using leds on laptop

[Polytropon]

On Mon, 1 Feb 2010 20:22:22 +0200, Eitan Adler <eitanadlerlist at gmail.com> 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, ...