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Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2006 04:09:35 +0000
From: Matthew Garrett <mjg59@srcf.ucam.org>
To: Michael E Brown <michael_e_brown@Dell.com>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>, matt_domsch@Dell.com,
       linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] [RESEND] Add Dell laptop backlight brightness display
Message-ID: <20060207040935.GA25853@srcf.ucam.org>
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On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 09:43:16PM -0600, Michael E Brown wrote:

> 	I would _strongly_ suggest that this patch _not_ go in. This driver
> uses hardcoded values that are subject to change without notice. It is
> perfectly legitimate for future versions of Dell BIOS to interpret pokes
> to cmos location 0x99 as the command to format your hard drive.

I managed to send the wrong patch - the Dell one only reads from nvram. 
If nvram reads are likely to reformat your hard drive, I think Dell 
needs to reconsider its BIOS design :)

More seriously, a quick scan of libsmbios hasn't revealed any method for 
obtaining the screen brightness. It's possible that I'm blind (I'm 
certainly slightly drunk), but can you give a pointer to the correct 
mechanism for making this call?

Thanks,
-- 
Matthew Garrett | mjg59@srcf.ucam.org
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