Installing Debian Wheezy on a ThinkPad T61

Introduction

This page is a work in progress and is currently (aug 2011) maintained by User:Eliasson. It covers the installation of Debian Testing daily build, codenamed Wheezy. The installation media I used was downloaded in Aug 27, 2011. Hardware marked on this page with "N/A" is available on some Thinkpad T61's, but not on mine. Feel free to fill in the gaps if you have the info.

System information

• BIOS version:

TODO

Check

• Linux kernel version: 3.0.0-1-amd64

SATA Issues

Currently, SATA mode is set to "Compatibility" in the BIOS and I'm using the ATA_PIIX driver, which finds both the hard and the cdrom drive. In AHCI mode, the cdrom is not found. I haven't found any information on that, yet.

Running in the AHCI mode worked for me - the hard drive showed up as /dev/sda and the cdrom as /dev/hda. K3b finds it and uses it fine.

TODO	Investigate

Sound

ALSA works out of the box.

Graphics:

NVidia Quadro NVS 140M

N/A

Intel 965GM

• Driver: intel

Correct screen resolution identified automatically. No need to touch /etc/X11/xorg.conf. External monitor untested.

WiFi: Intel 3945/4965AGN

With kernel 2.6.24RC3 the driver comes part of the kernel and does not need manual installation. You still have to copy and install the firmware though.

• Driver: iwl4965
• Version: 0.0.34

Activate the non-free repositories and install the package firmware-iwlwifi [1]. According to the Debian-Package-Info page, this package is architecture independent. Reboot your computer and the WiFi card should work. The hardware disable switch works without problems.

WiFi: ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN Mini-PCIe US/EMEA/LA/ANZ (Atheros)

N/A

Bluetooth

N/A

Fingerprint Sensor

N/A

T61