Installing Ubuntu on a ThinkPad X21

Because the X21 does not have room for a CDROM, one must plug it into the dock to perform a CD based install.

Using the Live CD for any of the Ubuntu versions listed above, I was able to get the Live CD to boot, but installing Ubuntu to the Harddrive would hang during loading of the usb-storage module. Looking at the logs, I received the famed "Maybe the USB cable is bad?" error message.

Using the Alternate CD, was able to install. At the installer's boot screen, F6 and enter a boot parameter of "debian-installer/probe/usb=false" (don't use quotes). Once you're in the text mode installation and have hit your first set of questions, press AltF2 to enter the BusyBox console, then find and delete (rm) "usb-storage.ko" from /lib/modules/2.6.*/ Then AltF1 to return to the install, and answer questions as normal. The install process should work fine from here on out, and booting into your fresh installation should go without a hitch.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

I used the Ubuntu 7.04 CD. I booted the live CD and clicked the install icon on the Gnome Desktop. It installed without problem. I have 256 meg Ram.

June 7, 2007

The Motorola WN825G WiFi cardbus card works. I use ndiswrapper with the Windows driver from Motorola and wifi-radar to connect to encrypted wifi. To get the card working : 1) Boot Ubuntu 2) Log in into the user account 3) Insert the card : the green led ligts 4) run wifi-radar

September 25, 2007

My X21 does not have a cd drive, connected a cd-rom drive via usb (used a standard IDE external cage). Booted off the Ubuntu disc without any problems, and began installation. Due to the speed of the laptop, installation took significantly longer then usual.