Installing Kubuntu 7.04 on a ThinkPad X60

Installation of Kubuntu 7.04 on a ThinkPad X60 (model 1709-K3U)

Series: X60

Model: 1709-K3U (IBM support page)

Operating system: Kubuntu 7.04 'Feisty Fawn' Desktop Edition (amd64)

The following articles are all likely to contain very similar content. If you can't find what you're looking for here, another article might be more appropriate.

• Installing Ubuntu 7.04 on a ThinkPad X60
• Installing Kubuntu 7.04 on a ThinkPad X60
• Installing Ubuntu 7.04 on a ThinkPad X60s
• Installing Kubuntu 7.04 on a ThinkPad X60s

Summary

What works 'out of the box'

• Intel Core 2 Duo: Detection of both cores, CPU frequecy scaling, and x86-64 architecture support.
• Intel 950 graphics acceleration
  • Beryl/AIGLX works after following the instructions at Install Beryl on Ubuntu Feisty with AIGLX (Beryl Wiki).
• Audio (AD1981HD)
  • Microphone
• Intel Gigabit Ethernet Controller
• Integrated SD card reader
• USB 2.0 ports
• TrackPoint detection
  • Not all features are enabled by default. See How to configure the TrackPoint
• Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG: In previous versions of Ubuntu I've had to follow How to get ipw3945 and wep/wpa to work (UbuntuGuide.org), but it looks like that isn't necessary with Feisty.
• IBM ThinkPad ACPI Extras driver (ibm-acpi), though I haven't tested the experimental features yet.

What needs to be fixed

• TrackPoint click-to-scroll is not enabled by default. (FIXED)

What has not yet been tested

• IBM Embedded Security Subsystem 2.0
• CardBus slot (Type 2)
• Firewire (IEEE1394) port
• Modem
• Infrared port
• Suspend to RAM / Sleep
• Suspend to HDD / Hibernate
• External VGA port
• Hard drive protection (IBM Active Protection System)

Not included with this model

• Bluetooth
• Integrated Fingerprint Reader

Annoyances

• Battery life

Installation

Installing any operating system on a computer without a CD-ROM drive can be tricky. Common solutions to the problem include the use of an external optical drive, installing from a USB flash drive, and network installations. I suggest that you have a look at what solutions are out there, and choose one that best suites your situation.

• ThinkWiki has a good article on general Installation on ThinkPads without CD-ROM drives, and
• the Ubuntu wiki explains various Ubuntu-specific methods of Installation without a CD.

Network installation

Personally, I chose to perform a network installation because I already have an Ubuntu fileserver with a copy of the installation CD ISO stored on it. I used a combination of resources to guide me through the installation:

• Ubuntu PXE Install (C4 Wiki) for the preparation of the server,
• Installation/Netboot (Ubuntu Documentation) for updated Feisty-specific netboot information, and
• How to mount ISO files (UbuntuGuide.org) to load data straight from the downloaded CD.

Outline of procedure

1. Install and configure necessary software on the server.
   1. Install services (C4 Wiki)
   2. Prepare your tftp server (C4 Wiki)
   3. Prepare your dhcp-server (C4 Wiki)
2. Copy the netboot files from the installation CD.
   1. Mount the ISO file by following How to mount ISO files (UbuntuGuide.org).
   2. Copy the netboot files to /var/lib/tftpboot.

      $ sudo cp -av /media/iso/install/netboot/* /var/lib/tftpboot/

3. (Optional: Use ISO as repository) Normally, Ubuntu's netboot installer tries to download as much as possible from the online repositories. With an Apache HTTP Server running, you can serve the mounted installation ISO as a local repository to save time and bandwidth. Create a symbolic link to the mounted ISO in Apache's www directory so that the ThinkPad has HTTP access to it.

   $ sudo ln -s /media/iso /var/www/ubuntu

4. Boot the ThinkPad using PXE and follow normal installation procedure, with the following exceptions:
   1. (Optional: Use ISO as repository) When prompted to select a mirror, choose to manually enter the address to the local Apache server.
5. (Optional: Use ISO as repository) The installer is likely to have configured a default /etc/apt/sources.list that lists the local Apache server as an Ubuntu repository, and the real repositories may be commented out. Edit this file after the installation is complete to remove references to the local Apache server, and ensure that necessary repositories are not commented out.

Fixes after installation

Click-to-scroll

As is explained in further detail here, adding the following lines to /etc/X11/xorg.conf got click-to-scroll to work for me.

 Section "InputDevice"
      Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
      Driver          "mouse"
      ...
      Option          "EmulateWheel"          "on"
      Option          "EmulateWheelButton"    "2"
 EndSection

This can create problems in Firefox, however, when you don't scroll exactly straight up and down. Read up on how to configure Firefox for using trackpoint horizontal scrolling.