I am kinda new to linux (been using it for a while, but only on the surface).

I am installing linux on my Compaq Evo n800c laptop and was wondering what (if any) was the equivilant feature to Windows XP's safely remove hardware feater in the system tray.

Specifically I would like to swap, without shutingdown, my multibay cdrom for my multibay floppy. Since devices aren't automounted, will it even matter? Is it always safe to remove this device?

Thanks for the help in advance.



Also, I haven't gotten there yet, but anything required on setting up the battery monitor? (And in addition to this, how does speed step work under linux).

-James A

You could try looking at this site :
http://www.ailis.de/~k/knowledge/evon800c/

The cdrom issue might be related to the ACPI power management. According to one site I just looked at, Debian woody doesn't manage that very well. I have a different PC with ACPI running Mandrake 9.2 and that seems much better (though it starts off assuming apm so in the options line in /etc/lilo.conf I have to add apm=off acpi=on. You might be able to power off components like CDROM through ACPI. Probably with swapping devices, a bit of experimentation is called for (worse case scenario you need to reinstall Linux, more likely either it will work or you'll have to reboot or something).

i have had the same problem becuase my floppy drive and my cdrom drive are both swapable so to swap them i had to keep hibernating then reloading!!!