Now I'm thinking the lack of cooling may have killed the power subsystem for the display on the first laptop I tested. I also note that the function key controls don't work -- for instance, I can't increase/decrease the brightness on the display. The sensor function in the System Benchmark and Profile utility is dead too.
I wonder if there is a kernel module which needs to be loaded to activate the Compaq fan, the system control keys and BIOS sensors. Caitlyn Martin at O'Reilly blogs she needs to modprobe a Toshiba kernel module to get a reasonable X display with all recent versions of Vector Linux.
Until we resolve these problems, the Compaq laptops may not be usable with Vector Linux or any Gnu/Linux, including the intended use as LTSP workstations.
There is a controversy going right now regarding a Foxconn mobo BIOS which detects Linux and points it to bogus dsdt tables and thereby breaks an industry standard and Gnu/Linux. Faulty BIOS dsdt tables appear to be the culprit with Compaq N600 series laptops.
http://www.psychosis.net/evo-linux/ http://tldp.org/HOWTO/ACPI-HOWTO/dsdt.html http://ubuntu-virginia.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=869249 Tom Richard Zimmerman wrote:
Tom Brown wrote:They above has the worlds crappiest ACPI / APM support - as in virtually non existent from what I have read... Don't feel bas, it hasn't worked over here yet either.:: Laptop Down The Compaq Evo N600 laptop...Something bothers me about the two laptops I've tested. The fans never come on. Both laptops have P3 1.2 GHz processors and should require fan cooling. I thought ACPI might be defective in VL so I turned it off and turned on APM. The fan still doesn't spin up. Hmm...Goose ** This list is PUBLICLY archived. **PLEASE don't post personal or sensitive information unless you wish for it to be in the public domain.To post to the list send email to frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe archive is available at //www.freelists.org/archives/frgeek-michiana/You may unsubscribe or change your list settings by going to the list website at //www.freelists.org/webpage/frgeek-michiana
** This list is PUBLICLY archived. ** PLEASE don't post personal or sensitive information unless you wish for it to be in the public domain. To post to the list send email to frgeek-michiana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx The archive is available at //www.freelists.org/archives/frgeek-michiana/ You may unsubscribe or change your list settings by going to the list website at //www.freelists.org/webpage/frgeek-michiana
