Linux 3.17 Will Detect If Your Toshiba Laptop Is Falling Down

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux 3.17 Will Detect If Your Toshiba Laptop Is Falling Down

The x86 platform driver updates were sent in on Saturday by Matthew Garrett and besides some clean-ups and various quirks / minor additions for new devices, there's a new driver for generating falling laptop events for Toshiba laptops...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTc2NDU

[discordian]

Phoronix: Linux 3.17 Will Detect If Your Toshiba Laptop Is Falling Down

The x86 platform driver updates were sent in on Saturday by Matthew Garrett and besides some clean-ups and various quirks / minor additions for new devices, there's a new driver for generating falling laptop events for Toshiba laptops...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTc2NDU

So how likely is a HDD to survive a impact with (/without) the head parked (I doubt its enough time to stop and secure the platters... stopping rotating mass fast enough will cause trouble itself?)
Seems like the biggest effect will be a false sense of confidence.

[DebianLinuxero]

So how likely is a HDD to survive a impact with (/without) the head parked (I doubt its enough time to stop and secure the platters... stopping rotating mass fast enough will cause trouble itself?)
Seems like the biggest effect will be a false sense of confidence.

I don't think that it would protect physically the hard disk, but at least it'll sync the data and park the heads so data could be access / restore (if not broken) later.

Another thing this driver would do is display an "?AAAAAAAARRGGG!" scream in the screen when the computer falls.[/IRONIC]

[kpedersen]

This is pretty cool. I know the Thinkpads do something similar (though AFAIK do not have a Linux driver yet).

When I ran Windows on my Thinkpad, I would tend not to install this anti drop protection driver because of all the crap that would need to be installed to get it running on Windows. With Linux I know it will be much cleaner and integrated into the kernel rather than 3rd party etc...

Though with the rate that Linux breaks / fixes / regresses / fixes, I do not quite trust it would actually still be working when I really need it lol.

[endman]

Though with the rate that Linux breaks / fixes / regresses / fixes, I do not quite trust it would actually still be working when I really need it lol.

Sound more like another OS <cough>l35d</cough>.

When I ran Windows on my Thinkpad, I would tend not to install this anti drop protection driver because of all the crap that would need to be installed to get it running on Windows. With Linux I know it will be much cleaner and integrated into the kernel rather than 3rd party etc...

You'll find that Linux pretty much is the only OS to do such advance things. No other OS does this. Especially not l35d.

[FLHerne]

This is pretty cool. I know the Thinkpads do something similar (though AFAIK do not have a Linux driver yet).

When I ran Windows on my Thinkpad, I would tend not to install this anti drop protection driver because of all the crap that would need to be installed to get it running on Windows. With Linux I know it will be much cleaner and integrated into the kernel rather than 3rd party etc...

Thinkpad HDAPS is even better than these Dell and Toshiba things - the full accelerometer data is accessible by the OS* - and fully supported by Linux .

*this means you can use it as a fake joystick!
Playing SuperTuxKart by flailing the laptop about is great fun, albeit directly contradictory to the intended point of the device.

More usefully, you can set the trigger thresholds from the OS, so it isn't oversensitive when used on the move.

[discordian]

I don't think that it would protect physically the hard disk, but at least it'll sync the data and park the heads so data could be access / restore (if not broken) later.

Well, how much data are you talking about, starting to write back data in free fall doesnt seem like a good idea to me. IMHO the heads should be parked immediatly, but from what I know HDDs have a high likelihood to die after drops even if powered off. Maybe if they fatten the laptop and cover it with foam it would make sense. (Or just use frickin SSD)

Another thing this driver would do is display an "?AAAAAAAARRGGG!" scream in the screen when the computer falls.[/IRONIC]

I thing you are onto something.

[Guest]

...but from what I know HDDs have a high likelihood to die after drops even if powered off.

I've seen a laptop HDD one time that had it's platters broken like glass. Literally. I opened up the HDD after it wasn't being recognized properly by Windows, and just found fragments of platters everywhere...

I think it was a relatively older HDD though. The laptop nor outer-casing of the HDD didn't look like it suffered any fall or physical damage at all.

[Ardje]

I don't think that it would protect physically the hard disk, but at least it'll sync the data and park the heads so data could be access / restore (if not broken) later.

I surely hope it would not start any write actions. It should inhibit all access to the harddisk, and if possible put it in standby/off mode. Syncing data actuall means it might have to spin up...

Another thing this driver would do is display an "?AAAAAAAARRGGG!" scream in the screen when the computer falls.[/IRONIC]

I'd rather have a nice background that seems stable when the laptop is falling, like a viewing window on hell. I mean, you might get car-sickness if you see it fall, and the laptop's screen is just falling with it...