Status of T60, eCS RC2, Docking Station, and ACPI/APM

First, a bit of background.  I have been trying since 01-Nov-2006 to get 
two TPad T60s to the point where they are functional enough to use as 
our primary systems.  It has not been a fun ride.  The most critical 
issue that had been a show stopper was that the system would not boot 
[Trap 0008] when the system was in the Advanced Dock.  [The Dock was 
required since, among other issues, the T60 has no parallel port.

Expecting to just get diagnostic info requested for the ACPI trouble 
ticket, I inserted the T60 into the Advanced Dock after installing ACPI 
V3.05.  It booted with NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!

To be sure the system is fully functional; a few tests:
*  Network [WiFi] came up and just worked.  [This was the
    default since it was last used that way.]
*  I printed a document from Open Office to a PDF.
    No problems. Printed the PDF file to the parallel
    printer connected to the Dock; no problems.
*  Turned the WiFi 'radio' OFF; used an ActEnet.Cmd file
    to start the Ethernet wired connection.  It took a couple
    of runs of the command to get the switch to 'take' but it
    did connect [with a different IP address as expected].
    Possibly I was just impatient and it might have worked with
    the first run of the command.  Also, there may be another
    process that does not require the Cmd file, but at least this
    known process worked.
*  Reloaded some pages in SeaMonkey without restarting it; they
    loaded fine!
*  Told PMMail/2 to fetch mail from all SEVEN (yes, 7) E-Mail
    accounts with the Ethernet connection.  WORKED!

So, I left the system in the Dock overnight, just to be sure it
would continue to function.

This morning, the system had continued to run without incident; checking 
mail and automatic Web page reloads.

To complete the cycle I switched back to WiFi:
*  Enabled the WiFi radio.
    -  xWLAN widget automatically reconfigured to wireless.
    -  Objected, as expected, to both interfaces being connected.
    -  Disabled the Ethernet connection, enabled WiFi.
       It even reset to the original IP address for WiFi.
*  To move the system, I just unlocked the Dock and ejected the
    system unit.  It kept running on the battery and now working
    via the standard battery charger/AC adapter without a re-boot.

So, thank you to the ACPI/APM developers for all the updates and fixes 
in V3.05. There are still a number of issues with suspend, screen not 
blanking after a given time interval or with the screensaver, Fn-F7 key 
combination does not toggle LCD/External Display, but at least [after 
almost 13 months!] the T60 is at least usable.  Still no sound, but usable.

Carl,

  That's great news! Make sure you let Pasha (the ACPI developer) know.

  Re: screen blanking... something I noticed recently - go to 'Programs' ->
'Installed Software' -> 
'Doodle's Screen Saver' and in there is a script to 'Use Direct VGA Access for
DPMS'. Running this 
allowed my laptop to blank properly. YMMV...

Dave McKenna


On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:36:51 -0500, Carl Gehr wrote:

>First, a bit of background.  I have been trying since 01-Nov-2006 to get 
>two TPad T60s to the point where they are functional enough to use as 
>our primary systems.  It has not been a fun ride.  The most critical 
>issue that had been a show stopper was that the system would not boot 
>[Trap 0008] when the system was in the Advanced Dock.  [The Dock was 
>required since, among other issues, the T60 has no parallel port.
>
>Expecting to just get diagnostic info requested for the ACPI trouble 
>ticket, I inserted the T60 into the Advanced Dock after installing ACPI 
>V3.05.  It booted with NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!
>
>To be sure the system is fully functional; a few tests:
>*  Network [WiFi] came up and just worked.  [This was the
>    default since it was last used that way.]
>*  I printed a document from Open Office to a PDF.
>    No problems. Printed the PDF file to the parallel
>    printer connected to the Dock; no problems.
>*  Turned the WiFi 'radio' OFF; used an ActEnet.Cmd file
>    to start the Ethernet wired connection.  It took a couple
>    of runs of the command to get the switch to 'take' but it
>    did connect [with a different IP address as expected].
>    Possibly I was just impatient and it might have worked with
>    the first run of the command.  Also, there may be another
>    process that does not require the Cmd file, but at least this
>    known process worked.
>*  Reloaded some pages in SeaMonkey without restarting it; they
>    loaded fine!
>*  Told PMMail/2 to fetch mail from all SEVEN (yes, 7) E-Mail
>    accounts with the Ethernet connection.  WORKED!
>
>So, I left the system in the Dock overnight, just to be sure it
>would continue to function.
>
>This morning, the system had continued to run without incident; checking 
>mail and automatic Web page reloads.
>
>To complete the cycle I switched back to WiFi:
>*  Enabled the WiFi radio.
>    -  xWLAN widget automatically reconfigured to wireless.
>    -  Objected, as expected, to both interfaces being connected.
>    -  Disabled the Ethernet connection, enabled WiFi.
>       It even reset to the original IP address for WiFi.
>*  To move the system, I just unlocked the Dock and ejected the
>    system unit.  It kept running on the battery and now working
>    via the standard battery charger/AC adapter without a re-boot.
>
>So, thank you to the ACPI/APM developers for all the updates and fixes 
>in V3.05. There are still a number of issues with suspend, screen not 
>blanking after a given time interval or with the screensaver, Fn-F7 key 
>combination does not toggle LCD/External Display, but at least [after 
>almost 13 months!] the T60 is at least usable.  Still no sound, but usable.
>Carl

