ACPI/apm and the quest for a reliable suspend

From: Alan W Black (awb_at_cs.cmu.edu)
Date: 05/05/04

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    Date: 04 May 2004 19:09:16 -0400

    I am unfortunately again looking for a new laptop after my dell
    inspiron 5100's screen just died. I have run linux on all my laptops
    except one where I ran FreeBSD, but recently I've not been able to
    find a laptop that really works with Linux. They all sort of work,
    and even after substantial kernel hacking my Inspiron 5100 was not
    really functional. It didn't suspend, I did get ACPI to work and
    could see the battery go down, but there wasn't anything equivalent to
    apm -s which I used on all my previous dells which really worked and
    rarely failed.

    Looking over the other alternatives, IBM T41, IBM R40 (both seem to
    have suspend issues), Dell 600m and Dell x300, it seems that *no*
    laptop currently on sale can support suspend under linux or at least
    support it reliable. I know this is due to the manufacturers changing
    their specs faster than anyone can keep up with them, and I'm not
    looking for the latest fastest processor or fancy video card.

    I really hope I'm wrong, and a machine with a reliably suspend does
    exist, as I really don't want to have to change my environment, (to
    say an iBook, or go on ebay and buy older machines).

    My goal is a linux machine with:
        1068x768 screen (as I have poor eyesight, I really dislike anything
           larger, as the fonts are already too small)
        sound
        long battery life > 4hrs (my old dells would hold two batteries)
        two pcmcia slots (or one if the internal wireless works)
        builtin ethernet
        powerable on a plane (i.e. < 70Watt)
    Nice things to have would be
        small
        light weight
        working mode
    But I live without them.

    Though when I start listing these things I note that sleep is
    actually the one that none of the candidates have. Can anyone
    point me at a machine that can do this.

    thanks

    Alan

    Alan W Black email: awb@cs.cmu.edu
    Language Technologies Institute http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/
    Carnegie Mellon University tel: +1-412-268-6299
    5000 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh PA, 15213, USA. fax: +1-412-268-6298

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