Intel Has A New Driver For Linux 5.12: Reporting Your Laptop's Hinge/Keyboard Angle

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Intel Has A New Driver For Linux 5.12: Reporting Your Laptop's Hinge/Keyboard Angle

Intel's latest open-source Linux driver contribution is a hinge driver that is set to debut with Linux 5.12...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-Hinge-Driver-Linux-5.12

[Yttrium]

Maybe its just me, but what could this possibly be used for? Is it even used in OEM software or windows?

[Sonadow]

Another of those 'what the hell for' additions. Why the hell will i want or need to know the angle at which my laptop display is opened at?

It's not like the operating system will adjust the display's brightness or activate its digital privacy feature based on the angle, and I sure as hell don't want that happening. Imagine setting the display to a certain angle and suddenly the brightness gets cranked to the max, or the digital privacy filter kicks in and reduces the viewing angles so that all my colleague sitting next to me can see is a pitch-black screen.

[elatllat]

If you have a laptop that folds into a tablet that could tell the os to tell the web browser to tell the website to make links finger friendly / larger via the existing css pointer property.

Or auto rotate the screen 180 when in a /\ tablet shape.

Or turn off the screen but not sleep if the lid is only a finger open (for those who can't be bothered to press cmd+L)

Or zoom / half the screen resolution when standing at arms length vs sitting right in front of.

Or have a script that emails you a photo every 10 degrees if it is stolen.

Or duct tape to a Boeing 737 Max to prevent crashes due to crap engineering I mean faulty angle-of-attack sensors.

... maybe there is a 7th use but I can't think of it now, anyway better than the void currently in the minds of Yttrium and Sonadow

[Sonadow]

If you have a laptop that folds into a tablet that could tell the os to tell the web browser to tell the website to make links finger friendly / larger via the existing css pointer property.

Or auto rotate the screen 180 when in a /\ tablet shape.

Windows already does these two perfectly, and it uses accelerometers, not hinge angles to achieve that.

[fallingcats]

If you have a laptop that folds into a tablet that could tell the os to tell the web browser to tell the website to make links finger friendly / larger via the existing css pointer property.

Or auto rotate the screen 180 when in a /\ tablet shape.

Or turn off the screen but not sleep if the lid is only a finger open (for those who can't be bothered to press cmd+L)

Or have a script that emails you a photo every 10 degrees if it is stolen.

Or duct tape to a Boeing 737 Max to prevent crashes due to crap engineering I mean faulty angle-of-attack sensors.

... maybe there is a 6th use but I can't think of it now.

That would actually be pretty useful for me, as my convertible only disables the keyboard in linux when opened 360°. I'm also pretty confident it has such a sensor because the bios disables it at 180°. Here's to hoping the hid amd sfh driver will support this sensor.

[elatllat]

Windows already does these two [(=,/\)] perfectly, and it uses accelerometers, not hinge angles to achieve that.

perfectly? It could not know the difference between table /\ and bed \¯ (or inclined stand ¦ ) with a single accelerometer under the keyboard, so either it's flawed or it has more input (like linux soon will).

[JustRob]

Now we can write that protractor app.

[kpedersen]

I did notice this driver a few months back: https://man.openbsd.org/aps.4
And since I have always been meaning to hook it up to one of our games to use as a controller. Perhaps the same can be done with this new Intel one?

Useful? As far as I can see, not so much. But swinging the thing about on the train would be a great way for people to distance themselves from me (post COVID of course). I mean would you sit next to the weirdo using his Thinkpad as a fishing rod?

[Yttrium]

maybe there is a 7th use but I can't think of it now, anyway better than the void currently in the minds of Yttrium and Sonadow

Auto rotating into a tablet seems a bit far fetched but strapping laptops to a boeing 737 is something I should have thought of.