inconsistent use of the words "suspend" and "sleep" on the desktop

[Jonathon Anderson]

On Wed, 2006-05-03 at 15:33 -0600, Bonilla, Alejandro wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-05-03 at 17:23 -0400, Patrick McFarland wrote:
> > On Tuesday 02 May 2006 12:23, Matthew East wrote:
> > > A translator has brought it to my attention that the words "sleep" and
> > > "suspend" are used with different meanings on the desktop. Specifically,
> > > gnome-power-manager gets it wrong. In my understanding, the correct use
> > > of the words (as used in the logout dialogue and the
> > > file /etc/default/acpi-support) is like this:
> > >
> > > Sleep = Suspend to Ram
> > > Hibernate = Suspend to Disk
> > >
> > > GPM uses them like this:
> > >
> > > Suspend = Sleep to Ram)
> > > Hibernate = Sleep to Disk)
> > >
> > 
> > IMO, Suspend and Hibernate really are the correct terms. WIndows gets it wrong 
> > by saying Sleep and Hibernate.
> 
> I think it's over talked about what people really need or the options we
> have.
> 
> Suspend is Suspend to RAM, Hibernate is to (Suspend, Sleep, Save) to
> Disk.
> 
> http://www.lifsoft.com/power/faq.htm
> 
> -- 
> Alejandro Bonilla
> 

If I was a user, (which I am) the terms "sleep" and "hibernate" make
much more sense than the term "suspend." Both "sleep" and "hibernate"
are ways to suspend the system from actual processing, but "sleep" is
light (memory), and "hibernate" is deep (disk).

~jonathon anderson