Ubuntu - maybe more:

If you hit the Sleep combination (Fn+F4) and it goes to sleep just fine and comes up equally fine apart from 
the fact that the backlight never comes back on. It stays off. You need to do add this to the first kernel line 
in /boot/grub/menu.lst

acpi_sleep=s3_bios

So the kernel entry would look like this for instance:
title           Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-16 sleep
root            (hd0,2)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-16-generic root=UUID=fc6f0940-1e03-49dd-bfe3-6d0b1483e52f ro quiet splash acpi_sleep=s3_bios
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-16-generic
quiet
savedefault

You will also need to use the intel driver for xorg, as the VESA on refuses to turn the backlight of the LCD back on.
So:
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel
then edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and change Driver "vesa" to Driver "intel" in the graphics device section.

If you - like me - thinks the coolest thing you can do is to just slap the lid shut and put the laptop in your bag and dash without
having to think about the battery being drained whilst in your bag, do this to put it in sleep mode when you shut the lid:

cp /etc/acpi/lid.sh /etc/acpi/lid.sh.bak
cp /etc/acpi/sleepbtn.sh /etc/acpi/lid.sh

and there you go.


FEDORA 7:

In fedora 7, it's a bit different. Even with the above kernel parameter to the (at time of writing) 
latest kernel, 2.6.23.1-10 it won't turn the backlight on. I tried logging in via SSH and use 
xbacklight -set 100 
to turn it back on, but that's a no go as well. Luckily, Fedora 7 incorporates the HAL quirks, and 
simply running:
pm-suspend --quirk-s3-bios --quirk-s3-mode
suspends it nicely.
To make fedora equally cool to ubuntu in regards to closing the lid, edit/create /etc/acpi/events/lid 
and put this in the file:
event=button/lid*
action=/etc/acpi/lid.sh

In /etc/acpi/lid.sh, you do:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -f /tmp/lidclose ]
then
        rm /tmp/lidclose
else
        touch /tmp/lidclose
        rmmod uhci_hcd
        rmmod ehci_hcd
        pm-suspend --quirk-s3-bios --quirk-s3-mode
        modprobe uhci_hcd
        modprobe ehci_hcd
fi

You might need to restart acpid.
Whenever pm-suspend runs, it will use scripts from /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/ look through them and see if
you require anything else than what's in there. Currently, there's a quirks fix in the GIT repository for
the R61 (amongst others). 
http://gitweb.freedesktop.org/?p=hal-info.git;a=blob;f=fdi/information/10freedesktop/20-video-quirk-pm-lenovo.fdi
so this might be a lot easier in future versions!


// Erik Ljungstrom 
   erik [at] ibiblio [dot] org
   http://northernmost.org