ACPI: Advanced Configuration and Power Interface by Emma Jane Hogbin (bill gates best books TXT) 📕

NVdriver 945408 11

The last module is my graphics card, which uses proprietary drivers. This is

why I have a "P" next to Tainted on the top line.

If you compiled ACPI support in as "M"odules and you don't see the ACPI

modules listed you will need to load the modules by hand. The modules should

be in /lib/modules/. /kernel/drivers/acpi/, and are as

follows:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4.1k Jun 3 23:57 ac.o

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9.5k Jun 3 23:57 battery.o

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5.2k Jun 3 23:57 button.o

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3.7k Jun 3 23:57 fan.o

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 14k Jun 3 23:57 processor.o

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11k Jun 3 23:57 thermal.o

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6.2k Jun 3 23:57 toshiba-acpi.o

Note Extensions on Modules

The module name is the bit before .o extension on a module filename.

processor.o is the file, and processor is the module name. To install a loadable kernel module use: insmod processor. The 2.4.x series kernels use the extension .o; however, the 2.6.x series kernel use the extension .ko.

The first time I rebooted I loaded them all by hand, typing insmod <

modulename>. I personally load processor first, although there are mixed

feelings on whether or not the order matters.

Note Operating System Power Management (OSPM)

The first time I tried this the modules were all in separate directories

and were ospm-<name>. This was probably because I was using an old patch, but it is something to be aware of. The OSPM modules are now deprecated so hopefully you won't see them.

To prevent having to load the modules each time you reboot you can do one of

two things: compile them directly into the kernel (bit late for that though,

eh?), or add them to your /etc/modules file. If you don't already have a copy

of the file just create a new one and add each module name (remember, no

dot-o) on a separate line. You can also try running update-modules which

should automatically update your /etc/modules.conf configuration file.

Switching from APM to ACPI

Do not let apmd and acpid run at the same time unless you REALLY know what

you're doing. Debian will not make sure only one is running at a time. You

will have to check. APM will try to put your system into S3. On the 2.4.x

(and before) series kernels this will quite probably hang your machine. S3 is

not supported until at least 2.5.x. Even the patch won't provide support for

S3 in the 2.4.x series kernels. I personally did an apt-get remove apmd to

solve the hanging problem.

You should also be aware of another little glitch I discovered. The XFree86

server has an option for DPMS (Energy Star) features. The DPMS can states can

be one of standby, suspend, off or on. Since the 2.4.x kernels cannot suspend

to disk, this can cause problems. I fixed my system by doing two things:

*  xset -dpms (disables DPMS features)

*  In /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 I commented out the line Option "DPMS" under

Section "Monitor".

Warning Lost Touchpad and Keyboard Interrupts

Karl Hegbloom emailed me to say that "keyboard keys sticking,

touchpad pointer jumping suddenly across the screen, lockups under heavy network I/O [was] caused by polling the battery state via ACPI and the proc file system." This problem caused, in part, by a delay between the initial request for information about the battery's status and the response. In that delay interrupts may be locked out and synchronization with the keyboard and touch pad may be lost. "The overnight solution is to either turn off the battery applet, or reduce its polling frequency." Karl also notes that a BIOS update was also able to solve the problem. Thanks Karl! I did not find this to be a problem for me in the 2.4.x kernels, however, it was a problem when I upgraded to 2.6.5. I use wmacpi to monitor my battery status. By setting the polling frequency to 1 (the lowest possible number), I seem to have eliminated the touchpad lockups. In my .xinitrc file I use: /usr/bin/wmacpi -s 1 The -s 1 represents the polling frequency (sample rate) of "once per minute." The default is 20. Using ACPI

There are a few different applications/daemons you will want to install on

your system: acpid (the daemon that will control your hardware states), and

acpi (the interface to monitor events and states) are the base install. The

acpi Debian package is only available in testing and is unstable. If you're

running stable you won't be able to install it without playing around with

apt and your list.sources file. You can probably also compile from source. If

you do get acpi installed you can use it to monitor your system like this:

acpi -V. The output will tell you about your system. Mine looks like this:

Thermal 1: ok, 47.1 degrees C Thermal 2: ok, 45.1 degrees C

AC Adapter 1: off-line <-- running off battery

AC Adapter 1: on-line <-- running off AC power

Unfortunately, the -V "full version" doesn't work for me. Fortunately I can

still look in each of the acpi files individually for information about my

system. Check in the /proc/acpi directory for various things of importance.

If I want to check my battery I read the following file like this: cat /proc/

acpi/battery/BAT0/state. The output is as follows:

present: yes

capacity state: ok

charging state: discharging <-- running off battery

present rate: unknown

remaining capacity: 3920 mAh <-- watch this number

present voltage: 14800 mV

present: yes

capacity state: ok

charging state: discharging

present rate: unknown

remaining capacity: 3840 mAh <-- capacity getting smaller