From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Peter Feuerer Subject: Re: [PATCH] acerhdf: Limit modalias matching to supported boards Date: Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:41:42 +0200 Message-ID: References: <4AC9E0F3.5030605@canonical.com> <200910050919.51581.bjorn.helgaas@hp.com> <4ACA1743.5030500@canonical.com> <200910051002.26385.bjorn.helgaas@hp.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE Return-path: Received: from smtprelay01.ispgateway.de ([80.67.31.24]:44668 "EHLO smtprelay01.ispgateway.de" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1753854AbZJERAy (ORCPT ); Mon, 5 Oct 2009 13:00:54 -0400 Content-Disposition: inline Sender: linux-acpi-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-acpi@vger.kernel.org To: Bjorn Helgaas Cc: Stefan Bader , lenb@kernel.org, =?UTF-8?B?bGludXgtYWNwaUB2Z2VyLmtlcm5lbC5vcmc=?= , Borislav Petkov Bjorn Helgaas writes: > On Monday 05 October 2009 09:56:51 am Stefan Bader wrote: >> Bjorn Helgaas wrote: >> > On Monday 05 October 2009 06:05:54 am Stefan Bader wrote: >> >>>>>> wrote: >> >>>>>>>>> I search my acerhdf-inbox for the people who sent me the B= IOS=20 >> >>>>>>>>> versions, >> >>>>>>>> maybe they still have the netbook and can me send the modal= ias=20 >> >>>>>>>> content. I'll =2E.. >> >=20 >> > This smells like a maintenance problem. The driver only works on = the >> > specific machines and BIOS versions compiled into it. That means = you >> > have to update the driver every time a new machine comes out. A m= ajor >> > goal of ACPI is to avoid stuff like that. >> >=20 >> > Are you sure there's no way to make this driver work in a generic = way, >> > e.g., by claiming an ACPI device? >>=20 >> The driver is currently only targeted at a small set of netbooks and= even there=20 >> some registers have changed between sub models or bios versions. >> The functions are implemented by poking and reading bits from the EC= =2E No acpi=20 >> interface to which one relate as far as I know. Maybe wmi, but from = the=20 >> experiences with acer-wmi, I doubt anything works. At least acer-wmi= now=20 >> explicitly blacklist these models for uselessness. >> So the driver performs very strict bios version checks and every unk= nown=20 >> version get a big warning printed. Which you do not want to be issue= d on every=20 >> hardware of one of these vendors. Which happens with the driver as i= t is now. >=20 > I understand the motivation for the current patch, and I'm not asking > about it in particular. My concern is about the underlying structure > of the driver. >=20 > I'm just asking why we would want a driver that requires an update > for every new machine. That sort of ongoing maintenance is a good > sign that we're doing something wrong. Hi Bjorn, as Stefan already mentioned, is the driver only targeting a very small = set=20 of (very popular) netbooks. The vendor supposed to control the fan only= by=20 BIOS. I think it is not ment to be controlled by the OS at all, as ther= e is=20 no official Windows support neither. The successor series of the supported netbooks even don't have the=20 register in EC anymore. So I think there won't be much changes caused b= y new=20 devices in the future anymore. Besides that, I don't think there's a wa= y to=20 detect the right register and the needed values automatically=E2=80=A6 kind regards, --peter -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-acpi" i= n the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html