HP-Compaq laptops and Linux ACPI (was RE: redhat comment about intel not taking patches?)

Duncan Gibb
2003-02-13T16:35:18Z

On Thu, 2003-02-13 at 04:11, Cagle, John (ISS-Houston) wrote:

JC> it is unreasonable to expect that our laptop and
JC> desktop divisions test with Linux ACPI for two
JC> big reasons: first, the Linux OS has a very small
JC> share of those markets, and second, Red Hat's
JC> releases don't even have ACPI support.

Can I throw in my twopenneth at this point? Sorry if I repeat anything
that's been said earlier in this thread - I've been busy ;-)

Back in November I had an exchange of emails on this list and with
Richard Black at HP, during which we established that the main thing
that stops Linux ACPI working out-of-the-box on HP notebooks like my Evo
N800c is that the DSDT written into the BIOS on these boxes does not
comply with the ACPI spec. I sent details of some of the most obvious
violations - with references - to Richard, who said he's pass them on,
but I've heard nothing back.

Which OSes you chose to test/certify on which of your hardware is
entirely a business decision for you.

However, I, as your customer, think that if HP advertises a product as
ACPI-compliant - which you do - and is (through Compaq) a co-author of
the specification with which you're claiming compliance - which you are
- then it's not too much to ask that this claim be true - which
unfortunately, it isn't.

While you might not feel inclined to go out of your way to support Linux
on your notebooks, I don't see that it's advantageous to your business
to go out of your way to obstruct those of us who want/need to use it.

Cheers

Duncan