Difference between revisions of "Installing Fedora 11 on a ThinkPad T41"

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{{NOTE|This is based on the pre-release version of Fedora 11, but should give a good indication of what to expect of the final release}}
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{| width="100%"
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|style="vertical-align:top;padding-right:20px;width:10px;white-space:nowrap;" | __TOC__
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== Success Chart ==
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|style="vertical-align:top" |
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{{NOTE|Some functions mentioned below might rely on available Fedora updates being installed. So if your having problems with something that is supposed to work, please ensure you have all available updates installed}}
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|}
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== Success Chart - Out of the box experience ==
 
This machines SMOLT profile is available [http://www.smolts.org/client/show/pub_276b9cfe-6c93-4928-b3c0-1789cac90d0e here].
 
This machines SMOLT profile is available [http://www.smolts.org/client/show/pub_276b9cfe-6c93-4928-b3c0-1789cac90d0e here].
 
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
 
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
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|colspan=2| Audio || {{Cyes}} ||
 
|colspan=2| Audio || {{Cyes}} ||
 
|-
 
|-
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|rowspan=3| Wireless || WiFi - Atheros|| {{Cyes}} ||
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|rowspan=3| Wireless || WiFi - Atheros|| {{Cyes}} || But WiFi LED remains off
 
|-
 
|-
 
| WiFi - Intel|| {{Cunk}} (should work)||
 
| WiFi - Intel|| {{Cunk}} (should work)||
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| IrDA || {{Cno}} || Device is detected, but does not work
 
| IrDA || {{Cno}} || Device is detected, but does not work
 
|-
 
|-
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| PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse || {{Cunk}} (should work)|| Requires port-replicator or dock
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| PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse || {{Cyes}} || Mouse works, but disables Trackpoint/Touchpad
 
|-
 
|-
 
| Parallel || {{Cunk}} (should work)|| Device is detected
 
| Parallel || {{Cunk}} (should work)|| Device is detected
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  ip6tables: Unloading modules:
 
  ip6tables: Unloading modules:
 
without [Ok] getting printed at the end of the line.
 
without [Ok] getting printed at the end of the line.
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== Overheating ==
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 +
On a couple of occasions, such as when installing a very large YUM update with hundreds of updates the following occurred
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 +
kernel:Critical temperature reached (93 C), shutting down.
  
 
== Configuration ==
 
== Configuration ==
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Both the Intel and Atheros wireless should work out of the box.
 
Both the Intel and Atheros wireless should work out of the box.
  
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I did limited tested with Atheros and it seemed to worked. Intel was not tested.
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I did limited tested with Atheros and it seemed to worked. WiFi LED remains off though (fixed in 2.6.31)
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Intel WiFi was not tested.
  
 
=== ThinkPad keys ===
 
=== ThinkPad keys ===
 
ThinkPad keys are handled by a mixture of the thinkpad_acpi, acpi button and acpi dock drivers.
 
ThinkPad keys are handled by a mixture of the thinkpad_acpi, acpi button and acpi dock drivers.
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{{NOTE|Due to Xorg limitations, some keys that cause HAL events work with Xorg and others do not (Fn-Space). This is a known limitation that should be fixed with the next major Xorg (v1.7) release.}}
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{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
 
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
 
|-
 
|-
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| Fn-PgUp || thinklight || - || {{Cno}} || {{Cyes}} || changing thinkpad_acpi hotkey_mask, causes HAL events. No OSD in any case.
 
| Fn-PgUp || thinklight || - || {{Cno}} || {{Cyes}} || changing thinkpad_acpi hotkey_mask, causes HAL events. No OSD in any case.
 
