Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2011 03:53:32 +0100 From: VOICE News Service Subject: [VOICENWS] Drivers: New public release of ACPI for eComStation ++ From the VOICE OS/2-eCS News Service http://www.os2voice.org ++ From: rwkleinDESPAM at DESPAMmensys.nl Mensys BV is pleased to announce the first public beta of an ACPI support distribution since long. About 6 months ago David Azarewicz has began work to update and improve the ACPI code. We are happy to be able to release this new distribution which has been greatly improved over all previous releases. It is available to anyone with a current eComStation Software subscription service, via their download-area at the Mensys Online Shop. To access these distributions, login at http://www.mensys.net/login Once you are logged in, the ACPI package is available under 'Downloads' -> 'Software Subscription Services' -> 'ACPI testbuilds (experimental)'. Please note that your http://ecomstation.com userid will not work at the Mensys website. ** About this version: ** This build of the ACPI PSD supports considerably fewer command line switches and in our testing works on more equipment, is significantly more stable and requires fewer CPU resources. Unless overridden, the PSD now enables SMP (multi CPU mode) and APIC mode automatically. No switches are needed. For the people who have used ACPI switches like /SMP /APIC /!NOD /CD and /FS, these are no longer needed and will be removed from the PSD command line. See the documentation for the available switches. In addition, a number of long standing SMP bugs in OS/2 code have been fixed. The ACPI distribution ships with an updated IBM keyboard driver and an updated TCPIP32.DLL to correct SMP related defects. The TCPIP32 DLL has proven to make Firefox and Thunderbird much more stable on systems running in SMP mode. We recommend that users running older versions of the ACPI PSD update to this distribution. ** About ACPI: ** ACPI stands for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface It manages your computer your hardware resources like IRQ's. It provides support for suspend/resume and controlling CPU speed on systems that support this. For more information visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface ** Major todo items: ** - Implement the so called HLT (halt support) in the ACPI code. Research is in progress on how best to implement this. HLT support is one of the methods used to reduce CPU power consumption. - Suspend/resume. A lot of code has been updated to improve suspend/resume support. However is it currently recommended that you do not use this feature on production systems. If you wish to try suspend/suspend S3 mode, it may work on your system. However, this not yet considered a supported feature. Please do not submit suspend/resume defect reports until support is announced. - Implement Fn function key support for laptops. ** Reporting bugs: ** Bugs should be reported via http://www.ecomstation.com/ Login and select 'Access bugtracker' from your profile page. Once in the bugtracker, select project: eComStation 2.1 GA -> report issue -> Category ACPI. I you do encounter problems, follow the docs on how to debug your system. With the new ACPI, debugging ACPI has become easier. If your system does not boot properly, try the /VW switch on the PSD=ACPI.PSD command line. Then try /PCI. Next, try /MAXCPU=1, to switch the system to single CPU mode. The distribution includes a script to automates the debug output capture. Make sure to include this data when you submit tickets. On behalf of the eComStation team, Mensys B.V. and Serenity Systems a happy and health 2012! -- For a choice in the future of personal computing, Join VOICE - http://www.os2voice.org [Moderator's note: All posts are sent without guarantee to the accuracy of the content. We try to verify details and URLs but this is an entirely volunteer run list, so 100% fact checking and the quality/useability of products announced here is impossible. If you respond to this post please remove the DESPAM from the poster's email addresses. Please do not send requests for information about a specific post to the moderator unless it is an update or I sent it. To submit news to this list please use the submission form at http://www.os2voice.org/SubmitNews.html or send an email to "submit at os2voice.org" To unsubscribe yourself from this list, send the following message to majormajor at os2voice.org unsubscribe news end ]