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ACPI Kernel Modules - Laptops, battery and AC

  Date: Dec 06    Category: Unix / Linux / Ubuntu    Views: 591
  

I'm having a problem with the way my (first and only) Linux laptop manages
battery charging and AC use.

This is a Toshiba Satellite M35X-329, (Centrino) 80 gig HDD, half-gig RAM.
Phoenix BIOS, already updated to the newest version available from Toshiba.
There don't seem to be any BIOS setup options relevant to charging / AC
behavior.

Software is Ubuntu 9.04, fully updated. (I have 8.04 available in another
partion.) No Windows.

In brief: Software doesn't seem to be switching the laptop to AC power when it's
available. Battery charging is normal with the laptop off, or when sitting on
the Grub menu. When booted into Ubuntu, it will run on battery only. ACPITOOL
reports AC adapter online/offline correctly, but reports that the battery is
discharging. The laptop is neither running off of AC, nor charging the battery.
(The AC adapter is cold.) I have more test details - but I don't think they
will add much.

Web research has left me with the entirely reasonable desire to load an ACPI
kernel module specific to this hardware. Unfortunately, "sudo modprobe
toshiba_acpi" generates a "fatal" error: "No such device". This page
<http://memebeam.org/toys/ToshibaAcpiDriver> suggests that error occurs on
Toshibas with non-Toshiba BIOS (mine is a Phoenix BIOS). It also suggests that
I can use an Omnibook driver, and refers to SourceForge.net. (I guess that
Omnibooks and some Toshibas are related, under the hood.)

Soooo... now I'm looking for an Omnibook driver. I've found the one on
SourceForge: source code only. I've tried to compile it - without success, so
far. (I haven't been inside a *NIX kernel since 1983!)

That's a long lead-in for a few questions:

Does anybody know of a repository where I might find ready-to-go ACPI drivers?

Can somebody help me "learn to fish" (compile the module from source)?

Is there another solution for this kind of laptop issue?

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4 Answers Found

 
Answer #1    Answered On: Dec 06    

Here is a long list from Kent mirror. You may want to book mark this page. This
has been old faithful site to get the skinny. There is a couple of deb files,
but your LT is made in 2005 and looks like you may have to compile from source.
http://www.mirrorservice.org/search/?q=Omnibook

 
Answer #2    Answered On: Dec 06    

there's at least one file listed that's more recent than the one I
found.

I'm not afraid to run the Makefile, but I'm getting compiler errors. The source
code makes reference to <config.h>, which I understand has been replaced by
<autoconf.h>. A symbolic link takes care of that. But I've got a feeling that
I've got a content change, too: a missing #define, or something similar.

 
Answer #3    Answered On: Dec 06    

Wow I have not updated the home page for a while. I put up some other helpful
links up.

 
Answer #4    Answered On: Dec 06    

Great! I think "Links" may still be flagged "Moderators Only", though.

As to my laptop problem: I was able to build the Omnibook kernel module from
the newest source file using the header files installed with "Hardy", but not
those installed with "Jaunty". That was good enough to test whether or not it
solved my problem. It didn't.

The release notes provided with the kernel module source listed my particular
laptop (M35X) as "status unknown". Not anymore, I guess.

Oh well. Learning how to build and install kernel modules is a small victory in
itself.

 
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