A possible bug in Foxconn boards BIOS affects Linux ACPI

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by flintmecha

Paranoia much?

So a no-name motherboard manufacturer screws up the code to make their BIOS compatible with Linux.. okay. They suck at making things compatible.

Where's the proof that it was intentional? There is none.

I sincerely believe some people just LOOK for ways to blame people for being "pro-micro$oft" or "anti-linux" so they can pitch a fit.

---

I agree, for the most part. I do think that this is evidence of an unwillingness to cater to the needs/desires of the Linux community, and therefore should be made public. However, there is no evidence that I have seen of direct action to exclude, only of intentional inaction not to include. However subtle, there is a difference. One reeks of malice, the other of apathy.

Either way, I'll spend my money buying things from a company who is interested in supporting and complying with accepted standards, and will do so even more happily with a vendor who is actively interested in supporting Linux.

:)

This makes me EXTREMELY angry. This is clearly intentional.

Very interesting issue. I would like to extend my personal thanks for the terrific efforts of TheAlmightyCthulhu, since I'm about to build a system and I likely would not have been able to figure out this problem myself had I bought a Foxconn motherboard. I also sincerely appreciate the bad publicity Foxconn is receiving from this, and I hope that it inspires them to change their practices, and hopefully scares off other manufacturers as well. Could this (and similar actions) possibly be the source of the Linux ACPI woes of a few years ago?:confused:

I say we boycott Foxconn!

Im curious to know what dell does about this. They typically use OEM motherboards from foxconn yet they still support linux. Could someone with a dell PC that was preinstalled with ubuntu run a check as shown in the OP? Dell may have put in their own DSDT tables in order to clear out what foxconn did. Would that be acknowledging foxconn's faulty claim of ACPI support?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tamoneya

Im curious to know what dell does about this. They typically use OEM motherboards from foxconn yet they still support linux. Could someone with a dell PC that was preinstalled with ubuntu run a check as shown in the OP? Dell may have put in their own DSDT tables in order to clear out what foxconn did. Would that be acknowledging foxconn's faulty claim of ACPI support?

---

Mine was not preinstalled, but I will run a check just the same.

EDIT: and that was because Dell has not created their own driver for the graphics card, otherwise it would be and will be.

Unfortunately there are no such if statements in my DSDT table source. If anyone would like to have a look at it and see if you can make any sense of it, please feel free. It is attached below. Please note my BIOS ARE NOT up-to-date. I am using A07, not the new A08. The A08 causes my trackpad to malfunction. When I apply a fix, it becomes unconfigurable. I am sticking with A07 right not because it works.

I wonder if it might do some good to follow up your ftc complaint with a reference to this:

http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowa...00/PX03020.pdf

Regards,
..jim

I did a quick decompilation of my AMI BIOS (on my ASUS P5K-E). It has the exact same snippet of code as the OP. I'm not having the same problems as the original poster. But I have experienced another BIOS related issue (the MTRR tables given to Linux by the BIOS are improperly configured :confused: when memory remapping is enabled).

My assumption is that the code section below is provided by AMI to both ASUS and Foxconn. My guess is that with both the ASUS and Foxconn decompiled BIOS section (assuming we have similar hardware, we might be able to figure out what they are doing).

Code:

---

 
        Store (One, OSVR)
        If (CondRefOf (_OSI, Local1))
        {
            If (_OSI ("Windows 2000"))
            {
                Store (0x04, OSVR)
            }

            If (_OSI ("Windows 2001"))
            {
                Store (Zero, OSVR)
            }

            If (_OSI ("Windows 2001 SP1"))
            {
                Store (Zero, OSVR)
            }

            If (_OSI ("Windows 2001 SP2"))
            {
                Store (Zero, OSVR)
            }

            If (_OSI ("Windows 2001.1"))
            {
                Store (Zero, OSVR)
            }

            If (_OSI ("Windows 2001.1 SP1"))
            {
                Store (Zero, OSVR)
            }

            If (_OSI ("Windows 2006"))
            {
                Store (Zero, OSVR)
            }
        }
        Else
        {
            If (MCTH (_OS, "Microsoft Windows NT"))
            {
                Store (0x04, OSVR)
            }
            Else
            {
                If (MCTH (_OS, "Microsoft WindowsME: Millennium Edition"))
                {
                    Store (0x02, OSVR)
                }

                If (MCTH (_OS, "Linux"))
                {
                    Store (0x03, OSVR)
                }
            }
        }

---

Interesting thread (though a lot of it was over my head). Maybe this is a stupid question, but how can I find out if any of my computers (Dell and Gateway) have a Foxconn mobo? Is there a physical logo or sticker, or do I need to boot up the computer and run some kind of command?