[Debian-eeepc-devel] Some experiences with kernel 2.6.31

[Luca Niccoli]

Hi, I compiled a kernel from linux-source-2.6.31 and I thought Id'
share my experience (I own a 901):

* the firmware for rt2860sta is not included in the kernel anymore,
one needs to install the firmware-ralink package (loading the module
without the firmware leads to nasty behaviours and freezes, and IMHO
loading the module should fail straight away if the firmware is not
found); it took me a while to realize it

* Sometimes using the wifi kill siwtch makes the computer freeze (the
screen gets blanked and I see only the cursor), and I don't understand
why

* I need to do wpa_action ra0 stop && ifconfig ra0 down before
suspending, otherwise the system freezes on resume

* I needed to set an hotkey to handle_shengine, and use it to set it
to auto, since it's not possible, it seems, to set a default it in
/etc/default/eeepc-acpi-scripts; maybe it would be nice to have such a
possibility (and ovverride that preference if handle_shengine is used)

* Loading eeepc_laptop is still amazingly slow. I worked around it by
blacklisting the module, and modifying /etc/init.d/eeepc-acpi-scripts
to load it (and making the script Depend: on $all, not starting on S
but on 2 3 4 5, so that it happens after the whole boot process).
Would it be acceptable to merge this?

* Sometimes using the wifi kill siwtch makes the computer freeze (the
screen gets blanked and I see only the cursor), and I don't understand
what triggers it

On the bright side:

* SHEngine really kills the power consumption

* I tried using kernel modesetting, and it works fine it seems.
Switching between VT and X is now super cool :)

* After the boot script fix, boot is really fast, 10s in bootchart (1
of which is spent mounting the secondary SSD, I don't know why)[1],
the kernel initializes in 2s with i915 and eeepc_laptop configured as
modules

* The kernel now send XF86MonBrightnessUp/Down events when the
brightness keys are pressed, this lets xfce4-power-manager display a
nice and responsive OSD

* Setting SOUND_PREFER_MASTER leads to a more friendly behaviour; are
there problems in setting it by default?


Cheers,

Luca

[1] I have CONCURRENCY=startpar, so bootchart is stopped at the just
when eeepc-acpi-scripts is started, and doesn't account for that time
- but while  the eeepc-laptop is being loaded the system is already
usable.