I8KUTILS FOR LINUX - VERSION 1.36
=================================

OVERVIEW
========

This package contains user-space programs for accessing data from the SMM BIOS
and the DMI table on Dell laptops. These data are used for power management,
system hardware control, or proprietary OEM designed code. In Dell laptops, this
is the location for the control of turning on and off fans.

The utilities in the package makes use of the i8k kernel module, that reports
the following information about the hardware:

    * BIOS version

    * Dell service tag (later known as 'serial number')

    * CPU temperature

    * fan status

    * fan rotation speed (only on some models)

    * ac power status

    * volume buttons status (not the multimedia buttons)

The package includes the following utilities:

    * i8kctl	 - command-line interface to the kernel driver

    * i8kmon	 - temperature monitor with automatic or manual fan control

    * i8kbuttons - monitors volume buttons and runs user-defined commands

The i8kctl can be used to manually control the fan speed. The i8kmon program
can continuously monitor the CPU temperature and control automatically the
fans. The automatic fan control feature of i8kmon does essentially the same
job of the BIOS. The difference is that i8kmon program works.

The latest version of the i8kutils package can be downloaded from:

    https://launchpad.net/i8kutils

The i8k module is in the kernel, and a copy of the source code is here for
customization.

To load this, just do 'modprobe i8k 'in the terminal as root. And just to
notify, i8kmon program loads the module at startup.

The module is available since kernels 2.4 onwards.


LICENCE
=======

This software is released under the terms of the GNU General Public
Licence.

   Copyright (C) 2001-2009 Massimo Dal Zotto <dz@debian.org>

   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
   (at your option) any later version.

   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
   GNU General Public License for more details.

   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
   along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
   Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.

On Debian GNU/Linux systems, the complete text of the GNU General
Public License can be found in `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL'.


THE KERNEL DRIVER
=================

Since version 2.4.14-pre8 of the kernel the i8k SMM driver is included in
the core kernel distribution. The driver source included in this package is
needed only if you want to compile the module for an older kernel version
or if you need a more recent version then the one in the Linux kernel.

This module will probably work on any recent Dell laptop. Note that on some
models or BIOS versions the fan speed is not available. On some BIOS also the
BIOS version is not available from SMM but the driver is able to obtain it using
another method.

On loading the module checks for the presence of an Dell Inspiron, Latitude,
MM061, MP061, Precision or Vostro laptop and refuses to load if running on an
unknown system. You can however force loading of the driver, for testing it on
unknown hardware, by passing the "force=1" option to insmod:

    insmod i8k.o force=1

Note that force loading of the module on unknown hardware could crash your
system and will anyway 'taint' the kernel. The force option is provided
only for testing purposes or for loading on systems where the BIOS version
can't be read from the SMM BIOS.

The information provided by the kernel driver can be accessed by simply
reading the /proc/i8k file. For example:

    $ cat /proc/i8k
    1.0 A17 2J59L02 52 2 1 8040 6420 1 2

The fields read from /proc/i8k are:

    1.0 A17 2J59L02 52 2 1 8040 6420 1 2
    |   |   |       |  | | |    |    | |
    |   |   |       |  | | |    |    | +------- 10. buttons status
    |   |   |       |  | | |    |    +--------- 9.  ac status
    |   |   |       |  | | |    +-------------- 8.  right fan rpm
    |   |   |       |  | | +------------------- 7.  left fan rpm
    |   |   |       |  | +--------------------- 6.  right fan status
    |   |   |       |  +----------------------- 5.  left fan status
    |   |   |       +-------------------------- 4.  CPU temperature (Celsius)
    |   |   +---------------------------------- 3.  Dell service tag (later known as 'serial number')
    |   +-------------------------------------- 2.  BIOS version
    +------------------------------------------ 1.  /proc/i8k format version

A negative value, for example -22, indicates that the BIOS doesn't return
the corresponding information. This is normal on some models/bioses.

