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authorHenrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@hmh.eng.br>2009-12-15 21:51:10 -0200
committerLen Brown <len.brown@intel.com>2009-12-15 23:57:35 -0500
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thinkpad-acpi: disable volume control
Disable volume control by default. It can be enabled at module load time by a module parameter (volume_control=1). The audio control mixer that thinkpad-acpi interacts with is fully functional without any drivers, and operated by hotkeys. The idea behind the console audio control is that the human operator is the only one that can interact with it. The ThinkVantage suite in Windows does not allow any software-based overrides, and only does OSD (on-screen-display) functions. The Linux driver will, with the addition of the ALSA interface, try to follow and enforce the ThinkVantage UI design: The user is supposed to use the keyboard hotkeys to interact with the console audio control. The kernel and the desktop environment is supposed to cooperate to provide proper user feedback through on-screen-display functions. Distros are urged to not to enable volume control by default. Enabling this must be a local admin's decision. This is the reason why there is no Kconfig option. Keep in mind that all ThinkPads have a normal, main mixer (AC97 or HDA) for regular software-based audio control. We are not talking about that mixer here. Advanced users are, of course, free to enable volume control and do as they please. Signed-off-by: Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@hmh.eng.br> Cc: Lorne Applebaum <lorne.applebaum@gmail.com> Cc: Matthew Garrett <mjg@redhat.com> Signed-off-by: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/laptops')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/laptops/thinkpad-acpi.txt13
1 files changed, 13 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/laptops/thinkpad-acpi.txt b/Documentation/laptops/thinkpad-acpi.txt
index bd87682103c1..6a5814330e51 100644
--- a/Documentation/laptops/thinkpad-acpi.txt
+++ b/Documentation/laptops/thinkpad-acpi.txt
@@ -1097,6 +1097,18 @@ Volume control
procfs: /proc/acpi/ibm/volume
+NOTE: by default, the volume control interface operates in read-only
+mode, as it is supposed to be used for on-screen-display purposes.
+The read/write mode can be enabled through the use of the
+"volume_control=1" module parameter.
+
+NOTE: distros are urged to not enable volume_control by default, this
+should be done by the local admin only. The ThinkPad UI is for the
+console audio control to be done through the volume keys only, and for
+the desktop environment to just provide on-screen-display feedback.
+Software volume control should be done only in the main AC97/HDA
+mixer.
+
This feature allows volume control on ThinkPad models with a digital
volume knob (when available, not all models have it), as well as
mute/unmute control. The available commands are:
@@ -1465,3 +1477,4 @@ Sysfs interface changelog:
0x020600: Marker for backlight change event support.
0x020700: Support for mute-only mixers.
+ Volume control in read-only mode by default.