Installing Fedora 12 on a ThinkPad X22

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NOTE!
This is based on the Beta version of Fedora 12 with the default GNOME desktop. Your experience with KDE may be different.
NOTE!
This page will no longer be updated by the original author, as the ThinkPad has had a systemboard failure and no longer boots.

Success Chart

This machines SMOLT profile is available here.

Item Working Notes
Installation Local CD/DVD install partial Requires booting with 'nomodeset', or 'text'
Network Installation partial Require booting with 'nomodeset', or 'text'
USB Installation partial Require booting with 'nomodeset', or 'text'. Booting from USB key, requires that you first disable booting from the internal HDD in the BIOS (known BIOS limitation on this machine). After install is completed you can re-enable booting from the internal HDD.
Display Laptop Screen partial KMS is broken, need to boot with nomodeset kernel boot parameter.
VGA no see below
Power Management Software Suspend (hibernate) yes
Suspend to Memory (ACPI sleep) yes Moon LED remains off
Audio no Horrible screeching
Input Keyboard yes
TrackPoint yes Install gpointing-device-settings rpm for full configuration capabilities
Extra keys partial see ThinkPad Extra keys section below
Ports Ethernet yes
Modem no Requires closed-source driver
Serial yes Requires UltraBase X2
IrDA no Device is detected, but does not seem to work
PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse yes Mouse tested. Requires UltraBase X2
Parallel unknown (should work) Requires UltraBase X2
USB yes
PCMCIA/Cardbus yes
Compact Flash unknown (should work)
Ultrabay device hotswap partial Eject switch causes udev event, but no default udev script to handle the event to unmount filesystems in time. ata_piix does handle the removal and insertion of ATA devices.
Dock removal yes Seems to work. Pressing the undock button at the front of the UltraBase causes a flurry of UDEV activity with device removals. Docking does the reverse.

Tested and Verified on Fedora 12

Information in this section has been tested and verified using Fedora 12

Installation

Installation is straight forward, once you add the nomodeset boot parameter. Afterwards you can follow the generic Fedora install instructions.

Configuration

Kernel

It is recommended to edit /boot/grub/grub.conf and add hpet=force to the kernel line. This will activate HPET (High Precision Event Timer), which will allow the CPU to sleep for longer periods and save power.

X Server - RV100

Basic X server functionality is broken on this ThinkPad. The problem is with KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) and as such needs to be disabled to be able to install or run Fedora 12. This is a regression as KMS did work in F11. After switching to UMS the ThinkPad LCD (LVDS) will work. Still occasional screen corruption can occur.

To disable KMS, boot with the nomodeset boot parameter.

When hotplugging an external VGA display, xrandr is able to see its properties. But trying to activate mirror mode does not work (external display remains black). Without KMS the virtual desktop size is too small to allow extended desktop.

Trying to enable 'Desktop Effects' (compiz) fails with an error dialog that Accelerated 3D graphics is not available.

ThinkPad Extra keys

ThinkPad keys are handled by a mixture of the thinkpad_acpi, acpi button and acpi dock drivers.

Key Function Handled by Event Works Notes
Fn-F3 lock screen thinkpad_acpi HAL yes
Fn-F4 suspend acpi button HAL yes
Fn-F7 videomode - no no
Fn-F12 hibernate acpi button HAL yes
Fn-Home brightness up - no yes no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround.
Fn-End brightness down - no yes no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround.
Fn-PgUp thinklight - no yes no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround.
VolumeUp Volume Up - no yes no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround.
VolumeDown Volume Down - no yes no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround.
Mute Mute - no yes no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround.
ThinkPad Vendor key thinkpad_acpi HAL partial No default action, but can be associated with gnome-keybinding-properties
Power Power button acpi button HAL yes Need to press button for ~1 second to trigger event
Lid Lid button acpi button HAL yes
Ultrabay Ultrabay eject switch acpi dock udev no missing udev handler
undock dock eject acpi dock udev yes Gray button on the front of the UltraBase X2

Untested on Fedora 12