Installing Fedora 14 on a ThinkPad X201i
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NOTE!
This is based on the x86-64 version of Fedora 14 with the default GNOME desktop. Your experience with the 32bit version and/or KDE may be different.
Help needed
Not all models of this ThinkPad are equal, you may have a different WiFi adapter, or some options I did not have. If you tested them, please add their status down below.
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New in this release
New in this Fedora release, with regards to this model ThinkPad is the following;
- Microphone now works
- Intel XV (XVideo) playback problems with certain frame sizes is fixed
- Fn-F7 display switching now works
- If you have a fingerprint reader, it should now work out of the box
- Improved support for Turbo modes on i5 and i7 processors
Success Chart - Out of the box experience
The SMOLT profile for the X201i used for testing Fedora is here.
| Item | Working | Notes | |
| Installation | Local CD/DVD install | yes | |
| Network Installation | yes | ||
| USB Installation | yes | ||
| Display - Intel HD Graphics | Laptop Screen | yes | |
| VGA | yes | ||
| Displayport | unknown | Requires a dock | |
| DVI/HDMI | unknown | Requires a dock and Displayport to DVI or HDMI cable | |
| Power Management | Software Suspend (hibernate) | yes | |
| Suspend to Memory (ACPI sleep) | yes | ||
| Audio | yes | ||
| Wireless | WiFi - Intel 6200 | yes | |
| WiFi - Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 | unknown | ||
| WiFi - Realtek | unknown | ||
| Bluetooth | yes | ||
| WWAN with GPS | unknown | ||
| Input | Keyboard | yes | |
| TrackPoint | yes | Install gpointing-device-settings rpm for full configuration capabilities | |
| TouchPad | unknown | ||
| Extra keys | partial | see ThinkPad Extra keys section below | |
| Fingerprint reader | yes | ||
| Ports | Ethernet | yes | |
| Modem | no | Should work with the binary Conexant HSF modem drivers. | |
| USB | yes | ||
| ExpressCard | unknown | ||
| 3-in-1 MultiCard Reader | yes | SD and SDHC tested | |
| Harddisk Active Protection | no | Fedora ships the hdapsd rpm, but not the tp_smapi kernel module, which is required to read the motion sensor bugzilla | |
| Ultrabay device hotswap | partial | see below, use with caution out of the box | |
| TPM | yes | tpm_tis is automatically loaded. After installing the tpm-tools rpm, and starting the tcsd service, the tpm_* commands seem to work. | |
| Docking | unknown | ||
Tested and Verified on Fedora 14
Information in this section has been tested and verified using Fedora.
Installation
Installation is straight forward; you can follow the generic Fedora install instructions.
Configuration
X Server - Intel HD Graphics
Works out of the box, including Compiz and external VGA display.
Other display types (DisplayPort) have not been tested as they require a Dock.
ThinkPad Extra keys
ThinkPad keys are handled by a mixture of the thinkpad_acpi, acpi button, acpi dock and acpi video drivers.
| Key | Function | Handled by | Event | Works | Notes |
| FnF2 | lock screen | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | yes | |
| FnF3 | battery | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | yes | |
| FnF4 | suspend | acpi button | HAL | yes | |
| FnF5 | wireless | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | partial | Works as a radio kill switch, kills WiFi but not Bluetooth |
| FnF7 | videomode | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | yes | Switches between Mirror, LVDS only, Ext only and Extended desktop |
| FnF8 | mouse input select | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | unknown | |
| FnF9 | eject | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | partial | No default action, but can be associated with gnome-keybinding-properties |
| FnF12 | hibernate | acpi button | HAL | yes | |
| FnHome | brightness up | acpi video | HAL | yes | |
| FnEnd | brightness down | acpi video | HAL | yes | |
| FnPgUp | thinklight | - | no | yes | no OSD |
| FnSpace | zoom | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | no | Known Xorg limitation, scheduled to be fixed with the new XKB2 extension, whenever that may be. |
| VolumeUp | Volume Up | ? | HAL | yes | |
| VolumeDown | Volume Down | ? | HAL | yes | |
| VolumeMute | Volume Mute | ? | HAL | yes | |
| ThinkVantage | 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 | |
| Fn Up | Stop | standard keyboard driver | HAL | yes | |
| Fn Left | reverse | standard keyboard driver | HAL | yes | |
| Fn Right | forward | standard keyboard driver | HAL | yes | |
| Fn Down | play/pause | 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 | udev | unknown | |
| Ultrabay | Ultrabay eject switch | acpi dock | udev | no | Missing handler, see Ultrabay instructions below |
| Radio switch | Radio kill switch | thinkpad_acpi | udev | yes |
Ultrabay
The Ultrabay has some glitches out of the box with respect to hotswapping. It is possible to lock the machine when pulling out devices, even the CD/DVD device.
The culprit is that the Ultrabay pre-eject switch is not hooked into anything useful. It does cause udev events, but nothing is listening for them. When a device that has a mounted partition or CD is actually pulled out it is too late to do the right thing. linux will usually just complain, sometimes bitterly, but may also lock up for some unknown reason, even if just pulling out a CD/DVD device with a mounted CD.
Manually unmounting before removal will help. Manual powering down may also be required for correct performance.
A better solution is to set up a udev rule and script to handle the pre-eject switch event for Ultrabay devices that have mountable things in them as in How to hotswap Ultrabay devices.
