Installing SuSE 10.1 on a ThinkPad T60

Installation of Suse 10.1 on a T60.

System

T60 (2007-49G)

• Processor: Intel Core Duo Prozessor T2400 mit 1,83 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache
• Ram: 512 MB 667 MHz DDR2
• HD: 60 GB SATA w Active Protection System; 5400 U/min
• CD/DVD: DVD/CD-RW Combodrive V
• Display: 14,1' (35,8 cm); TFT Display; 1400x1050 (SXGA+)
• Graphics: ATI Mobility RADEON X1300; 64 MB DDR2 SDRAM
• Communication: 10/100/1000 LAN, Intel Mini PCI PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Lan, Infrarot, 56K Int. Modem

Summary

Most of the installation went very smoothly. Many components were recognized and configured correctly.

NOTE!

To keep the "ThinkVantage" Button functionality, create a primary boot partition and let grup be installed there LEAVE THE MBR ALONE

What works out of the box

• Intel Duo processor (dual-core)
• Network card
• Sound
• Volume control keys and the function key for the locked screensaver.
• Always working without any OS support: keyboard light and screen brightness control
• Wireless (actually worked even though it looked different at first, but then worked flawless after reboot)
• Suspend to disc and suspend to RAM (wow!)

What needs to be fixed post-install

• Graphics card (ati drivers available via ati homepage)

To enable 3D acceleration, generate own rpm's from the ati package which can then be installed either via yast or simply with rpm. You should include the kernel sources in your installation since the ati script needs it to generate the Suse specific package which in terms is needed to properly enable 3D acceleration

• OSD for sound, thinklight, brightness

Hint:

Install the tpb package and enable the nvram kernel module (is available but not loaded by default)

change the rights on the /dev/nvram from 600 to 666 and include a small script like e.g.

#!/bin/sh
#
# start Thinkpad button support daemon
tpb -d -c /etc/tpbrc

in the ~/.kde/Autostart Directory. There are also other suggestions on the web about creating a 'nvram' group and adding the users to this group, but I did not do this at the moment.

Not tested

• IR Interface
• Modem (but I think it was not recognized in the installation process)

External Sources

• This guide is listed at the TuxMobil Linux laptop and notebook installation survey (IBM/Lenovo).