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:14:20 UTC, "David McKenna" 
<davidmckenna@comcast.net> wrote:

-> Carl,
-> 
->   That's great news! Make sure you let Pasha (the ACPI developer) know.
-> 
->   Re: screen blanking... something I noticed recently - go to 'Programs'
-> 'Installed Software' -> 
-> 'Doodle's Screen Saver' and in there is a script to 'Use Direct VGA Access
for DPMS'. Running this 
-> allowed my laptop to blank properly. YMMV...
-> 
-> Dave McKenna

Good find.  This should be sent in to tips@os2voice.org so other 
people can know it to.  Its annoyed me for quite a while that the 
screen blanks, but there is still a glow from it. 

Also can someone who has had some success write a review of eCS 2.0 
RC3 for the VOICE Newsletter please?

Mark

-> 
-> 
-> On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:36:51 -0500, Carl Gehr wrote:
-> 
-> >First, a bit of background.  I have been trying since 01-Nov-2006 to
get 
-> >two TPad T60s to the point where they are functional enough to use as

-> >our primary systems.  It has not been a fun ride.  The most critical 
-> >issue that had been a show stopper was that the system would not boot

-> >[Trap 0008] when the system was in the Advanced Dock.  [The Dock was 
-> >required since, among other issues, the T60 has no parallel port.
-> >
-> >Expecting to just get diagnostic info requested for the ACPI trouble 
-> >ticket, I inserted the T60 into the Advanced Dock after installing
ACPI 
-> >V3.05.  It booted with NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!
-> >
-> >To be sure the system is fully functional; a few tests:
-> >*  Network [WiFi] came up and just worked.  [This was the
-> >    default since it was last used that way.]
-> >*  I printed a document from Open Office to a PDF.
-> >    No problems. Printed the PDF file to the parallel
-> >    printer connected to the Dock; no problems.
-> >*  Turned the WiFi 'radio' OFF; used an ActEnet.Cmd file
-> >    to start the Ethernet wired connection.  It took a couple
-> >    of runs of the command to get the switch to 'take' but it
-> >    did connect [with a different IP address as expected].
-> >    Possibly I was just impatient and it might have worked with
-> >    the first run of the command.  Also, there may be another
-> >    process that does not require the Cmd file, but at least this
-> >    known process worked.
-> >*  Reloaded some pages in SeaMonkey without restarting it; they
-> >    loaded fine!
-> >*  Told PMMail/2 to fetch mail from all SEVEN (yes, 7) E-Mail
-> >    accounts with the Ethernet connection.  WORKED!
-> >
-> >So, I left the system in the Dock overnight, just to be sure it
-> >would continue to function.
-> >
-> >This morning, the system had continued to run without incident;
checking 
-> >mail and automatic Web page reloads.
-> >
-> >To complete the cycle I switched back to WiFi:
-> >*  Enabled the WiFi radio.
-> >    -  xWLAN widget automatically reconfigured to wireless.
-> >    -  Objected, as expected, to both interfaces being connected.
-> >    -  Disabled the Ethernet connection, enabled WiFi.
-> >       It even reset to the original IP address for WiFi.
-> >*  To move the system, I just unlocked the Dock and ejected the
-> >    system unit.  It kept running on the battery and now working
-> >    via the standard battery charger/AC adapter without a re-boot.
-> >
-> >So, thank you to the ACPI/APM developers for all the updates and fixes

