News: 0001584054

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Linux Patches Posted For Microsoft's ACPI Fan Extensions

([Microsoft] 6 Hours Ago Microsoft ACPI Fan Extensions)


Patches were posted this week for implementing Microsoft's extensions around the ACPI fan device for allowing the operating system to set fan speed trip points. In turn this should help some HP systems and likely other OEMs too in getting fan information working under Linux.

Open-source developer Armin Wolf posted the patches this week for supporting Microsoft's _DSM interface for the ACPI fan device.

Armin explained with [1]the patch series :

"Microsoft has designed a _DSM interface for the ACPI fan device that allows the OS to set fan speed trip points. The ACPI firmware will notify the ACPI fan device when said trip points are triggered.

Unfortunately some device manufacturers (like HP) blindly assume that the OS will use this _DSM interface and thus only update the fan speed value returned by the _FST control method when sending a notification to the ACPI fan device. This results in stale fan speed values being reported by the ACPI fan driver."

With the patches for handling the Microsoft fan extensions, this should help different devices falling into that boat. The original [2]bug report last year was over missing fan information on an HP EliteBook 860.



[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-acpi/20251005222513.7794-1-W_Armin@gmx.de/

[2] https://github.com/lm-sensors/lm-sensors/issues/506



When Computers Crash

HOLLYWOOD -- The FOX TV Network has announced a new series of "reality
shows" to be aired over the summer. The series, "When Computers Crash",
will consist of five hour-long shows documenting the aftermath of serious
computer crashes, failures, and other problems. This show comes on the
heels of other FOX reality shows such as "World's Funniest Antitrust Trial
Bloopers", "When Stupid TV Network Executives Create Bad Show Ideas", and
"When Lame Fortune Files Poke Fun At FOX Reality Shows"...

To coincide with the series, FOX will sponsor a publicity gimmick called
"Crash & Win!" Contest participants will download a free Windows 9x/NT
program that keeps track of the number of Blue Screens, Illegal
Operations, or other fatal errors that force a reboot. When a crash
occurs, the program will log it in an encrypted database, which will be
periodically uploaded to the "FOX Crash & Win!" server.

Prizes such as a "Deciphering Windows Error Messages for Dummies" book, a
1999 Ford "Gasguzzler" Sport Utility Vehicle, or a lifetime supply of
stress relief medication will be awarded to participants based on the
number of crashes they log.