Experimental Toshiba Acpi Driver

toshiba_acpi with dev toshiba interface

As an experment, the /dev/toshiba interface has been added to the toshiba_acpi driver. This interface, part of the original Linux toshiba driver, allows userspace programs to make calls to the Toshiba HCI (hardware control interface). Several utilities, such as toshset [1], have been built on top of this interface. So by having the toshiba_acpi driver provide the same interface as the original toshiba driver, users can make use of existing utilities.

Question: Will this experimental driver ever be rolled into the mainstream kernel? I've been using toshiba_acpi_0.18-dev_toshiba_test4 for nearly a year, without any problems.

The driver is stable, but the issue is that the original toshiba driver "owns" the /dev/toshiba device, and I'm not sure if it's ok for my driver to co-opt it. Also, it's not clear to me how distributions will configure which module gets loaded when a program accesses /dev/toshiba. --JohnBelmonte

There are now plans to incorporate this into the mainstream driver [2].

installation

You will have to patch your kernel to use this experimental driver. In the toshiba_acpi [download directory], look for the patch files with "dev_toshiba" in the name. The latest patch file should apply to the toshiba_acpi.c file in the most recent 2.4 and 2.6 kernels.

You may also have to fiddle with your system's module autoloading system so that, when a program tries to access /dev/toshiba, the toshiba_acpi driver is loaded rather than the original toshiba driver.

On Debian, this is done by editing /etc/modutils/toshutils (for the 2.6 kernel it's /etc/modprobe.d/aliases) and replacing "toshiba" with "toshiba_acpi". Then run the update-modules command.

testing

If the driver is working correctly, you should be able to access /proc/toshiba:

$ cat /proc/toshiba
1.1 0xfc8b 0.0 1.40 0x22cc 0x00

Now let's try a utility that uses /dev/toshiba. A good test is toshset (version 1.65 or later):

$ toshset -q
 machine id: 0xfc8b    BIOS version: 1.40    SCI version: 2.72
 toshset version: 1.65                  Toshiba Model: Libretto L5
 HCI/SCI access mode: kernel            LCD backlight: on
 fan: off                               Video out: internal: LCD
 flat panel:  1280x600, 18 bit TFT      lcd brightness: bright
 lcd intensity: 5/7                     battery percent: 31%
 cooling method: performance            boot method: hard disk->floppy->CDROM
 wireless support: not present          wireless switch: unavailable
Wireless unavailable
                                        user password: not registered
 supervisor password: not registered    owner string: [ max length: 513]

If things didn't go well with toshset, verify that the "HCI/SCI access mode" field is "kernel". Also, verify that the original toshiba driver module isn't loaded. You should only see toshiba_acpi in the list of loaded drivers, assuming you compiled it as a module:

$ lsmod | grep toshiba
toshiba_acpi            6444  0