be worth it to
modify the thinkpad-acpi driver to work with it, for example.

Basic ACPI support will work, but anything that requires
model-specific ACPI support will probably need to be started from
scratch, as I don't think any one has started working on an Ideapad
ACPI driver.  As to *where* that work should take place, that's up to
the linux-thinkpad mailing list and thinkwiki owners to decide whether
they're happy having that discussion take place using their
infrastructure.  I would hope the answer is yes, and that people will
work on it --- since it may very well be Lenovo might start using the
Ideapad firmware in higher-end Thinkpads, and better that people start
work on it sooner rather than later.  However, probably will be a
non-trivial amount of work.

						- Ted