For performance reasons the /proc/i8k doesn't report by default the ac status
since this SMM call takes a long time to execute and is not really needed.
If you want to see the ac status in /proc/i8k you must explictitly enable
this option by passing the "power_status=1" parameter to insmod. If ac status
is not available -1 is printed instead.

The driver provides also an ioctl interface which can be used to obtain the
same information and to control the fan status. The ioctl interface can be
accessed from C programs or from shell using the i8kctl utility. See the
source file i8kctl.c for more information on how to use the ioctl interface.

The driver accepts the following parameters:

    force=1

	force loading of the driver on unknown hardware.

    restricted=1

	allow fan control only to processes with the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability
	set or processes run as root. In this case normal users will be able
	to read temperature and fan status but not to control the fan.
	If your notebook is shared with other users and you don't trust them
	you may want to use this option.

    power_status=1

	report ac status in /proc/i8k. Default is 0.

    handle_buttons=1

	handle I8K volume buttons in the driver and generate keyboard events
	when the buttons are pressed. If you enable this option you don't
	need to run the i8kbuttons daemon. The driver generates the following
	scancodes:

	    key		kbd scancode	X keycode
	    -------------------------------------
	    VolMute	e0 20		160
	    VolDown	e0 2e		174
	    VolUp	e0 30		176

	To handle these keycodes under X you must map them to X keysyms with
	xmodmap, for example:

	    ! I8K Volume buttons, available only with i8k handle_buttons=1
	    keycode 160 = F27
	    keycode 174 = F28
	    keycode 176 = F29

	You can then program sawfish or hotkeys to handle these keysyms.
	This option is available only with kernel 2.4.

	See also "THE I8000 MULTIMEDIA BUTTONS" for a detailed explanation.

    repeat_delay=<delay>

	specifies the delay before the driver will start generating repeat
	events when a button is kept pressed. Default is 250ms.
	This option is available only with kernel 2.4.

    repeat_rate=<rate>

	specifies the button repeat rate. Default is 10 times for second.
	This option is available only with kernel 2.4.

You can specify the module parameters when loading the module or as kernel
option when booting the kernel if the driver is compiled statically.

To have the module loaded atomatically at boot you must manually add the
line "i8k" into the file /etc/modules or use the modconf utility, if
available in your distribution, and select the i8k module. For example:

    $ cat /etc/modules
    # /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
    #
    # This file should contain the names of kernel modules that are
    # to be loaded at boot time, one per line.  Comments begin with
    # a #, and everything on the line after them are ignored.
    #
    apm
    i8k

Any module parameters must be specified in /etc/modules.conf, for example:

    $ grep i8k /etc/modules.conf
    options i8k handle_buttons=1

If you are using modconf the file /etc/modules.conf is updated automatically
with the options specified in the user interface.


TROUBLESHOOTING
===============

If you have problems loading the kernel module or have succesfully tested
it on different hardware please let me know your results. Include
the following information:

    laptop model
    BIOS version
    driver version
    i8kmon version
    kernel config file
    kernel messages while loading the driver
    output of "cat /proc/i8k"
    output of "i8kmon -v"
    output of the "smm-test" script included with the sources

Before reporting bugs be sure to be using the latest kernel module and the
latest BIOS available for your laptop.


THE I8KCTL UTILITY
==================

The i8kctl utility provides a command-line interface to the i8k kernel driver.
When invoked without arguments the program reports the same information which
can be read from the /proc/i8k file.

A main diffence between 'i8kctl' and '/proc/i8k' is that i8kctl gets and sets
parameters in real-time. What not happens in /proc/i8k which is updated from
time to time by the kernel module.

The program can take an optional argument which can be used to select only one
of the items and to control the fan status.


