Installing Fedora 13 on a ThinkPad T41
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NOTE!
This is based on Fedora 13 Alpha with the default GNOME desktop. Your experience with KDE may be different.
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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 - ATI RV250 | Laptop Screen | yes | |
| VGA | yes | ||
| DVI | yes | Requires port-replicator or dock with DVI | |
| S-Video | partial | see below | |
| Power Management | Software Suspend (hibernate) | yes | |
| Suspend to Memory (ACPI sleep) | no | Xserver hang on resume. bugzilla. boot with radeon.agpmode=-1 as a workaround.
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| Audio | yes | ||
| Wireless | WiFi - Atheros AR5212 | yes | |
| WiFi - Intel | unknown (should work) | ||
| Bluetooth | yes | ||
| Input | Keyboard | yes | |
| TrackPoint | yes | Install gpointing-device-settings rpm for full configuration capabilities | |
| TouchPad | yes | Install gpointing-device-settings rpm for full configuration capabilities | |
| Extra keys | partial | see ThinkPad Extra keys section below | |
| Ports | Ethernet | yes | |
| Modem | no | Requires closed-source driver. Install the slmodem rpm from the rpmfusion-nonfree repository, edit /etc/sysconfig/slmodem and set INTERFACE=alsa and ALSA_DEVICE=modem:1 and optionally the country. | |
| 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 | partial | There is a hdapsd rpm, but it is not installed by default, and neither is the hdaps kernel module getting automatically loaded. And even after install it is not started automatically. Starting it manually (modprobe hdaps; hdapsd -d sda), does seem to cause the HDD heads to get parked, but it gives lots of warnings that seem to indicate it does not yet work as intended. bugzilla | |
| 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 | tpm-atmel kernel module loads without errors, and creates /dev/tpm0. Should work with tpm-tools RPM | |
| Dock removal | unknown | ||
Tested and Verified on Fedora 13
Information in this section has been tested and verified using Fedora 13.
Installation
Installation is straight forward, but you should do so without any external displays attached; 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 - ATI RV250
Out of the box external displays (VGA or DVI) should work properly, and you can switch display modes with the Fn-F7 key combination.
The following issues still exist
- unknown physical LVDS display size (0mm x 0mm)
- nasty LVDS 'flash' when hotplugging an external display and running xrandr
- external ONLY does not work (both displays are black)
- r200_run_tcl_render error with some OpenGL apps (e.g. Extreme TuxRacer) Bugzilla
- S-Video output is distorted Bugzilla
WiFi
Both the Intel and Atheros AR5212 wireless should work out of the box.
Intel WiFi was not tested.
Audio
Starting with the 2.6.33 kernel, as included with Fedora 13, the thinkpad_acpi driver now exports a volume control to ALSA, which represents the volume and mute buttons on the ThinkPad keyboard. Unfortunately for ALSA/PulseAudio this is just another volume control (one without actual inputs/outputs), and as such there is no effective end-user change from what you had with previous kernels.
This volume control can be seen by running alsamixer, pressing F6 and selecting ThinkPad Console Audio Control
ThinkPad Extra 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 | partial | button works, but suspend fails on resume with corrupted display |
| Fn-F5 | wireless | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | partial | Works as a radio kill switch, kills WiFi but not Bluetooth |
| Fn-F7 | videomode | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | no | No longer has any effect! Regression. |
| 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. |
| Fn-Space | zoom | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | no | Known Xorg limitation, scheduled to be fixed with the new XKB2 extension, whenever that may be. |
| 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. |
| 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. Causes a dialog asking you what to do. |
| 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 rule and eject script works for me: How to hotswap Ultrabay devices
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 13
The following features where not tested with Fedora 13. If you have tested them, please update the table
- Intel WiFi
- Parallel port
- Dock eject
- TPM
