Queued into the platform-drivers-x86 “for-next” Git branch ahead of the Linux 6.19 merge window is introducing the handling for the “Rapid Charge” USB-C charging mode to the Lenovo IdeaPad laptop driver.
Rong Zhang contributed the patches to add the “rapid charge” mode handling to the ideapad-laptop driver. Rong Zhang explained with the patch series:
“The GBMD/SBMC interface on IdeaPad/ThinkBook supports Rapid Charge mode (charge_types: Fast) in addition to Conservation Mode (charge_types: Long_Life).
This patchset exposes these two modes while carefully maintaining their mutually exclusive state, which aligns with the behavior of manufacturer utilities on Windows.”
This rapid charge mode was tested on a Lenovo ThinkBook 14 G7+ ASP laptop but should also work for other ThinkBook/IdeaPad laptops as well.
The “rapid charge” mode allows opting in to an increased power mode for speeding up the charging rate. The Lenovo interface to the hardware can technically allow enabling both “rapid charge” and the “conservation mode” at the same time but ends up being meaningless and thus matching the behavior of Microsoft Windows to make them mutually exclusive.
Those interested in more information can find the latest IdeaPad laptop driver patches ahead of the Linux 6.19 merge window via the platform-drivers-x86.git’s for-next branch.
