[tlinux-users 00207] Re: Toshiba Satellite U400-138 and ACPI issues

[Jonathan Buzzard]

On Fri, 2008-10-10 at 08:22 -0400, Thomas Charron wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 4:36 AM, Ilyes Gouta <ilyes.gouta at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> > You'll need to call some ACPI methods in order to enable/disable the
> > LEDs. The new models from Toshiba (Statellite A/U 300 and up) are 100%
> > designed for Windows. Reading the DSDT ACPI table was a shocker for me
> > since it contained a lot of references to some Windows only
> > capabilities such as a hidden ACPI device (TVAP, Toshiba Value Added
> > Package), an ACPI - WMI interface which offer a way for windows to
> > access BIOS functions through a WMI interface, an incomplete thermal
> > zone specification in which there is no mention of a fan device,
> > although the CPU (and/or GPU) fan keep spinning at full speed, all the
> > time, and loudly as soon as I boot my laptop into Linux (Could you
> > please check if you have the same symptoms as mine, regarding the last
> > point?).
> > Now, there is one thing I like you to do, could you please send me
> > back your binary DSDT table? To do it, log as root on your machine,
> > open a shell and do:
> > $ cat  /proc/acpi/dsdt > acpi-dump.bin
> > and then send me back acpi-dump.bin.


The TVAP and the TVALD (Toshiba Value Added Logical Device) are
effectively supported under Linux, for a *LONG* time now.

I am not sure if the TVAP replaces the TVALD, or is only present on the
Compal OEM laptops (as opposed to the puka 100% Toshiba ones). However
it is just an interface to the SMM mode of the processor. The puka
Toshiba laptops are supported under with /dev/toshiba for over 10 years
now and the Compal ones with the Omnibook driver since around 2000 as I
recall. Guess who OEM's laptops for HP :-)

The TVALD device works in *exactly* the same manner as /dev/toshiba you
open the device and do an ioctl... I have not looked into the TVAP
closely, but it looked to be doing exactly the same thing.

I guess the issue is that the toshiba_acpi driver does not present
a /dev/toshiba device unless you specially patch it. That should really
be fixed. There is some issues about who gets ownership of that device
is it the toshiba module or the toshiba_acpi?

It is my opinion that as APM and ACPI are mutually exclusive, it does
not matter, as you cannot load both the toshiba and toshiba_acpi modules
on any machine at the same time and if you can it is a bug that needs
fixing.

However I did not write the toshiba_acpi module, and for a *long* time
did not run my laptop in ACPI mode. That said I replaced my ageing Tecra
8200 with a Tecra M5 late last year (the 8200 gave up the ghost after
five and a bit years), and have been running with ACPI on the M5 ever
since as it does not support APM. However the patched toshiba_acpi
module does me fine.


JAB.

-- 
Jonathan A. Buzzard                 Email: jonathan (at) buzzard.me.uk
Fife, United Kingdom.