Comment 278 for bug 129910

It seems to me that this bug (or regression of a long-existing feature, which ever way you want to look at it) was introduced in order to fix issues with suspend-to-RAM or hibernate features on computers with frame buffer LCDs (as pointed out to us by Miguel Martinez on Dec 13). It also seems that this was perhaps a heavy-handed, or quick fix for that problem (the correct fix would be to file bugs with the upstream maintainers of the frame buffer drivers, though I concede this is probably not a workable solution in short term given the stated lack of support).

The best outcome for all concerned would be to reverse this blacklist measure that was introduced in Gutsy, and instead only blacklist if you are installing on a notebook computer that would make use of suspend/hibernate features.

Presence of a notebook could either be detected (look for a PCMCIA bus + ACPI BIOS, for instance; there may be more reliable indications too), or failing that, you could just ask the user ("are you installing to a laptop/notebook computer?") during install. You could even ask directly: "do you wish to use suspend/hibernate power saving features?" though this is probably too complex a question to face during install.

I would also place a warning in /etc/modules that the fbcon/vesafb drivers (and others?) have known issues with suspend/hibernate and that they should be disabled _if_ you are experiencing problems with that feature.

This way, people with notebooks have working power save, and people with desktops (who presumeably don't care about power saving) will have working high-res frame buffer vttys.

I propose that this should be the course of action the ubuntu dev's take on this bug, rather than endless arguments about whether or not it's a bug (of course it's a valid bug).