Point taken, Cuddles, except that, in this case, the computer's manual talks about installing Windows on the box (going so far as to list URLs to the Microsoft Knowledge Base that tell you how to install Windows), but makes no mention whatsoever of having to reset jumper or BIOS settings. Meh.

<edit>
More importantly, the "kernel-parameters.txt.gz" file in the documentation under

/usr/share/doc/kernel-doc-`uname -r`/Documentation/

is sparse, but really good to read to get an idea of what's there (use "zless" as your viewer). (I do believe you have to have the kernel sources installed before you get the kernel documentation.)

So, for example, if you don't want the kernel to use apm, use the kernel parameter "apm=off" in GRUB or LILO.