[17:57] <letterrip> is there a way to disable my WLAN hardware switch?
[17:57] <letterrip> it is currently mapped to keycode 246 = XF86WLAN NoSymbol XF86WLAN
[17:57] <letterrip> i try and change its state with rfkill, but that is ignored
[17:59] <TJ-> letterrip: just came in, saw your last 2 messages. having trouble with soft or hard block on wifi? is it an Acer or Asus system?
[17:59] <letterrip> TJ- Sony VAIO
[17:59] <letterrip> hard block
[18:00] <letterrip> it fails intermittently - can be 'fixed' sometimes by pressing on the case
[18:00] <lordcirth_> letterrip, if it's bound to a keycode, could you unbind it in your keymap?
[18:01] <TJ-> which Vaio model? I have one I don't use now but that had the same kind of issue - I had to resolder and/or adjust the physical switch 
[18:02] <TJ-> I found if I 'rammed' the switch to the enable position it was fine for a long time but it would eventually disengage and I'd have to repeatedly push it back n forward roughly to get it to re-enagage, so I took it apart and fixed it permanently
[18:02] <letterrip> TJ- VGN-AR320E - i think it is the same as one of hte older Acer/Asus - I could potentially disable the system and fix the physical switch - but if possible would prefer a kernel/software method
[18:02] <TJ-> letterrip: if a hard block is happening there's nothing you can do in software
[18:03] <letterrip> TJ- it is a hardware switch, but I think the kernel can ignore it
[18:03] <letterrip> ie it isn't interrupting the powersupply to the wifi - the kernel just 'knows' it is supposed to turn the wifi off/on
[18:03] <TJ-> letterrip: do you know if on that model the sony-laptop module controls rfkill function?
[18:04] <letterrip> using rfkill doesn't work
[18:06] <TJ-> looking at the kernel's rfkill module, it only has 1 param, master_switch_mode and that only controls the effect of SW_RFKILL_ALL 
[18:07] <letterrip> TJ- ah
[18:08] <letterrip> TJ- I've read elsewhere that 'disabling the sony_laptop' module has worked for others to disable the hardware switch
[18:09] <letterrip> on related models
[18:09] <TJ-> sony-laptop.c has a lot of code handling rfkill too so looks like the signals come in via ACPI, where it calls sony_call_snc_handle() to get the switch state
[18:09] <TJ-> letterrip: it might do, yes
[18:09] <TJ-> you may also lose other functionality too 
[18:11] <letterrip> ok - will look at the source, and maybe make a local modification
[18:11] <letterrip> thanks for the help
[18:13] <TJ-> letterrip: I did some exhaustive analysis of the ACPI of a range of Vaio models some time back, I'm trying to find where I left it so you can take a look
[18:13] <letterrip> ah cool
[18:27] <TJ-> Grrr... took me ages, had to remember how to map a directory from an old expired domain to a new domain! https://iam.tj/projects/snc/   -- it's analysis of the ACPI methods of a large number of models which we used to develop the sony-laptop module functions
[18:28] <letterrip> TJ- greatly appreciated
[18:28] <TJ-> I'm struggling to remember which method dealt with rfkill... it may have been GWDP
[18:29] <letterrip> k
[18:30] <TJ-> it may also have had some involvement of the methods dealing with extended key scan-code ... I don't have my original notes any more... I was wondering/hoping this data might point to a way to selectively disable hardware kill... but the easy way of course is to try it with sony-laptop unloaded
[18:31] <TJ-> blimey, that brings back memories - those tables were all auto-generated using awk scripts
[18:33] <letterrip> TJ- yeppers
[18:33] <letterrip> thanks for the pointer