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pal · Xplorer Joined: 14 Jun 2005 Posts: 19

Hello all,

I have a brand new low spec (AMD2200+ 256M 40Gb) box installed with Xandros 3, which I put on my lan with the primary intention of using it as a file server, with occcasional desktop duties when the other 3 pc's are busy. I'm a rank beginner, but have it mostly working OK.

My hope is to get it to suspend after a short inactivity, and wake on lan when required.

WoL was enabled in bios before Xandros was installed, but everything I can find on hibernation seems to relate to notebook pc's and battery condition rather that desktops and inactivity.

Net searches return scary suggetions about making major changes to the kernel etc (I've just got it running, don't want to stuff it so soon!).

Do I have a practical expectation? If so, can someone point me in the right direction for the resources to make it happen?

Regards,

Pal

Arne Anka · Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 2:02 pm Post subject:

There is a kernel module called "Software Suspend" that is part of kernel 2.6.11 (don't know about kernels prior that), which is supposed to deal with hybernation/suspention.

In Xandros it does not seem to be properly configured, since it generates following printouts at boot.

pal · Xplorer Joined: 14 Jun 2005 Posts: 19

Thanks for the tip. Will see if I can make any sence of it....

jeffyb · Xplorer Joined: 24 Apr 2005 Posts: 29

let me know what you come up with. i'd like to know about this too.

Arne Anka · Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 4:57 pm Post subject:

In XN there is two packages dealing with hibernation called hibernate and xandros-hibernate. The latter one is a Xandros tweeked version of the first one and that's the one I have used (the other untweeked may work as well, have not tried it).

Here is a short instruction how to enable hibernation in Xandros. But before you do that be aware that the results may vary depending on what type of hardware you have (it may lock up your system). On my 5 year old system, it locks up at wake up. For Nvidia users as me, there is a possible solution to this described here

http://www.suspend2.net/FAQ-4.html#ss4.7

But how to prevent agpgart kernel module from loading or where to set SwitchToTextMode no and UseDummyXServer in Xandros I don't know (Xandros hibernate command is tweeked and does not provide /etc/hibernate.conf, perhaps you can add the file your self and see if it works).

There are other problems as well that may arise at wake (e.g. problem working with non-IDE HDs etc.), so read the FAQ (especially the Compatibility issues section) and HOWTO (especially the Troubleshooting section).

http://www.suspend2.net/FAQ
http://www.suspend2.net/HOWTO

Now back to the installation. First install xandros-hibernate. Note that Xandros hibernate command only works with swap partitions (it can't save to a regular file as the original). Therefore ensure your swap partition size equals at least the amount of memory you have (a bit largeer would not hurt, 150% of the RAM size is good suggestion I have seen on the net).

Now, to hibernate, open a console as root and execute

hibernate

if you get a message like

add option resume2=swap:/dev/hdb1 to lilo.conf first. Aborting...

then as root, open /etc/devices/cmdappend.inf and at the end of append= add resume2=swap:/dev/hdb1 (you need to reboot once to update /etc/lilo.conf with the new setting in cmdappend.inf and one more time to activate the resume function)

Now execute

hibernate

again. First time you run the command it may take a couple of minutes before it is done. Following times it should go faster (perhaps 15-30 sec).

To wake up, just press at your computers resume button, power on button or what may be applicable on your machine. When you come to the boot menu select Xandros Delux or Safe Mode (in Expert mode resume is ignored) and it will start to wake up (you shall see a splash screen telling you that) if the kernel detects a resume image on the swap. Otherwise a normal boot will occur.

If you want to be able to use the hibernate command from console as a regular user, just add the commands shown in

http://www.suspend2.net/HOWTO-3.html

to /etc/sudoers (sudo is already preinstalled in Xandros).

If you have a dedicated button for hibernation it should already be correctly mapped and put the PC into sleep or wake it up when pressed. On my old PC with old BIOS I have so far not managed to put it into sleep that way (not that I realy care).

If you have the kernel source downloaded and unpacked (look in this forum how to do that), you can obtain more information in /usr/src/linux/Documentation/power text files.

Good luck.

Per-Aa · Xplorer Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 2

This description covers the hibernation (suspend-to-disk) mode (save data to disk then poweroff completely and do a full reboot - all applications which were open will start)

How about the option to suspend to ram (close lid then open and have same screen which was before closing - no rebooting)

Was anyone successful with this ?

I am using an Acer TravelMate 240 and really dont see a point of using Linux on a Laptop without being able to use this option due to power saving

Arne Anka · Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 5:17 am Post subject:

That works worse than hibernate and lot of drivers does not support it at all today (at least not with the kernels Xandros 3 uses). But as usual, the milage may vary.

Here is a short description how to try it out (but you probably need a newer kernel).

http://www.doesi.gmxhome.de/linux/tm800s3/s3.html

Chunkboi · Xplorer Joined: 26 Jan 2006 Posts: 6

Okay, so far I've managed to get it configured to sleep, but whenever I try to get it to wake up, the laptop screen won't come up again. The HD spools up, I can hear the CPU fan going, but it just won't give me anything but a black screen.
_________________
So this is what happens when demented people play with powerful toys.

Arne Anka · Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:04 pm Post subject:

That's a common problem. Checkout the FAQ and HOWTO further up for trouble shooting and see if any of the suggestions work. Otherwise you are out of luck, especially if you use an ATI graphic card since the version X3 provides does not support suspend/sleep at all. In fact, even the most recent driver does not support that either according to the release note.

n3qik

Philb2k · Xplorer Joined: 25 Mar 2006 Posts: 7

Arne,

I followed the instructions to enable hibernate. My desktop will hibernate but on resume I only get the bottom 2/3 of the desktop showing, and the computer is locked up. My swapfile is 1.5 times of my ram. Any thoughts at this point? Using Xandros OCE edition.

Phil.

Arne Anka · Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 6:40 am Post subject:

You may checkout the trouble shooting section section of Suspend2 (look my previous posts). If you use ATI, then you are out of luck since they do not fully support hibernate yet (at least not in the driver version provided by Xandros 3). For other grapich card chip sets, you have to consult the driver developer for information if is hibernate is supported.

Philb2k · Xplorer Joined: 25 Mar 2006 Posts: 7

OK Thanks for that. I believe the video card in the box (recently acquired from a friend) is ATI Radeon 9000. So that may be the problem. Do you know, is the driver support better in Xandros 4? I was going to buy it, but would like to get this issue fixed first, if possible.

Arne Anka · Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:12 am Post subject:

I can tell you this much, even with ATIs newest driver hibernation does not work on my laptop. The Known Issues section of the release notes for latest ATI driver states

dmj · Xplorer Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 1

I have an ATI Radeon 9000, and I have no trouble with suspend to ram or disk under Gnome. Gnome has a much better power management system than KDE, that uses HAL and Dbus. Unfortunately, the distros I've used that use Gnome as a default have a host of other usability problems. If Xandros would use gnome, I'd be completely sold on it. You can install it, but then you lose all those special features that they've built into their desktop, so what's the point of buying Xandros. SuSE has the best setup, I think, in theory. Too bad it has so many bugs. Hibernate in SuSE works out of the boxes, and wakes and resumes almost as fast as Windows. I wish someone would bring together all the good elements into one distro. How hard could it be.
Anyways, I've found if you go into power management in Xandros 4, hit the generate helper script button, enable hibernate and suspend, and then exit, it will generate all the needed scripts in /etc/acpi. Then go back into power management and uncheck all the boxes. Suspend and hibernate worked most the time for me this way. For some reason it doesn't work if you leave the boxes checked. It runs better off the acpi scripts, without KDE interfering.