William Bouterse wrote: > On Sat, 2 Feb 2002 20:53:26 +0000 > OS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote these words: > > >>Yes ! Me and now several others have started threads on more than one mailing >>list stating that the old Linux power management was bad, but the new systems >>(APIC and APMD beta 3) REALLY suck !!! >> >>What really intriques me is how Linux is being positioned as the OS for all >>platforms, and yet locks completely solid on platforms that require any kind >>of power management that doesn't involve "init 6" !!! >> >>I am wanting to deliver a Mandrake 8.2 Linux based laptop system to an >>important client. This machine will show off Mandrake and Linux to people who >>have probably not even heard of Linux, or at least certainly not considered >>using it. I can't deliver it because it locks solid when ever a power >>management feature is invoked !!! I am seriously faced with having to put a >>Window$ on to it. This is a real shame, but it is a reality. >> >>Owen >> >>On Friday 01 Feb 2002 3:05 am, you wrote: >> >>>I installed 8.2 beta on a Dell Inspiron 8000. When the screen >>>attempted to dim the machine powered down. >>> >>>With a fresh 8.2 install power management still doesn't work. >>>apmd is running but any change in power status (unplug for instance) >>>causes the machine to hand. >>> >>>This worked fine in 8.1 >>> >>>darrell >>> > > > What make and model is the notebook you plan to use ? > Is it a Dell as well ? > > Have you attempted to install LM 8.1? > If they have never seen/used linux anyway an older version > which works might be an alternate approach !? > > Don't give up yet !!! > > William Bouterse > Talkeetna, Ak > > >
Well, the issue of APIC is complex. Dell at least fixed the BIOS bug that was providing "bad bridge mapping" errors in the inspiron 4000 above 192M RAM. They still have issues with ACPI and APIC both. It takes special dodges with the hardware to make all that stuff fit in a tiny box, so standard drivers often need modification to work in notebooks. Since the notebook makers install windows in their notebooks, they make their own drivers to compensate for the non-standard solutions they come up with to make the notebooks work in the first place. If they were a little more forthcoming about their dodges, linux drivers might work as well. But this is a situation where we have a conflict. Without a UP install kernel with APIC, many multipe-processor installs won't work. There are also rigs with multiple IDE controllers that need APIC even with the UP platform. And there is a small, intensely working group of engineers trying to keep up with all the kernel changes and make them workable who cannot make unnecessary forks in the kernel. So a simple report about APIC is quite sufficient. Now the problem of still behaving the same way when "linux noapic" is the kernel message is significant and may suggest other issues as well for the platform. There are other notebooks which do not work correctly with any of our stock kernels at all. Some need "linux noauto nousb noapic" for example. Some yield to nothing we have tried for 8.0, 8.1 and 8.2beta. Without samples and some tech info from the manufacturer, our chances of making notebooks work out of the box aren't as good as they could be otherwise, Civileme
