Installing Debian Wheezy on a ThinkPad T61

Introduction

This page is a work in progress and is currently (Jan 2012) maintained by User:Eliasson. It covers the installation of Debian Testing daily build, codenamed Wheezy. 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: 3.1.0-1-amd64

Installation

Using the Debian Wheezy netinstall image from Aug 27, 2011, I couldn't get the computer to boot the normal installation CD. Everything stalled after the message Loading initrd.gz..... An Ubuntu 10.04 CD worked fine though. I ended up using a USB flash drive to install Debian. This guide covers how to create a bootable flash drive. Also, the T61 seems to be a little picky about the USB stick. If one doesn't work, try another. It needs to be recognized in BIOS as a "USB Hard Drive" with a plus sign in front.

However, the Debian Wheezy netinstall image from Jan 1, 2012 booted just fine. The graphical installation crashed immediately but the text installation worked. This leads me to the conclusion that the installation problems are probably not the computer's fault but the fact that Debian Testing is still not perfectly stable. Eliasson 00:57, 2 January 2012 (CET)

Sound

ALSA works out of the box. Pulseaudio works well with the default settings. Both internal and external microphone works.

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

Bluetooth now works for me (Ccurley), with a Bose AE2w headset, using the A2DP profile.

However, I replaced ALSA with PulseAudio to get it to work. I used the apt-get command line in http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=12497 (after excising two package names that no longer exist). I then purged every package with "alsa" in the name.

I fired up vlc, and it played a MP3 file for me immediately. Wow!

I then fired up the PulseAudio volume control, and went to the Configuration tab.

I then turned on the headset. It appeared almost immediately in the configuration tab. I set it to use A2DP instead of the telephony duplex. then to the Playback tab on the PulseAudio volume control, where I selected the headset as the output device. Then I did the same with a Flash video from youtube.

That was it!

Fingerprint Sensor

N/A

T61