WHITE PAPER (cont.)
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ADVANCED CONFIGURATION AND POWER INTERFACE - ACPI
The Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is part of the OnNow initiative, a
comprehensive, system-wide approach to system and device power control. Compaq worked
closely with Microsoft and Intel on the implementation of ACPI, and provided Microsoft with one
of the first notebook test platforms with ACPI hardware, the Armada 4200. OnNow refers to a PC
that is turned on but appears to be off, yet responds immediately to user or system requests.
Delivering transparent power management and improved system integration to the PC, OnNow
allows the operating system to respond to events and manage the power for the entire system and
its devices. OnNow relies on the ACPI-defined hardware interface for power management and
configuration control.
Prior to ACPI, Compaq portable computers used the Advanced Power Management (APM)
standard, which manages power using the computer BIOS (Basic Input/Output System). With
ACPI, the operating system no longer communicates directly with the hardware via the BIOS, but
rather with the ACPI-defined interface between the hardware and the operating system. This allows
the operating system to determine the required power state for each device and turn off any
components not in use in order to save valuable battery life.
Windows 98 is the first operating system to take advantage of the ACPI interface with its OnNow
technology. Windows NT 5.0 will also support ACPI, making the Windows NT 5.0 operating
system inherently more effective for mobile users than Windows NT 4.0.
ACPI AND COMPAQ ARMADA NOTEBOOKS
ACPI – the ultimate power management and configuration control technology for today’s
increasingly complex portable computers – will allow Compaq to deliver optimum mobile
performance in conjunction with Microsoft Windows 98 and Microsoft Windows NT 5.0 The
Armada 1700, 3500, 4200, 6500, 7400, and 7800 families are all ACPI hardware ready. All new
Armada portable products announced in 1998 and beyond will also be ACPI hardware ready in
anticipation of Windows 98 and Windows NT 5.0.
COMPAQ ARMADA AND WINDOWS NT 5.0
Compaq is working closely with Microsoft to ensure optimum mobile support for Compaq Armada
notebooks running Windows NT 5.0. This includes support for ACPI-compliant notebooks and
those Armada notebooks introduced prior to the ACPI specification. While Windows NT 5.0 will
provide additional features for ACPI-compliant notebooks, Compaq is working with Microsoft to
ensure that mobile functionality for pre-ACPI (or APM) notebooks will be equivalent or superior
to the support provided by Compaq for Windows NT 4.0.
• Power Management - Windows NT 5.0 will inherently support power management for
ACPI-compliant systems. This includes support for hibernation, battery status and low battery
alerts. For Armada notebooks that were introduced prior to the ACPI specification, Compaq is
working to ensure that Compaq Armada power management capabilities are available to
Windows NT 5.0 customers so that these systems will have power management support
equivalent to what they experienced under Windows NT 4.0.
• PC Card and CardBus support – Windows NT 5.0 provides both PC Card and 32-bit
CardBus support for ACPI-compliant portables.
• Plug and Play support – Plug and play support for PC Cards and docking stations will be
provided by the new Windows NT 5.0 plug and play architecture. Device swapping is also
provided for ACPI-compliant notebooks. This provides the ability to swap MultiBay devices
such as CD-ROM, floppy drive and second batteries without having to power down the
notebook.
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