THE I8KMON APPLET/DAEMON
========================

The i8kmon program can be used to monitor the CPU temperature and control
automatically the fans accordingly to user-defined temperature thresholds.
The program can be run as daemon or as an applet which can be embedded in
the Gnome panel (No, I don't use KDE). The program requires Tcl/Tk (>= 8.0).

The program has builtin defaults and temperature thresholds but users can
specify their own settings in configuration files /etc/default/i8kmon
and ~/.i8kmon.
The daemon defines 4 states with different fan speeds ({0 0}, {1 0}, {1 1},
{2 2}) and for each state are defined the temperature thresholds which cause
the switching to a higher or lower state. Furthermore each state can have
different thresholds for operation on ac power or battery.
For example the following configuration:

    set config(0) {{0 0}  -1  60  -1  65}
    set config(1) {{1 0}  50  70  55  75}
    set config(2) {{1 1}  60  80  65  85}
    set config(3) {{2 2}  70 128  75 128}

defines state 0 with both fans off, high threshold of 60 degrees (65 on
battery) and low threshold -1, which is actually never reached since 0 is the
lowest state. When the high threshold is reached the program switches to state
1 (left low, right off) which has a high threshold of 70 degrees and a low
threshold of 50 degrees. If the temperature drops below 50 the program will
switch back to state 0, if it rises above 70 it will enter state 2, and so on.
For better operation the temperature ranges should be overlapping with an
hysteresis of at least 10 degree, i.e. 1={50 70},2={60 80} is better than
1={50 70},2={70 80}. It must be rembered that the low threshold of state 0
must be -1 and the high threshold of state 3 must be 128.

If your laptop has only one fan you should specify a '-' instead of the fan
speed of the missing fan, for example:

    set config(2) {{1 -}  60  80  65  85}

NOTE: it has been reported that on some Linux distributions i8kmon exits
with an error like this:

    can't find package Tk
        while executing
    "package require Tk"

This is not a bug in i8kmon. It means that Tcl/Tk files are not installed
correctly on your system and the Tk library can't be dynamically loaded
from Tcl. In this case you can run i8kmon with the command:

    wish /usr/bin/i8kmon -- [options...]

You should also report the bug to the maintainer of the Tcl/Tk packages
included in your Linux distribution. A quick fix for the problem could
also be adding the following line to /usr/lib/tk8.3/pkgIndex.tcl:

    package ifneeded Tk 8.3 [list load "/usr/lib/libtk8.3.so.1" Tk]

This works on Debian and maybe on other Linux distributions. Note also that
in order to use the gui you must have the same versions of tcl/tk installed,
i.e. it won't work with tcl8.4 and tk8.3.

This program can be used by normal users as Gnome panel applet or started
as daemon by an init script. Under Debian GNU/Linux it is possible to start
the daemon automatically by creating an /etc/default/i8kmon configfile
containing the line "set config(daemon) 1".

Note the the /etc/default/i8kmon configfile is not installed by the i8kutils
package because the program is designed to be run by normal users. If you
want to use it as daemon you must create the config file yourself.


THE I8KBUTTONS DAEMON
=====================

The i8kbuttons daemon monitors the status of the two volume buttons of the
Inspiron or the corresponding Fn-keys. When a volume button press is
detected the daemon runs a corresponding command specified in the command-
line options. By specifying the proper commnds it is thus possible to control
the volume of the sound mixer or run any other command, for example switch
to vt1 if X freezes.

On some models the volume buttons are not present and only the Fn-keys are
available (Fn-PageUp = Volume Up, Fn-PageDn = Volume Down, Fn-End = Mute).

It should be noted that although the program has default commands for the
various buttons there isn't a standard command shipped with any Linux
distributions which can be used to change the volume incrementally and to
implement the Mute/Restore function. The default commands are just examples
and must be overriden with your specific commands using the command-line
options.

DON'T SEND BUG REPORTS IF DEFAULT COMMANDS DON'T WORK FOR YOU, USE THE
COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS AND SPECIFY YOUR OWN COMMANDS!

