Installing Fedora 12 on a ThinkPad X22

NOTE! This is based on the Beta version of Fedora 12. I will try to update the results when the final version is available.

Success Chart

This machines SMOLT profile is available here.

Item		Working	Notes
Installation	Local CD/DVD install	partial	May require booting with 'nomodeset', or 'text'
	Network Installation	partial	May require booting with 'nomodeset', or 'text'
	USB Installation	partial	May require booting with 'nomodeset', or 'text'. Booting from USB key, requires that you first disable booting from the internal HDD in the BIOS (known BIOS limitation on this machine). After install is completed you can re-enable booting from the internal HDD.
Display	Laptop Screen	partial	KMS is broken, need to boot with nomodeset kernel boot parameter.
	VGA	no	see below
Power Management	Software Suspend (hibernate)	yes
	Suspend to Memory (ACPI sleep)	yes	Moon LED remains off
Audio		yes
Extra Buttons	Keyboard Section	partial	See ThinkPad keys section below
Ports	Ethernet	yes
	Modem	no	Requires closed-source driver
	Serial	yes	Requires UltraBase X2
	IrDA	no	Device is detected, but does not seem to work
	PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse	yes	Mouse tested. Requires UltraBase X2
	Parallel	unknown (should work)	Requires UltraBase X2
	USB	yes
	PCMCIA/Cardbus	yes
	Compact Flash	unknown (should work)
Ultrabay device hotswap		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.
Dock removal		unknown	Pressing the undock button at the front of the UltraBase causes a flury of UDEV activity with device removals. Need to do further testing to determine functionality

Tested and Verified on Fedora 12

Information in this section has been tested and verified using Fedora 12

Installation

Installation is straight forward, once you add the nomodeset boot parameter. Afterwards you can follow the generic Fedora install instructions.

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 - RV100

Basic X server functionality is broken on this ThinkPad. The problem is with KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) and as such needs to be disabled to be able to install or run Fedora 12. This is a regression as KMS did work in F11. After switching to UMS the ThinkPad LCD (LVDS) will work. Still occasional screen corruption can occur.

To disable KMS, boot with the nomodeset boot parameter.

When hotplugging an external VGA display, xrandr is able to see its properties. But trying to activate mirror mode does not work (external display remains black). Without KMS the virtual desktop size is too small to allow extended desktop.

Trying to enable 'Desktop Effects' (compiz) fails with an error dialog that Accelerated 3D graphics is not available.

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-F7	videomode	-	no	no
Fn-F12	hibernate	acpi button	HAL	yes
Fn-Home	brightness up	-	no	yes	no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround.
Fn-End	brightness down	-	no	yes	no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround.
Fn-PgUp	thinklight	-	no	yes	no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround.
VolumeUp	Volume Up	-	no	yes	no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround.
VolumeDown	Volume Down	-	no	yes	no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround.
Mute	Mute	-	no	yes	no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround.
ThinkPad	Vendor key	thinkpad_acpi	HAL	partial	No default action, but can be associated with gnome-keybinding-properties
Power	Power button	acpi button	HAL	yes	Need to press button for ~1 second to trigger event
Lid	Lid button	acpi button	HAL	yes
Ultrabay	Ultrabay eject switch	acpi dock	udev	no	missing udev handler
undock	dock eject	-	udev	unknown	Pressing the undock button causes a flurry of udev activity. Need to do further testing if it works properly.