MacBook Pro status update: 2.6.23, radeontool, quiet laptop at last
Today’s kernel: 2.6.23 + 2.6.23-hrt1 patchset + mactel patches. That gives an amd64 tickless kernel that just works and I’m not observing the weird behaviour I observed with 2.6.22-hrt6 that forced me back to a 2.6.21 kernel.
I still need to remove the HID_QUIRK_POWERBOOK_ISO_KEYBOARD quirk for my GEYSER IV ISO keyboard, otherwise the @ and < are swapped. The good news, on the audio side, is that I don’t need to manually fix the pin config for the HDA codec anymore, which is a great step forward :-)
There’s a patched radeontool available that introduces a radeontool power low command to switch the chip into low power mode. And it works. Saves about 45 minutes of battery power, bringing the laptop’s autonomy to something like 2:15 hours. Still far, far away from the 4 hours I had on the PowerBook but it’s a step forward. This also means the laptop is now quiet; I don’t hear the fans anymore. I’ve had this laptop for 11 months now, and it’s something I was really, really looking forward to.
Update on the EFI firmware update 1.4: this update really fixes the keyboard issue in legacy bootloaders, I’ve had a working keyboard in LILO at each and every (re)boot since I installed it.