wiki:WikiStart

Version 50 (modified by David Azarewicz, 12 years ago) (diff)

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Welcome to the ACPI Project on Netlabs

This is the development and support home for ACPI Project.

The software in this project is not ACPI. The ACPI is supplied by your computer's vendor in the BIOS. The software in this project is a Platform Specific Driver (PSD) and related files and programs that use the ACPI in your computer's BIOS to configure and operate your computer. This project produces 5 files and a toolkit for program development:

  • ACPI.PSD - the Platform Specific Driver that sets up and controls the hardware, and also implements the ACPI Component Architecture which is the interface to your computer's ACPI. This is the main component of the ACPI project. ACPI.PSD normally goes in \OS2\BOOT.
  • ACPI32.DLL - The interface between ACPI.PSD and other programs (like AcpiDaemon.exe) so that they can use the ACPI functions in the PSD. This DLL is not required for proper operation of ACPI.PSD, but most programs will not be able to use any ACPI services if you do not install it. ACPI32.DLL normally goes in \OS2\DLL.
  • APM.ADD - An Advanced Power Management interface that emulates APM functions using ACPI. This driver is not required for proper operation of ACPI.PSD, but may be required for some older programs that use APM functions. APM.ADD normally goes in \OS2\BOOT.
  • AcpiDaemon.EXE - A program that implements certain system functions like CPU throttling, power button handling, various events like lid open/close events, suspend/resume, etc. This program is not required for proper operation of ACPI.PSD, but is required for proper operation of APM.ADD. AcpiDaemon.EXE requires ACPI32.DLL and normally goes in \OS2.
  • ACPID.CFG - The configuration file for AcpiDaemon.exe. ACPID.CFG must go in the directory specified by the ETC environment variable.
  • The toolkit - For developing programs that interface with ACPI.PSD

In order to use this software you must have a system with valid ACPI tables. This software is not supported on systems without valid ACPI tables. The PSD in this software package is not a "universal" PSD. It is an ACPI based PSD. This means that valid ACPI tables are required for this software to operate correctly and this software does not attempt to fix every quirk in every system unless those quirks are addressed in the ACPI tables. All modern computers have ACPI tables. This software will fail to load if your system does not have ACPI tables. In addition, some functions may fail to work properly if your ACPI tables are defective. It was common for older computers to have broken ACPI tables, but the situation is getting better. If you have a problem with bad ACPI tables, your computer vendor may have updated ACPI tables that you can install.

Testing and Submitting Tickets

Please read the Testing Guidelines page for information on how to test and how to collect information for reporting problems.

You must be logged into TRAC to create tickets. Please login with your Netlabs login id.

If you do not have a login id, you can request one at http://www.netlabs.org/en/site/member/member.xml.

If you have troubles acquiring a Netlabs login id send an e-mail to

Netlabs Community Mailing List

If you have open tickets created with the guest login, please add a comment to the ticket showing your new login and we will update the ticket so that you automatically receive e-mail when your open tickets are updated.

Before entering a ticket, please read the Testing Guidelines page for information on how to test and how to collect information for reporting problems.

Milestones and Versions

When entering tickets, you will be asked to provide a version and a milestone.

The TRAC documentation defines these terms as

  • Version - Version of the project that this ticket pertains to.
  • Milestone - When this issue should be resolved at the latest.

For new tickets, the version will default to current ACPI version (i.e. 3.19.12). If you are reporting for some other version, please override the default. If you are not using the latest version, you should try it to see if it fixes your problem.

The milestone will default to the next scheduled ACPI version release (i.e. 4.0.0).

Generally, once a ticket is opened, the version should not be changed. If the issue is not resolved, the milestone will be changed to reflect when the ticket is expected to be resolved.

Users

Please read the readme and the PSD_EN.INF documentation that is included in the distribution before installing and using this software.

The ACPI Tools page contains a wealth of information and links.

Binaries

New releases are available from the eComStation BetaZone. Log in to Mensys with your Mensys login id and click the Downloads link. Click the "Software Subscription Services for eComStation" Download link and the ACPI drivers should be listed.

You can access the BetaZone from your [www.ecomstation.com eComStation] login, but the ACPI download may not appear

New releases are announced on the mailing list and elsewhere.

Mailing List

As you might have suspected, ACPI is a Netlabs project. The project URL is ACPI

The support mailing list is at ACPI Mailing List

If you can't see the mailto link, you are not logged in.

To subscribe to the mailing list, send a message to Subscribe to ACPI Mailing List. The subject and body can be empty. You will receive a response which you must reply to to complete the process.

These lists are EzMLM mailing lists. If you need help subscribing, see Netlabs Mailing Lists.

Application / Driver Developers

A toolkit is available for using ACPI services. Applications can link to acpi32.lib and drivers can link to acpidrv.lib. These libraries and header files are included in the toolkit. Sample programs and documentation are provided as well.

You can download the current toolkit here: acpi-toolkit-3.19.zip

ACPI Developers

Getting the sources

In addition to browsing? the sources here, you can check out the sources with your favorite subversion client.

Keep in mind that, unlike cvs, tags and branches are ordinary directories in subversion. With the typical subversion repository layout, it is rather easy to checkout more than you probably intend to. To pull just the trunk version, use something like

mkdir acpi_workspace
cd acpi_workspace
svn checkout http://svn.netlabs.org/repos/acpi/trunk trunk

To update your workspace with the current repository content, use

cd acpi_workspace\trunk
svn update

Building

Those interested in building the ACPI drivers or submitting source code updates should see

Building the ACPI Drivers?
ACPI Developers Coding Guide?
ACPI Developers FAQ - coming soon?

Credits

  • Pavel (pasha) Shtemenko
  • David Azarewicz
  • Steven Levine
  • Lars Erdmann

If we forgot anyone, please let us know. It was unintentional.