Installing Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) on a ThinkPad X61

I installed Ubuntu 9.10 on the same ThinkPad X61 model 7673-CTO that I installed Ubuntu 9.10 on last year.

This time I installed from DVD+R using the Ultrabay Slim Multi-Burner III Drive in the UltraBase X6.

In the coming days I will test various features and extend this page.

DMI info for this model

# dmidecode -s system-manufacturer
LENOVO
# dmidecode -s system-product-name
7673CTO
# dmidecode -s system-version
ThinkPad X61

Kernel misdetects memory

Right at the beginning there was an important obstacle to overcome. The installed kernel would panic on boot.

I ran memtest+ from the installation disc to see if I had a memory problem. It reported errors above 4 GiB. That's odd, because I only have 4 GiB of RAM installed.

I surmised that the new kernel, version 2.6.31-14-generic-pae, errs in reckoning the amount of installed RAM. And indeed, the solution to the kernel panic was to add mem=4096M to the kernel boot parameter list.

Adding the tp-smapi module

$ sudo aptitude install tp-smapi-source
$ sudo module-assistant build tp-smapi-source
$ sudo module-assistant install tp-smapi-source
$ sudo modprobe thinkpad_ec tp_smapi hdaps

Edit the file /etc/modules to add these lines:

 thinkpad_ec
 tp_smapi
 hdaps

There is currently (19 November 2009) no hdaps-utils package in Karmic and so no hdaps-gl application.

Increasing battery life

To make the battery last longer by reducing the number and depth of charge cycles, edit /etc/sysfs.conf to add the lines:

 # Make battery live longer
 devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/start_charge_thresh = 50
 devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/stop_charge_thresh = 90

To effect the change either reboot or do:

$ sudo su 
# echo 50 > /sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/start_charge_thresh
# echo 90 > /sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/stop_charge_thresh