-> >in V3.05. There are still a number of issues with suspend, screen not

-> >blanking after a given time interval or with the screensaver, Fn-F7
key 
-> >combination does not toggle LCD/External Display, but at least [after

-> >almost 13 months!] the T60 is at least usable.  Still no sound, but
usable.
-> >Carl
-> 
-> 
-> 


-- 
From the eComStation of Mark Dodel

 Warpstock 2007 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada: http://www.warpstock.org
 Warpstock Europe - Valkenswaard close to Eindhoven, the Netherlands: 

I have the access, but the knowledge is lacking :C

Dave,
I did post this same text to the ticket I had open.  So, Pasha should be 
aware at this point.

Thanks for the pointer about:
     'Use Direct VGA Access for DPMS'
to get screen blanking.  In case someone else is going to follow this 
suggestion, I assume this also required selecting the DPMS option on the 
'Monitor' tab of the 'Screen' settings.  If these two settings make a 
difference, I'll post the results here.

Carl


On 11/30/07 12:14 pm, David McKenna wrote:
> Carl,
> 
>   That's great news! Make sure you let Pasha (the ACPI developer) know.
> 
>   Re: screen blanking... something I noticed recently - go to 'Programs'
-> 'Installed Software' -> 
> 'Doodle's Screen Saver' and in there is a script to 'Use Direct VGA Access
for DPMS'. Running this 
> allowed my laptop to blank properly. YMMV...
> 
> Dave McKenna
> 
> 
> On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:36:51 -0500, Carl Gehr wrote:
> 
>> First, a bit of background.  I have been trying since 01-Nov-2006 to
get 
>> two TPad T60s to the point where they are functional enough to use as 
>> our primary systems.  It has not been a fun ride.  The most critical 
>> issue that had been a show stopper was that the system would not boot 
>> [Trap 0008] when the system was in the Advanced Dock.  [The Dock was 
>> required since, among other issues, the T60 has no parallel port.
>>
>> Expecting to just get diagnostic info requested for the ACPI trouble 
>> ticket, I inserted the T60 into the Advanced Dock after installing ACPI

>> V3.05.  It booted with NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!
>>
>> To be sure the system is fully functional; a few tests:
>> *  Network [WiFi] came up and just worked.  [This was the
>>    default since it was last used that way.]
>> *  I printed a document from Open Office to a PDF.
>>    No problems. Printed the PDF file to the parallel
>>    printer connected to the Dock; no problems.
>> *  Turned the WiFi 'radio' OFF; used an ActEnet.Cmd file
>>    to start the Ethernet wired connection.  It took a couple
>>    of runs of the command to get the switch to 'take' but it
>>    did connect [with a different IP address as expected].
>>    Possibly I was just impatient and it might have worked with
>>    the first run of the command.  Also, there may be another
>>    process that does not require the Cmd file, but at least this
>>    known process worked.
>> *  Reloaded some pages in SeaMonkey without restarting it; they
>>    loaded fine!
>> *  Told PMMail/2 to fetch mail from all SEVEN (yes, 7) E-Mail
>>    accounts with the Ethernet connection.  WORKED!
>>
>> So, I left the system in the Dock overnight, just to be sure it
>> would continue to function.
>>
>> This morning, the system had continued to run without incident;
checking 
>> mail and automatic Web page reloads.
>>
>> To complete the cycle I switched back to WiFi:
>> *  Enabled the WiFi radio.
>>    -  xWLAN widget automatically reconfigured to wireless.
>>    -  Objected, as expected, to both interfaces being connected.
>>    -  Disabled the Ethernet connection, enabled WiFi.
>>       It even reset to the original IP address for WiFi.
>> *  To move the system, I just unlocked the Dock and ejected the
>>    system unit.  It kept running on the battery and now working
>>    via the standard battery charger/AC adapter without a re-boot.
>>
>> So, thank you to the ACPI/APM developers for all the updates and fixes

>> in V3.05. There are still a number of issues with suspend, screen not 
>> blanking after a given time interval or with the screensaver, Fn-F7 key

>> combination does not toggle LCD/External Display, but at least [after 
>> almost 13 months!] the T60 is at least usable.  Still no sound, but
usable.