This program can be used by normal users or started as daemon by an init
script. Under Debian GNU/Linux it is possible to start automatically the
daemon at boot by creating an /etc/default/i8kbuttons configfile and setting
the I8KBUTTONS_UP_CMD, I8KBUTTONS_DOWN_CMD and I8KBUTTONS_MUTE_CMD variables
with the command which must be executed by the program.

Note the the /etc/default/i8kbuttons configfile is not installed by the
i8kutils package because the program is usually run by normal users.
If you want to use it as daemon you must create the config file yourself.


THE I8000 MULTIMEDIA BUTTONS
============================

The Inspiron 8000 has also four "multimedia" buttons (Start, Stop, Rew and
Fwd) which are not controlled by the SMM BIOS and are directly usable under X
or the console. To map the buttons under console you should use the programs
included in package console-tools. To use the mm buttons under X use the xev
program to see the scancodes and map them to the appropriate keysyms.
For example on my I8000 I have mapped:

    keycode 129 = F31
    keycode 130 = F32
    keycode 131 = F33
    keycode 132 = F34

and I have configured sawfish to execute 'run-shell-command "xmms --play"'
when F31 is pressed. If you have the sawfish-xmms package installed you can
use instead the sawfish command 'xmms-play' which is faster. Similar commands
are available for the Stop, Rew and Fwd functions.

On a Debian (>=woody) system it is possible to set up a system-wide Xmodmap
which is loaded automatically for all users when the X server is started.
All you have to do is to create a file /etc/X11/Xsession.d/40custom_xmodmap
like this:

    # Load system-wide Xmodmap
    if [ -x /usr/bin/X11/xmodmap ]; then
      if [ -f $SYSMODMAP ]; then
        xmodmap $SYSMODMAP
      fi
    fi

    # Load user .Xmodmap
    if [ -x /usr/bin/X11/xmodmap ]; then
      if grep -qs ^allow-user-modmap $OPTIONFILE; then
        if [ -f $USRMODMAP ]; then
          xmodmap $USRMODMAP
        fi
      fi
    fi

and a system-wide /etc/X11/Xmodmap with the following lines:

    ! Multimedia buttons on Inspiron 8000, used by sawfish to control xmms
    keycode 129 = F31
    keycode 130 = F32
    keycode 131 = F33
    keycode 132 = F34

or let each user create his own ~/.Xmodmap like the above file if you prefer
per-user customization. See the Xsession man page for more information.

Another way to use the buttons without modifying the X keymap is to use the
`hotkeys' package. In this case you have to add the following lines to its
configuration file:

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <CONFIG model="Dell Inspiron 8100 Notebook">
      <Play      keycode="129"/>
      <Stop      keycode="130"/>
      <PrevTrack keycode="131"/>
      <NextTrack keycode="132"/>
    </CONFIG>

Personally I prefer to use sawfish-xmms because it seems faster and doesn't
require an additional daemon, but if you are using a different window-manager
you may want to try hotkeys.

Note also that these button as well as the volume buttons can be programmed
to run any program, not just to control the player and the audio volume.

The following table defines the scancodes generated by keyboard and driver
on the I8000. The corresponding console keycodes can be changed with the
setkeycode command:

	key		scancode	keycode
	---------------------------------------
	Play		e001		171
	Stop		e002		172
	Prev		e003		187
	Next		e004		189
	Play		e001		171
	VolMute		e020		112
	VolDown		e02e		114
	VolUp		e030		115


COMPILATION
===========

To compile the programs type "make". To install "make install", as root.

To compile the kernel module, if it is not already included in the kernel,
type "make module". By default the module compiles without symbol versions
and can thus be loaded on any 2.4.x kernel with "insmod -f i8k.o".
If you want a versioned module uncomment the MODVERSIONS line in Makefile
or make the module with "make modversion". You can load and unload the module
with "make insmod" and "make rmmod".

