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
  • Volume control keys and the function key for the locked screensaver.
  • Always working without any OS support: keyboard light and screen brightness control

What needs to be fixed post-install

Installing of Ubuntu 6.04 alpha Flight 5 or Ubuntu 6.06 Flight 6

  • 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 Flight 5 or Flight 6 Install CD for PC (Intel x86).
  • 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). You should have a minumum of 5GB free space, for a standard Ubuntu installation.
  • 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. Installation of Ubuntu 5.04 on a ThinkPad Template:T43 (1875)
  • 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.
  • Don't forget to turn up and unmute (key m) the front speaker level in alsamixer. It's usually muted after installation.

Fixes after installation

  • X wouldn't start. The ATI x1300 is now supported since driver version 8.24.8. To get a provisorily support for the chip, change the Device driver in xorg.conf from "ati" to "vesa". A resolution of 1400x1050 works fine on my T60 with the vesa drivers. But for a real support for your X1300 follow the instructions on (http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Dapper_Installation_Guide) - Method 2.
  • 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.
    • Downloading the binary driver by Intel, (Stable release 1.0.0) from [2] and following the quick installation instructions also works fine.
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