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

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=== 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.
{{NOTE|Due to Xorg limitations, some keys that cause HAL events work with Xorg (Access IBM and Fn-F7) and others do not. This is a known limitation that should be fixed with the next major Xorg (v1.7) release.}}
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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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Revision as of 22:33, 23 May 2009

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

Success Chart

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
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 broken for now. No device file is created
PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse unknown (should work) Requires port-replicator or dock
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.

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). Occasional screen corruption can occur, such as a corrupted background image or with the vertical scroll bars (partly green).

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
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 horizontal striped background corruption on both displays. GDP windows show normal as does the mouse. Moving windows around clear background corruption, but GDP reverts to previous config because it claims it did not get a reply.
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 horizontal striped background corruption on both displays. GDP windows show normal as does the mouse. Moving windows around clear background corruption, but GDP reverts to previous config because it claims it did not get a reply.
S-Video n/a n/a not currently supported in combination with KMS

In addition the ThinkPad tends to freeze at shutdown/reboot when an external display is attached. Requiring a hard shutdown.

These issues have been reported to Red Hat bugzilla.

Desktop Effects

Enabling 'Desktop Effects' (compiz) cause the Xserver to restart

Wireless Network

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

I tested the Atheros and it worked. Intel was not tested.

ThinkPad keys

ThinkPad keys are handled by a mixture of the thinkpad_acpi, acpi button and acpi dock drivers.

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.
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
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

Untested on Fedora 11

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