Installing Ubuntu 6.06 Flight 5 on a ThinkPad T60

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Installation of Ubuntu 6.04 Flight 5 on a T60 (2623D6U). (note: Ubuntu 6.04 has been re-labeled as 6.06)

The Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) installer did not recognize the network card (Intel 82573L), so I decided to try 6.06 (an alpha version of Dapper Drake).

Summary

What works out of the box

  • Network card
  • Sound

What needs to be fixed post-install

Installing of Ubuntu 6.04 alpha Flight 5

  • First, you should look at Installation of Ubuntu 5.04 on a ThinkPad Template:T43 (1875). There is information on preserving the functionality of the ThinkVantage button, which I did not follow.
  • You should probably create the IBM Rescue CDs before you begin. I expected the rescue partition to be able to restore my system to the factory default state if I messed up, but I was wrong.
  • Downloaded CD ISO of Ubuntu's Dapper flight 5 (http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/flight5).
  • I used the installer's partitioner. I reduced the Windows partition to 10GB, left the IBM recovery partition alone, and created four ReiserFS partitions for the Linux system: / (6GB), /usr (8GB), swap (2.5GB), and /home (the remaining space).
  • I let the installer install GRUB in the MBR. I kind of regret doing that because now the ThinkVantage button does not work properly. See the T43 instructions on the alternative methods that might work.
  • The installer recognized the network card (unlike Ubuntu 5.10).
  • The blue "ThinkVantage" button now goes to GRUB instead of IBM's Rescue System. You can get to the IBM partition from the GRUB menu by choosing the "Windows NT" partition.

Fixes after installation

  • X wouldn't start. There is no support for the ATI x1300. I changed the Device driver in xorg.conf from "ati" to "vesa" and made the maximum resolution 1024x768 (1280x1024 may also work) with a color depth of 24, which at least works.
  • The linux-686-smp package supports the dual core processor. I verified that it worked by looking at /proc/cpuinfo. Because I needed to compile other modules anyways (e.g., the wireless drivers), I decided to get the 2.6.16 kernel source and compile it myself. I set the "Pentium M" processor type with 2 processors ([1]). The package generated by make-kpkg worked when I used make-kpkg's "--initrd" flag.
  • To get the built-in wireless to work, I installed the 3945ABG wireless driver from SourceForge (http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/), the latest IEEE 80211 (http://ieee80211.sourceforge.net/downloads.php) modules, and the latest ipw2200 (http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ipw2200) modules.
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