[opensuse] Dell Laptop Functionality
I just recently got a Dell Inspiron N7110 laptop, and virtually everything worked out of the box. Certainly everything important (had to apply a kernel patch to fix an issue with the touchpad being recognized incorrectly as a PS/2 mouse - known issue and a fix is in the works). So I'm getting to more esoteric things in the system configuration. I'm using GNOME3 as my DE and it's on 12.1. 1. Bluetooth - the host name shows the original "linux-xqoa.site" name rather than the current hostname. Anyone know where this comes from? 2. Dell includes a utility with Windows 7 to disable the battery charging circuit. The point of this is to stop trickle charging the battery when it's full - pulling the battery out leaves the laptop without battery backup and isn't the ultimate goal. The goal is to charge the battery and then switch off that circuit, which is supposed to extend the life of the battery itself (that's what the info I've read indicates the purpose is). On Windows it's implemented using WMI as near as I can tell. I see in the kernel drivers (dell-wmi.c specifically) that on some models there's a key - Fn-F2 or Fn-F3, I think - that is supposed to do something, but this model laptop doesn't have that particular key assignment. I can hibernate and go into the BIOS to disable the charging circuit, but that's somewhat inconvenient as if I switch to battery, I then have to hibernate, go to the BIOS, and re-enable the charging circuitry to actually charge the battery when it needs it. Anyone have any ideas on either of these issues? Jim -- Jim Henderson Please keep on-topic replies on the list so everyone benefits -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 12/21/2011 3:06 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
2. Dell includes a utility with Windows 7 to disable the battery charging circuit. The point of this is to stop trickle charging the battery when it's full - pulling the battery out leaves the laptop without battery backup and isn't the ultimate goal. The goal is to charge the battery and then switch off that circuit, which is supposed to extend the life of the battery itself (that's what the info I've read indicates the purpose is).
If Dell needs software for that you probably won't find it for Linux. First, Lithium Ion batteries are never trickle charged. Period. Ever. Its dangerous to do so. LiIon batteries are brought up to charge and then the charger cuts off entirely, and does not come on again until its below 90% or so. This is done by the charging controller chip-set. Since this is a relatively new design I'd be surprised if Dell went for software charge control, and suggest this is simply a way to use the battery while leaving it plugged in, so as not to be charging and draining at the same time. This is not a critical item, because the charge controller manages the battery quite well without it. -- _____________________________________ ---This space for rent--- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:56:29 -0800, John Andersen wrote:
On 12/21/2011 3:06 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
2. Dell includes a utility with Windows 7 to disable the battery charging circuit. The point of this is to stop trickle charging the battery when it's full - pulling the battery out leaves the laptop without battery backup and isn't the ultimate goal. The goal is to charge the battery and then switch off that circuit, which is supposed to extend the life of the battery itself (that's what the info I've read indicates the purpose is).
If Dell needs software for that you probably won't find it for Linux.
First, Lithium Ion batteries are never trickle charged. Period. Ever. Its dangerous to do so.
LiIon batteries are brought up to charge and then the charger cuts off entirely, and does not come on again until its below 90% or so. This is done by the charging controller chip-set.
Since this is a relatively new design I'd be surprised if Dell went for software charge control, and suggest this is simply a way to use the battery while leaving it plugged in, so as not to be charging and draining at the same time. This is not a critical item, because the charge controller manages the battery quite well without it.
Interesting, that's good to know. I'll admit that I was guessing about it trickle charging, shows that a guess isn't a good route to go. :) The utility in Windows is the Quickset utility. I honestly was surprised at the idea that they didn't charge and then turn off the charger myself, since it sounded like other hardware manufacturers do that. But I also know that the Thinkpad wiki talks about similar functionality in some of the newer Lenovo machines. Jim -- Jim Henderson Please keep on-topic replies on the list so everyone benefits -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:06:35 +0000 (UTC) Jim Henderson <hendersj@gmail.com> wrote:
I just recently got a Dell Inspiron N7110 laptop, and virtually everything worked out of the box. Certainly everything important (had to apply a kernel patch to fix an issue with the touchpad being recognized incorrectly as a PS/2 mouse - known issue and a fix is in the works).
So I'm getting to more esoteric things in the system configuration. I'm using GNOME3 as my DE and it's on 12.1.
1. Bluetooth - the host name shows the original "linux-xqoa.site" name rather than the current hostname. Anyone know where this comes from?
2. Dell includes a utility with Windows 7 to disable the battery charging circuit. The point of this is to stop trickle charging the battery when it's full - pulling the battery out leaves the laptop without battery backup and isn't the ultimate goal. The goal is to charge the battery and then switch off that circuit, which is supposed to extend the life of the battery itself (that's what the info I've read indicates the purpose is).
On Windows it's implemented using WMI as near as I can tell. I see in the kernel drivers (dell-wmi.c specifically) that on some models there's a key - Fn-F2 or Fn-F3, I think - that is supposed to do something, but this model laptop doesn't have that particular key assignment.
I can hibernate and go into the BIOS to disable the charging circuit, but that's somewhat inconvenient as if I switch to battery, I then have to hibernate, go to the BIOS, and re-enable the charging circuitry to actually charge the battery when it needs it.
Anyone have any ideas on either of these issues?
Jim
Hi Jim I just picked up a Latitude E5510 system this has the key mentioned and ability to disable charging when AC power is available. Have a look at this Ub* bug from Mark Shuttleworth, it's a long running one but comment #47 indicates Dell are working on it..... https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/581312 -- Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890) openSUSE 12.1 (x86_64) Kernel 3.1.0-1.2-desktop up 1:20, 4 users, load average: 0.00, 0.02, 0.05 CPU Intel i5 CPU M520@2.40GHz | Intel Arrandale GPU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:36:43 -0600, Malcolm wrote:
Hi Jim I just picked up a Latitude E5510 system this has the key mentioned and ability to disable charging when AC power is available. Have a look at this Ub* bug from Mark Shuttleworth, it's a long running one but comment #47 indicates Dell are working on it..... https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/581312
Awesome, thanks for that pointer, Malcolm. Jim -- Jim Henderson Please keep on-topic replies on the list so everyone benefits -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
participants (3)
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Jim Henderson -
John Andersen -
Malcolm