Installing Fedora 12 on a ThinkPad T60
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NOTE!
This is based on the x86-64 version of Fedora 12 with the default GNOME desktop. Your experience with the 32bit version and/or KDE may be different.
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Success Chart - Out of the box experience
The SMOLT profile for the T60 used for testing Fedora 12 is here.
| Item | Working | Notes | |
| Installation | Local CD/DVD install | yes | |
| Network Installation | yes | ||
| USB Installation | yes | ||
| Display - Intel 945GM | Laptop Screen | yes | |
| VGA | yes | ||
| DVI | yes | ||
| Display - ATI | Laptop Screen | Template:CYes | |
| VGA | Template:CYes | ||
| DVI | Template:CYes | ||
| Power Management | Software Suspend (hibernate) | yes | |
| Suspend to Memory (ACPI sleep) | yes | ||
| Audio | yes | ||
| Wireless | WiFi - Atheros AR5414 | yes | problems connecting with low signal strength |
| WiFi - Intel | Template:CYes | ||
| Bluetooth | yes | ||
| WWAN - Verizon | unknown | ||
| WWAN - Cingular | unknown | ||
| Input | Keyboard | yes | |
| TrackPoint | yes | Install gpointing-device-settings rpm for full configuration capabilities | |
| TouchPad | yes | Install gpointing-device-settings rpm for full configuration capabilities | |
| Extra keys | partial | see ThinkPad Extra keys section below | |
| Ports | Ethernet | yes | |
| Modem | no | Requires closed-source driver. May work with the slmodem rpm from the 32bit rpmfusion-nonfree repository. Not available for 64bit. | |
| Serial | yes | Requires port-replicator or dock | |
| IrDA | no | Device is detected, but does not work. | |
| PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse | yes | Mouse tested, Requires port-replicator or dock | |
| Parallel | unknown (should work) | Requires port-replicator or dock | |
| USB | yes | ||
| PCMCIA/Cardbus | yes | ||
| Harddisk Active Protection | no | There is now a hdapsd rpm, but it is not installed by default, and neither is the hdaps kernel module getting automatically loaded. And even after install it is not started automatically. Starting it manually (modprobe hdaps; hdapsd), does not seem to work, as hdapsd complains it cannot find the input device. bugzilla | |
| Ultrabay device hotswap | partial | see below, use with caution out of the box | |
| Fingerprint reader | unknown | ||
| TPM (security subsystem) | unknown | Not brave enough to mess around with it. May work with the tpm-tools rpm. | |
Tested and Verified on Fedora 12
Information in this section has been tested and verified using Fedora 12.
Installation
Installation is straight forward; you can follow the generic Fedora install instructions.
Configuration
X Server - Intel 945GM
Works out of the box, including Compiz and external displays (VGA and DVI). Can switch between displays with Fn-F7.
What does not work though is the combination of Compiz and extended desktop. Doing so freezes the system [1] - With upstream fixes the system no longer freezes, but Compiz still crashes.
X Server - ATI
?
DPI
On the 1400x1050 (and 1600x1200) LCD Fedora comes up with a DPI (Dots per Inch) of 124 (or higher). While this is correct for the physical screen size, it waists a lot of screen real estate.
To change to the more typical 96 DPI, go to System -> Preferences -> Appearance. Now in Appearance Preferences select the Fonts tab and press the "Details ..." button. Here you can change the dots per inch to 96. Of course, many things will shrink, but that is what you wanted, after all.
OSD
By default OSD (On-Screen-Display) will only function for the brightness keys, not for other functions such as Volume.
For this you can install the 'tpb' package from the standard Fedora repository
yum install tpb
But afterwards, you need to edit /etc/tpbrc and change
#OSDBRIGHTNESS OFF
to (remove the #)
OSDBRIGHTNESS OFF
Otherwise you will get two OSDs when using the brightness keys, one from gnome-power-manager and the other from tpb.
Atheros AR5414 WiFi
Atheros was tested and works, but it seems that there are some problems connecting when the distance between ThinkPad and WiFi AP/Router increases (low signal strength).
Intel WiFi
?
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 |
| Fn-F2 | lock screen | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | yes | |
| Fn-F3 | battery | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | yes | |
| Fn-F4 | suspend | acpi button | HAL | yes | |
| Fn-F5 | wireless | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | partial | Works as a radio kill switch, kills WiFi but not Bluetooth |
| Fn-F7 | videomode | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | yes | Cycles through LCD only, external only, both (mirrored), and both (extended desktop) |
| Fn-F8 | mouse input select | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | partial | No default action, but can be associated with gnome-keybinding-properties |
| Fn-F9 | undock | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | partial | No default action, but can be associated with gnome-keybinding-properties |
| Fn-F12 | hibernate | acpi button | HAL | yes | |
| Fn-Home | brightness up | acpi video | HAL | yes | includes on-screen display of brightness level |
| Fn-End | brightness down | acpi video | HAL | yes | includes on-screen display of brightness level |
| Fn-PgUp | thinklight | - | no | yes | no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround. |
| Fn-Space | zoom | thinkpad_acpi | HAL | no | Known Xorg limitation, scheduled to be fixed in Xorg 1.8 with the new XKB2 extension in 2Q 2010 |
| VolumeUp | Volume Up | - | no | yes | no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround. |
| VolumeDown | Volume Down | - | no | yes | no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround. |
| Mute | Mute | - | no | yes | no default OSD. Install the tpb rpm as a workaround. |
| 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 | yes | causes a flurry of udev remove/change events. Does not restore video to LVDS only. Press Fn-F7 after undock as a workaround |
| 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. Fedora 11 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.
IrDA
IrDA is detected, but does not work. Part of the problem is that the default Fedora configuration expects to find the IrDA port at /dev/ttyS2, while it should use /dev/ircomm0 instead. This can be fixed in /etc/sysconfig/irda after which the irda service can be started (# service irda start).
However, even after this communication with other devices fails. irdadump does not show any output when something like a mobile phone with IrDA is sending data.
Untested on Fedora 12
The following options have not been tested yet. If you try it with Fedora 12, please update the table.
- ATI Graphics
- Intel WiFi
- WWAN
- parallel port
- Fingerprint reader
- TPM security system
