From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Feb 1 19:28:16 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 48E35106566C for ; Mon, 1 Feb 2010 19:28:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 066148FC13 for ; Mon, 1 Feb 2010 19:28:15 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-195-104-232.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.104.232]) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id D7E5D3D70A; Mon, 1 Feb 2010 20:28:13 +0100 (CET) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id o11JSDbT011561; Mon, 1 Feb 2010 20:28:13 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2010 20:28:13 +0100 From: Polytropon To: Eitan Adler Message-Id: <20100201202813.9f3dc1c9.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: References: Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: using leds on laptop X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:28:16 -0000 On Mon, 1 Feb 2010 20:22:22 +0200, Eitan Adler wrote: > My laptop has a led for "wireless" - It has never been used since I > installed freeBSD on this laptop. I was wondering if there was a way I could > figure out a) if freeBSD detects it b) a way to use it for something I'm not sure if FreeBSD will detect the "pure LED", but as you mentioned that it is labelled "wireless", it is in relation to the WLAN inside the laptop. Maybe there's a device driver functionality that activates the LED when the WLAN device is active? But like with most "modern" inventions (such as jacks for phones and speakers that are controlled by a driver, or other nonsense), this issue will be so specific that there's only a very specific driver for an arbitrary version of "Windows" that utilizes "hidden" code inside the laptop's secret circuits to switch the LED on. :-) Do you use the laptop's WLAN, and does the LED correspond to any state (like activated, connected, scanning etc.) of the WLAN? Anyway, I would predict that you won't find an easy way to utilize this LED except you're writing a driver for it with specifications the laptop's manufacturer will sell to you if you put enough money onto the table. :-) Otherwise, it's completely useless. By the way, I have an older Toshiba laptop with a mechanical switch for the WLAN component. It activates a LED regardless of any OS-internal setting, maybe it's just switching the WLAN component's power off an on, along with the LED. But that's not "modern" - today's devices need a driver for that. :-) As I said: Useless stuff. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...