TuxOnIce
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General
Software Suspend 2, also called "swsusp2" and "suspend2", is an implementation of suspend-to-disk functionality in the form of a Linux kernel patch and several userspace utilities. It is an alternative to both the BIOS-driven hibernation feature found on most ThinkPad models, and the swsusp "software suspend" functionality built into recent Linux kernels.
Compared to the alternatives, Software Suspend 2 has some unique features:
- The ability to compress the memory image as it is written to disk, thereby reducing suspend and resume times.
- Saving the memory image into a swap file, a swap partition or normal a file on any filesystem.
- Cancelling a suspend in progress
- Control over amount of RAM written to disk -- can (optionally) discard cached disk blocks to reduce suspend and resume times
- Textual and graphical UI (optional)
- Improved reliability under some circumstances -- if the alternatives don't work, try this one!
Since it is implemented purely in software, Software Suspend 2 is in principle machine-independent and should work on all modern ThinkPad models. However, in some cases problematic driver need to be unloaded before suspension. This is handled by the hibernate script (see below).
Model-specific Status
- ThinkPad T43: works; requires SATA resume patch and the SATA drivers compiled as built-in or in initrd (see Problems with SATA and Linux)
- ThinkPad T21: works; need to unload the sound module (snd-cs46xx) on suspend. May want to enable UseDummyXServer if running X.
- ThinkPad X41 Tablet: works; requires SATA resume patch and the SATA drivers compiled as built-in or in initrd (see Problems with SATA and Linux) and a hibernate.conf fix (see Installing Fedora Core 4 on a ThinkPad X41 Tablet)
- ThinkPad X22: works (see Installing Ubuntu (Breezy) on a ThinkPad X22)
- ThinkPad G41: works (see Installing Debian on a ThinkPad G41)
Installation Instructions
The project home page has a detailed HOWTO and FAQ. The following are just a few highlights.
Patching mkinitrd
If your systems uses an initrd file (most do), you'll need to patch or replace your initrd-creation script.
- Fedora: in /sbin/mkinitrd, find this line:
echo "echo Mounted /proc filesystem" >> $RCFILE
and add the following immediately afterwards:
echo "echo > /proc/suspend2/do_resume" >>$RCFILE
- Debian: copy swsusp-initrd.sh script to your /etc/mkinitrd/scripts directory before creating initrd image.
Make sure you (re)install your kernel after patching mkinitrd.
Hibernate script
Software Suspend 2 works best with a hibernate script, which takes care of auxiliary tasks needed on many systems (e.g., unloading problematic modules and restoring video modes).
Availability:
- Gentoo: emerge hibernate-script
- Fedora: kernel and hibernate RPMs are available at http://mhensler.de/swsusp/
- Other: check the home page for packages (deb, i386 rpm, tgz, and source rpm) from http://www.suspend2.net
