APMD-List:
Archives

  From: Jont Allen <jba@research.att.com>
  To  : <unknown>
  Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1999 23:35:36 -0400

Re: Questions/comments about apmsleep

David Hinds wrote:
> 
> What would people think about merging 'apmsleep' into the 'apm'
> command?  It seems a natural place to put this functionality.
> 
> An implementation issue: I was actually going to write something
> similar, before I found out it already existed.  However, my plan was
> to use the APM 1.2 calls for setting the APM resume timer.  I do not
> know if it is more or less likely for the APM 1.2 calls to exist, or
> if these calls are always implemented using the RTC alarm anyway.  Are
> there any other advantages/disadvantages we should consider for using
> the RTC device, versus implementing the APM 1.2 features?  The APM 1.2
> calls have some additional functionality, such as enabling/disabling
> wake-on-ring or wake-on-pcmcia-ring, as well.
> 
> I had also thought that it would be useful to implement more options:
> i.e., allow setting or unsetting the timer, independent of whether the
> system was to be suspended or not.  This might make things like
> integration with cron/at a bit easier.  Comments?
> 
> -- Dave Hinds

Dave, and APMD-List,

MY first priority would be to nail down all the reliability issues,
which abound. Not because of the linux code, rather because of the
apm-bios bugs and various MFDR idiosyncrasy. What is needed is
a uniform experience across all notebooks, and better integration
with the desktop. Sometimes I feel that RH doesn't know that
the notebook exists. The fact the notebook is were the world is going.
The conversion to notebooks is waiting for the reliability issues
to be solved, I expect, and for higher bandwidth to the ISP's.

I just helped a friend install Linux (over the last 3 weeks) on an Toshiba 7020. The sound
(OSS) barely works. No stereo (mono only), no record. The suspend/resume seems to work.
However after I installed the latest PCMCIA software (complements of Dave), and
after plugging in the NIC, cardctl eject, apm -s, resume, plug in the NIC,
the SYSTEM hangs hard. Hard reboot required. Bummer. This is a $4000 computer.
1024x768. 100 MBs of memory. Top of the line.

We need to make sure this type of stuff cannot happen. I expect I will figure out why
it happened, but it shouldn't (and can't if Linux is going to make it).

We needed to install a 2.2.12 kernel to get the sound to work at all.

Jont
-- 
Jont B. Allen
AT&T Labs-Research, Shannon Laboratory
180 Park Ave., Room E161, Florham Park NJ, 07932-0971
973/360-8545voice, x7111fax, http://www.research.att.com/~jba
 -My favorite URL: www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history
 -Imagination is more important than knowledge.  --Albert Einstein
 -Where does Microsoft want you to go today?  --www.webt-shirt.net