|-
 
|-
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| Fn-Space || zoom || thinkpad_acpi || {{Cyes|text=}} HAL || {{Cno}} ||
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| Fn-Space || zoom || thinkpad_acpi || {{Cyes|text=}} HAL || {{Cno}} || Known Xorg limitation, scheduled to be fixed in Xorg 1.8 with the new XKB2 extension in 2Q 2010
 
|-
 
|-
 
| VolumeUp || Volume Up || - || {{Cno}} || {{Cyes}} || changing thinkpad_acpi hotkey_mask, causes HAL events. But OSD is wrong
 
| VolumeUp || Volume Up || - || {{Cno}} || {{Cyes}} || changing thinkpad_acpi hotkey_mask, causes HAL events. But OSD is wrong
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| Dock || Dock eject button || acpi dock  || {{Cunk}} || {{Cunk}} || Should cause udev event
 
| Dock || Dock eject button || acpi dock  || {{Cunk}} || {{Cunk}} || Should cause udev event
 
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|-
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| Ultrabay || Ultrabay eject switch || acpi dock || {{Cyes|text=}} udev|| {{Cno}} || Causes udev event, but missing handler
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| Ultrabay || Ultrabay eject switch || acpi dock || {{Cyes|text=}} udev|| {{Cno}} || Causes udev event, but missing handler. See below.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|}
 
|}
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=== Ultrabay ===
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Ultrabay eject is not handled properly by default. Since there is no undock udev handler. This udev script works for me: [[Installing Fedora 11 on a ThinkPad T60#Ultrabay]]
  
 
===IrDA===
 
===IrDA===

Latest revision as of 23:04, 26 October 2009

NOTE!
Some functions mentioned below might rely on available Fedora updates being installed. So if your having problems with something that is supposed to work, please ensure you have all available updates installed

Success Chart - Out of the box experience

This machines SMOLT profile is available here.

Item Working Notes
Installation Local CD/DVD install yes
Network Installation yes
USB Installation yes
Display Laptop Screen yes Occasional corruption may occur.
VGA no currently broken.
DVI no currently broken. Requires port-replicator or dock with DVI
S-Video no currently unsupported with KMS
Power Management Software Suspend (hibernate) yes
Suspend to Memory (ACPI sleep) yes
Audio yes
Wireless WiFi - Atheros yes But WiFi LED remains off
WiFi - Intel unknown (should work)
Bluetooth yes
Extra Buttons Keyboard Section partial See ThinkPad keyboard section below
Ports Ethernet yes
Modem no Requires closed-source driver
Serial yes Requires port-replicator or dock
IrDA no Device is detected, but does not work
PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse yes Mouse works, but disables Trackpoint/Touchpad
Parallel unknown (should work) Device is detected
USB yes
PCMCIA/Cardbus yes
Harddisk Active Protection no
Ultrabay device removal 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.
TPM (security subsystem) unknown Not brave enough to mess around with it
Dock removal unknown

Tested and Verified on Fedora 11

Information in this section has been tested and verified using Fedora 11.

Installation

Installation is straight forward; you can follow the generic Fedora install instructions.

Shutdown

Currently the system will hang most of the time during shutdown, with the last message on the console being 

ip6tables: Unloading modules:

without [Ok] getting printed at the end of the line.

Overheating

On a couple of occasions, such as when installing a very large YUM update with hundreds of updates the following occurred 

kernel:Critical temperature reached (93 C), shutting down.

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

Basic X server functionality should work out of the box on the ThinkPad LCD (LVDS).

Fedora 11 uses KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) by default, and this causes problems for now with external displays. Neither VGA or DVI external displays work properly.

On the up side, with KMS the maximum virtual display size is now 4096x4096 (2048x2048 without KMS), which should allow extended desktop once the issues with external display support are sorted.

