bare ide and bare acpi kernels
 

i am considering whether to use the bare ide kernel as opposed to the ACPI one to slim down my system.

WHat exactly does ACPI do for me? I only notice one difference, that shutdown turns off my laptop without me needing to push the off button manually. I suppose it helps to suspend and stuff but i dont use suspend anyways.

DOes it do anything else that's useful?

http://tuxmobil.org/apm_linux.html

take a look at the how-to link. but do notice the date on it.