Boot setup

Forum: DSL Tips and Tricks
Topic: Boot setup
started by: jpeters

Posted by jpeters on Sep. 15 2007,19:46

Dell Latitude laptop, boot setup:

I finally got around to experimenting with my boot setup, and found that the "noacpi" option did not keep acpi from overiding the APM, but using "acpi=off" did. Enabling apm (by deleting the default "noapm" eliminated the problem of the laptop hanging on shutdown, in addition to enabling use of function keys incl suspend mode. I also enabled dma (erased nodma), thinking that with a newer computer it might make things faster or more efficient....don't know.

Posted by Juanito on Sep. 16 2007,06:15

I use dsl/dsl-n from usb on a Dell Latitude D400 - acpi works (except suspend) with only the "apm=off" boot code. In dsl-n, cpufreq and laptop-mode-tools (see cpufreq-combo mydsl extension) effectively double battery life.

Using dma speeds things up by 3-4x as evidenced by booting knoppix toram and roughly 2x when booting dsl from an ext2 usb stick - it seems you get a transfer speed display on boot with ext2 but not fat/fat32

Posted by jpeters on Sep. 17 2007,03:32

Quote (Juanito @ Sep. 16 2007,02:15)

I'm using a C610; acpi seemed to load okay, and overrode apm, although I'm not sure what the advantage is because the function keys, including suspend, work with apm. Try setting acpi=off and using apm; I'll bet your suspend function works. Maybe battery time gets sacrificed, I don't know (I'll check out tools, although most battery time indicators mean squat

Quote

Using dma speeds things up by 3-4x as evidenced by booting knoppix toram and roughly 2x when booting dsl from an ext2 usb stick - it seems you get a transfer speed display on boot with ext2 but not fat/fat32

Nice stats on the DMA! I haven't booted it up since getting suspend mode working

Edit: After reading more about acpi vs apm, I'm guessing that DSL provides better support for apm than the newer acpi (probably why the function keys/suspend mode, etc don't work with acpi).

Posted by jpeters on Sep. 24 2007,06:37

Quote (Juanito @ Sep. 16 2007,02:15)

I seem to be getting much better battery life with apm (apci=off), but perhaps there's more support with dsl-n.

Posted by Juanito on Sep. 24 2007,07:40

Quote

but perhaps there's more support with dsl-n

- The biggest single differentiator is the cpufreq speedstep kernel module which automatically slows the cpu down when it has nothing much to do.

I managed to compile some kind of back-port for 2.4.26 but it did not have the same functionality - and it needed a recompiled kernel.

Posted by jpeters on Sep. 24 2007,20:04

Quote (Juanito @ Sep. 24 2007,03:40)

- The biggest single differentiator is the cpufreq speedstep kernel module which automatically slows the cpu down when it has nothing much to do.

Well with regular DSL and APM, there's a special feature where the computer crashes into hybernation at around 17% (that you can't get out of without plugging it in). This greatly extends the battery time.