I just want to be able to set my fan to 50% after booting up. I don't want to hibernate or anything like that. I have Slackware 10.2 with the 2.4.31 kernel. I installed it using the kernel image sata.i. How would I go about installing the ACPI or ACPI fan control module (I'm not sure what module I need)?

Slackware has a kernel named 'bareacpi.i', which has ACPI support compiled in. However, you'll want to check whether this kernel supports your sata chipset or not.

The easiest way is to try booting from the Slackware CD1, using the 'bareacpi.i' kernel.

Once you're in, find out if Slackware can see your hard drive's by doing:
If it can see your disk/partitions, then just install the bareacpi.i kernel, which has the ACPI you want.

If not, then make sure you have kernel-source package installed. Then do:
cp /boot/config /usr/src/linux/.config
cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig

And enable ACPI - and compile/install the new kernel. I won't go into details since there's so many threads on how to compile a Slack kernel properly.

Copying /boot/config will allow you to start with all the pre-selected options from your current kernel, and go from there. This is easier than starting from scratch.

Another way is to make an initial ramdisk with needed acpi kernel modules without recompiling the kernel.

Do the following:

Take only the needed modules, leave out the others.

Then add a line to your /etc/lilo.conf:

after the line "image = /boot/vmlinuz" and run a "lilo -v" to install LiLO with the changes.

Then - after a reboot - you will have a working ACPI in your running kernel.

Fluxx.

mmm... the last suggestion works only if you _HAVE_ the required modules. otherwise you need to recompile the kernel, there isn't another way IMHO.

another thing: you want to set your fan to 50%... is this possible? it sounds new to me! if you have a laptop probably you want to enable frequency scaling for your processor so the power consumption is reduced and this, in its turn, reduces cpu heat and fan activity. am I wrong?

M

You are right!

If the acpi kernel modules are NOT in the package kernel-modules-2.4.31 (coming with Slackware 10.2) you can go another way and use the bareacpi.i kernel (as mentioned by WindowBreaker) and make an initial ramdisk with the needed modules for SATA in the shown way (I think the modules libata and one for the controller may be enough - I use libata and ati_piix for my SATA controller without problems).

Fluxx.

I set my fans to 50% in Windows using a program called SpeedFan. I can shutdown SpeedFan and then reboot into Linux and my fans will keep going at 50%.

I have 120mm fans and a giant CPU heat sink. I drive my CPU at 100% and not overheat (I might overheat if my room temperature was, say, above 100F). I'm using a desktop by the way.

If I install bareacpi.i will I have to rerun lilo or anything?

every time you change/add a kernel you must edit your /etc/lilo.conf file and after test it and reinstall lilo (if ok) via:

# lilo -t && lilo -v

of course if you have just overvritten an old vmlinuz file in /boot no editing is required inside lilo.conf (coz all parameters remain the same), in this situation you just need to launch the previous command(s):

#lilo -t && lilo -v

M