Well as of December 19th build of the Linux Kernel on Debian (3.2.0-4-686-pae #1 SMP Debian 3.2.35-2)
hdapsd is *finally working* at full functionality.
Now the auto-parking plus power drop to the drive motors, turning off of some of the PCB components... that is until the accelerometer stops complaining about a high-G situation.
Nice. ONLY 6 years. Gosh... I guess I'll write two letters a week.
I actually gave up on it 4 years ago and just was thankful for the auto-parking of the head on a drop of the computer.