toshutils and fan operation

[Bill Moseley <moseley@hank.org>]

I've have toshset and toshutils installed on my 2805-S302.  I have a few
questions:

I do have CONFIG_TOSHIBA=y in my 2.4.18 kernel.

First, a question about the fan.  Does it come on automatically regardless
of software?  That is, without using toshset or toshutils will it still
come on?  I believe it does, but I can't really hear the fan without
placing my ear right next to the back of the laptop (which I don't do very
often).

If it will go on automatically then do I ever need to run it manually with
toshset or toshutils?

Toshset requires root to run, but I can use the "fan" program to turn on
or off the fan as non-root.  I'd think if I need root to access the
hardward with toshset I'd need it with the fan program.

Running fan with --smart seems odd -- the fan cycles every second or so,
which doesn't seem good for the fan.  Is that expected?

When I run wmtuxtime and click on the wrench to configure I get eight
windows pop-up that say "ERROR: could not open interface to hardware",
regardless if I run wmtuxtime as root or not.  What's causing that?
Again, I do have CONFIG_TOSHIBA set, and I can use toshset on this laptop.

What's the best way to run wmtuxtime in .xsession?  I'm running icewm, and
I'm not running xdm -- I just type startx after logging in.

Is there a docking application that will show the fan status?  Does anyone
have (links to) a description of (or suggestions for) a nice hardware
monitor setup?  I'm running icewm.


BTW -- I see this when running wmtuxtime:

  Gdk-WARNING **: Creating pixmap from xpm with NULL window and colormap

what's that about?

Thanks much,

-- 
Bill Moseley moseley@hank.org