an acpi menace to linux in some uefi-ed computers

[TJ Hoye]

@ Stevo

Operating LiveUSB with Liquorix 5.0 kernel.
Much the same acpi situation as with antiX 5.0 kernel.
On ac-adaptor power, acpi functions for Battery, Adapter, and first two Thermal functions identical to antiX kernel results.
Similarly, any higher acpi functions, whatever they might be, are apparently not functional at least on ac-adapter power.

If these modules are intended only for use when on battery power, this may be reasonable, except for iwlwifi.
iwlwifi is in use, working just fine on ac-adapter power using and wlan0.

Evidence is as follows:

demo@mx1:~
$ uname -a
Linux mx1 5.0.0-11.1-liquorix-amd64 #1 ZEN SMP PREEMPT liquorix 5.0-11.1~sid (2019-05-02) x86_64 GNU/Linux

demo@mx1:~
$ acpi -Vf
Battery 0: Full, 100%
Battery 0: design capacity 3684 mAh, last full capacity 3500 mAh = 95%
Adapter 0: on-line
Thermal 0: ok, 77.0 degrees F
Thermal 0: trip point 0 switches to mode critical at temperature 224.6 degrees F
Cooling 0: Processor 0 of 3
Cooling 1: Processor 0 of 3
Cooling 2: iwlwifi no state information available
Cooling 3: Processor 0 of 3
Cooling 4: Processor 0 of 3
Cooling 5: TMEM no state information available
Cooling 6: Processor 0 of 3
Cooling 7: SEN1 no state information available
Cooling 8: Processor 0 of 3
Cooling 9: x86_pkg_temp no state information available
Cooling 10: Processor 0 of 3
Cooling 11: intel_powerclamp no state information available
Cooling 12: pch_skylake no state information available
Cooling 13: Processor 0 of 3
Cooling 14: INT3400 Thermal no state information available

demo@mx1:~
$ lsmod | grep -i "acpi\|iwlwifi\|x86\|pch_skylake\|intel_power"
x86_pkg_temp_thermal 16384 0
intel_powerclamp 16384 0
snd_soc_acpi_intel_match 28672 1 snd_soc_skl
snd_soc_acpi 16384 2 snd_soc_acpi_intel_match,snd_soc_skl
iwlwifi 253952 1 iwlmvm
cfg80211 774144 3 iwlmvm,iwlwifi,mac80211
aes_x86_64 20480 1 aesni_intel
acpi_thermal_rel 16384 1 int3400_thermal
acpi_pad 24576 0

TJH

[Stevo]

We kernel packagers really don't have much to do with ACPI. Those kernel drivers just build. The kernel developers are constantly trying to fix ACPI bugs and quirks like Dell's, but you may have to wait a while until they fix those (if ever)

[TJ Hoye]

To whom it may concern, kernel experts, take heed:

I've just been examining some features of a new computer that surprised me and slightly disappoint me.
The new computer is a Dell 5570 laptop. It has USB3 I/O and effectively eight cpus which greatly enhance
my MX-18 performance over that of a failing 1545 laptop with USB2 and a mere 2 cpu capability.
Remasters take about 2.5 minutes; kernel upgrades time is mostly the time required reboot.

The disappointment is, for me mainly theoretical, not operational. The 5570 uses uefi and acpi while
in Win 10 mode to squeeze every last second out of a battery charge, or so I imagine, not using Win 10
myself. More to the point, I don't compute on battery power. My laptop is now my only go-to desktop.
In Linux mode with all the kernels I've tried there is miserable non-support of all the assumed built-in
battery-mode finesse. What my MX-Linux gets is about 30 lines of dmesg complaining about missed opportunities.

Other Linux users may very well cherish these missed opportunities and might like to get them back.
To that end, it might be nice if some MXperts and/or antiXperts might step in and at least enable
more diagnostic material through so some Linux acpi afficienados might work on this laptop problem.

I can volunteer acpitools as one diagnostic aid brought in with MX package installer.
Using it shows perhaps few kernel parameters that might also be tweaked for more inside info.


acpitool, see for example:
https://linux.die.net/man/1/acpitool

demo@mx1:~
$ acpitool -vt
Could not open directory : /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/
function Do_Thermal_Info() : make sure your kernel has /proc/acpi/thermal_zone support enabled.

demo@mx1:~
$ acpitool -c
CPU type : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz
Min/Max frequency : 400/3400 MHz
Current frequency : 700 MHz
Frequency governor : powersave
Freq. scaling driver : intel_pstate
Cache size : 700.173 KB
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Function Show_CPU_Info : could not read directory /proc/acpi/processor/
Make sure your kernel has ACPI processor support enabled.

demo@mx1:~
$ acpitool -cooling
Sorry, but no Asus ACPI extensions were found on this system.
CPU type : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz
Min/Max frequency : 400/3400 MHz
Current frequency : 700 MHz
Frequency governor : powersave
Freq. scaling driver : intel_pstate
Cache size : 700.043 KB
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Bogomips : 3600.00
Function Show_CPU_Info : could not read directory /proc/acpi/processor/
Make sure your kernel has ACPI processor support enabled.

TJH