ACPI S2 vs. Gentoo vs. Vaio TZ11

Yes, yes, yes! The thing started working reliably today, at last! The software combo which makes the thing work is as follows:

• sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-2.6.24-r3. I believe that any kernel version in the 2.6.24 series will do the thing. The ALSA code included in newer releases also fixes the problem with the built-in speakers and they will no longer be disabled on bootup.
• I am using uvesafb for the framebuffer, because intelfb and the i810 driver cannot be used together (yet).
• Video card driver is x11-drivers/xf86-video-i810-2.1.1. Versions above 2.2.x will not work.
• Gentoo has now split packages for HAL, I have installed sys-apps/hal-0.5.10 and app-misc/hal-info-20071030. HAL is needed for Gnome Power Manager to work. Be sure of setting the acpi and laptop USE-flags.
• Last, but not least, gnome-extra/gnome-power-manager-2.20.2, which I am using from the Gnome panel to suspend gracefully. You may have guessed it: I still haven’t figured out how to suspend without having the X-Window system running.

Just a final note: if Gnome Power Manager thinks you have two batteries take a look at this FAQ entry, the kernel is reporting the existence of your battery using two different subsystems! I had to disable CONFIG_ACPI_BATTERY because CONFIG_POWER_SUPPLY could not be disabled with my set of kernel options.

Now I am really happy with my slim 11-inch laptop 😀