If you are using kernel 2.4.14 or later you can have the module compiled
automatically with the kernel by enabling the following option in the kernel
configuration:

    CONFIG_I8K=m

You can also include the i8k code directly in the kernel but I don't recommend
it because it makes debugging more difficult.


DELL INSPIRON 8000 BIOS BUGS
============================

Yes, the Dell BIOS has many bugs. I have found the following in I8K BIOS A17:

1) CPU temperature bug

Sometimes the BIOS reports a temperature of 153 (0x99) degrees, which is
clearly out of range. It seems that it happens when the BIOS is changing
the fan speed.

# while true; do ./smm 10a3; done | grep ' 0'
...
eax=0000004b ebx=00004c80 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000 0
eax=0000004c ebx=00004c80 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000 0
eax=00000099 ebx=00003a80 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000 0
eax=0000004c ebx=00005243 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000 0
...
eax=00000051 ebx=00005243 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000 0
eax=00000052 ebx=00005243 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000 0
eax=00000099 ebx=00003a80 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000 0
eax=00000052 ebx=00005746 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000 0
...

2) Fan speed bug with a stuck fan

If for some reason a fan is stuck the BIOS reports a speed of 1920rpm instead
of 0 as it should be. In the same condition it sometimes reports also a speed
of 7200rpm, but this seems much more infrequent.

# ./smm 1a3 200
eax=000001a3 ebx=00000200 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000
eax=00000000 ebx=00000200 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000 0
# ./smm a3 0
eax=000000a3 ebx=00000000 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000
eax=00000002 ebx=00000000 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000 0
# ./smm 2a3 0
eax=000002a3 ebx=00000000 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000
eax=00000040 ebx=00000000 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=00000000 edi=00000000 0
        ^^^^
	1920rpm instead of 0

3) The I8000 BIOS with versions A18 and greater are very buggy and don't work
   well with Linux. If you have an I8000 I recommend using BIOS A17.

4) After a suspend/resume the keyboard sends an <Enter> event. If the focus
   is over a window the <Enter> will be sent to the correspondig application.
   This can insert a newline in file you were editing, execute an incomplete
   command in an xterm or do other random things. This bug has however nothing
   to to with i8kutils.

5) If you have an Actiontec eepro100 ethernet controller its PCI registers
   will not be reinitialized after a suspend/resume and the your network
   controller will become unusable. The only way to fix this is to save
   the PCI registers before the suspend and restore them after resume.
   This bug doesn't affect i8kutils.


CONTRIBUTORS
============

Contributors are listed here, in alphabetical order.

    Pablo Bianucci <pbian@physics.utexas.edu>

	support for /proc/acpi

    David Bustos <bustos@caltech.edu>

	patches for generating keyboard events

    Jonathan Buzzard <jonathan@buzzard.org.uk>

	basic information on the SMM BIOS and the Toshiba SMM driver.
	Asm code for calling the SMM BIOS on the I8K. Without his help
	this work wouldn't have been possible.

    Karl E. J\F8rgensen <karl@jorgensen.com>

	init script for i8kmon daemon

    Stephane Jourdois <stephane@tuxfinder.org>

	patches for correctly interpreting buttons status in the i8k driver

    Marcel J.E. Mol <marcel@mesa.nl>

	patches for the --repeat option in the i8kbuttons util

    Gianni Tedesco <gianni@ecsc.co.uk>

	patch to restrict fan contol to SYS_ADMIN capability

    David Woodhouse <dwmw2@redhat.com>

	suggestions on how to avoid the zombies in i8kbuttons

and many others who tested the driver on their hardware and sent me reports
and patches.

Other Dell laptop utilities are available at the follwing URLs:

    http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/		(windows)

No credits to DELL Computer who has always refused to give support on Linux
or provide any useful information on the I8K buttons and their buggy BIOS.


--
Massimo Dal Zotto <dz@debian.org>