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Date:      Mon, 31 Jan 2000 00:04:54 +0100
From:      "Jose M. Alcaide" <jose@we.lc.ehu.es>
To:        freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   some questions about APM
Message-ID:  <3894C396.D31AF876@we.lc.ehu.es>

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Hello,

I am a newbie in the laptop world, so I have several basic questions about
APM. I'll be very thankful to anyone who answers any of these questions :)
The laptop I am using is a Dell Inspiron 3700, and it is running 3.4-RELEASE.
Also, I must say that I have carefully read the source of the apm(4) driver.

1. I am confused about the "idling CPU" support. My laptop has an APM BIOS
   setting called "Smart CPU" which, when enabled, "adjusts the CPU clock
   according to the needs of the application" [sic]. However, the apm(4) boot
   messages say "Idling CPU disabled" -when compiled with APM_DEBUG set-;
   this information is returned by the APM_INSTCHECK vm86 call to the APM
   BIOS.

2. Is there any way to know whether the APM BIOS halts the CPU when the "CPU
   idle" function is invoked?

3. What is the difference between APM "engage" and "enable"?

4. Are the APM BIOS settings overridden by the apm(4) initialization? (Note:
   I added VM86 support to the kernel). I set timeouts for LCD turnoff and
   system suspend, but they don't have any effect once apm(4) has been
   initialized -even before being enabled-: when I interrupt the system boot
   (in the loader, when APM has not been yet initialized), the APM BIOS
   timeouts work; but, after booting in single user mode (so apm has not been
   yet enabled), they don't. However, the "hard disk timeout" _does_ work.

5. Is the APM BIOS API available for free downloading? I followed a link from
   the PAO home page to the Intel web site, but it is broken; then, I searched
   the Intel web site for any APM developer guide, to no avail :( . Of course,
   I am willing to collaborate to improve the FreeBSD's APM support.

As I said above, I'll be grateful for any answer to any of these questions.

Cheers,
-- JMA
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José Mª Alcaide                         | mailto:jose@we.lc.ehu.es
Universidad del País Vasco              | mailto:jmas@FreeBSD.org
Dpto. de Electricidad y Electrónica     | http://www.we.lc.ehu.es/~jose
Facultad de Ciencias - Campus de Lejona | Tel.:  +34-946012479
48940 Lejona (Vizcaya) - SPAIN          | Fax:   +34-946013071
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 "Beware of Programmers who carry screwdrivers"  --  Leonard Brandwein


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