Output Mode Result
LVDS+VGA Boot with display attached Mirror mode Plymouth Graphical boot
* LVDS shows normal boot at full resolution
* VGA no signal/out of range
GDM
* LVDS is switched off
* VGA shows out of range error.
Hotplug Mirror mode GDP is not able to activate VGA display
VGA display remains black
Hotplug Extended desktop Brief horizontal striped corruption on both displays, after which they both go black. VGA shows out of range error.
LVDS+DVI Boot with display attached Mirror mode Plymouth Graphical boot
* LVDS shows normal boot at full resolution
* DVI no signal
GDM
* LVDS is switched off
* DVI shows out of range error
Hotplug Mirror mode GDP is not able to activate DVI display
DVI display remains black
Hotplug Extended desktop Brief horizontal striped corruption on both displays, after which they both go black. DVI shows out check cable error.
S-Video n/a n/a not currently supported in combination with KMS

In none of the above cases the system actually hangs. You can get display back to the LVDS by unplugging the external monitor and restarting the Xserver.

In addition the following issues exist

  • ThinkPad tends to freeze at shutdown/reboot when an external display is attached. Requiring a hard shutdown.
  • Partly green vertical scroll bars (bottom part) in applications like gnome-terminal (just size the window larger to get the effect)
  • External displays list a bogus 0x0 resolution mode
  • unknown physical display size (0mm x 0mm) (mainly important for LVDS as it effects the DPI)

Most of these issues have been reported to Red Hat bugzilla.

Desktop Effects

Enabling 'Desktop Effects' (compiz) works.

Wireless Network

Both the Intel and Atheros wireless should work out of the box.

I did limited tested with Atheros and it seemed to worked. WiFi LED remains off though (fixed in 2.6.31)

Intel WiFi was not tested.

ThinkPad 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-F5 wireless thinkpad_acpi HAL no
Fn-F7 videomode thinkpad_acpi HAL partial Attempts to cycle through various modes (LVDS only, LVDS+External in mirror, External only, LVDS+External Extended), but causes corruption due to external display problems. Can be associated with gnome-keybinding-properties
Fn-F12 hibernate acpi button HAL partial does the same as Fn-F4 (suspend), not hibernate
Fn-Home brightness up - no yes changing thinkpad_acpi hotkey_mask, causes HAL events. But sysfs backlight brightness value does not change, so OSD is wrong.
Fn-End brightness down - no yes changing thinkpad_acpi hotkey_mask, causes HAL events. But sysfs backlight brightness value does not change, so OSD is wrong.
Fn-PgUp thinklight - no yes changing thinkpad_acpi hotkey_mask, causes HAL events. No OSD in any case.
Fn-Space zoom thinkpad_acpi HAL no Known Xorg limitation, scheduled to be fixed in Xorg 1.8 with the new XKB2 extension in 2Q 2010
VolumeUp Volume Up - no yes changing thinkpad_acpi hotkey_mask, causes HAL events. But OSD is wrong
VolumeDown Volume Down - no yes changing thinkpad_acpi hotkey_mask, causes HAL events. But OSD is wrong
Mute Mute - no yes changing thinkpad_acpi hotkey_mask, causes HAL events and OSD. works as a on/off toggle
Access IBM Vendor key thinkpad_acpi HAL partial No default action, but can be associated with gnome-keybinding-properties
NextTab Browser Next tab standard keyboard driver HAL yes
PreviousTab Browser Previous tab standard keyboard driver HAL yes
Power Power button acpi button HAL yes Need to press button for ~1 second to trigger event
Lid Lid button acpi button HAL yes
Dock Dock eject button acpi dock unknown unknown Should cause udev event
Ultrabay Ultrabay eject switch acpi dock udev no Causes udev event, but missing handler. See below.

Ultrabay

Ultrabay eject is not handled properly by default. Since there is no undock udev handler. This udev script works for me: Installing Fedora 11 on a ThinkPad T60#Ultrabay

IrDA

IrDA is detected, but does not work. Part of the problem is that the default Fedora configuration expects to find the IrDA port at /dev/ttyS2, while it should use /dev/ircomm0 instead. This can be fixed in /etc/sysconfig/irda after which the irda service can be started (# service irda start).

However, even after this communication with other devices fails. irdadump does not show any output when something like a mobile phone with IrDA is sending data.

Untested on Fedora 11

Dock eject was not tested, as I only have a port replicator not a dock.

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