Installing Ubuntu 6.06 Flight 5 on a ThinkPad T60

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Installation of Ubuntu 6.06 Flight 5 or Flight 6 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.
  • The PCMCIA slots
  • Always working without any OS support: keyboard light and screen brightness control
  • Monitor out (but perhaps not perfectly)

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 try 1280x1024 if that doesn't work). But for real support for your x1300 follow the instructions on (http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Dapper_Installation_Guide) - Method 2. You may also find the instructions at [1] to be helpful, since the instructions included with the ATI driver do not work.
  • 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 ([2]). 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 [3] and following the quick installation instructions also works fine.

Unsolved

  • I can't get the system back to work after any suspended, standby oder hibernate mode.
  • I didn't try to get my T60's IrDA interface working, up to now.

Not tested

  • The modem
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