Installing Fedora 14 on a ThinkPad T510

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Revision as of 00:11, 16 February 2011 by Michiwend (Talk | contribs) (Fingerprint reader)
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NOTE!
This is based on the Gnome live CD version of Fedora 14 64bit. Your experience with KDE or XFCE may be different. While this page is still very raw, i do invite all T510 fedora users to edit and fill it up. Tested with Thinkpad T510 model 4349-4JG with Intel Core i7 processor.
Help needed
Not all models of this ThinkPad are equal, you may have a different WiFi adapter or graphics, or some options I did not have. If you tested them, please add their status down below.

Success Chart - Out of the box experience

Item Working Notes
Installation Local CD/DVD install yes
Network Installation unknown
USB Installation yes
Video NVIDIA Quadro NVS 3100M and 15.6" TFT display with 1600x900(HD+) yes The setup automatically installs the nouveau driver correctly, however if you want 3D acceleration you may install proprietary nvidia driver (described below)
VGA yes
Power Management Software Suspend (hibernate) yes
Suspend to Memory (ACPI sleep) yes
Audio yes
Wireless WiFi - Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 yes
Bluetooth yes It´s always turned on after booting (workaround needed)
Qualcomm Gobi 2000 WWAN modem partial works perfectly when firmware is correctly loaded (Gobiloader will not work on Fedora 14)
Input Keyboard yes
UltraNav (TrackPoint / Touchpad combo) yes
Extra keys partial see ThinkPad Extra keys section below
Fingerprint reader yes
Ports Ethernet yes
Modem unknown
Serial unknown
ExpressCard slot unknown
PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse unknown Requires dock. I do not have a doc. Maybe someone with it can test and edit this page
Parallel unknown
USB yes
ESATA Port yes
Firewire Port unknown
PCMCIA/Cardbus yes
[Multicard reader 5-in-1 (MMC, MS, MS Pro, SD, SDHC)] yes 4GB SanDisk MicroSDHC detected.
2.0MP webcamera yes Tested with Cheese and Skype. Works perfectly.
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. Tried it manually (modprobe hdaps) but seems the module is not there in the kernel.
TPM (security subsystem) unknown
Dock removal unknown

Configuration

UltraNav

Both Touchpad and TrackPoint work out of the box. Howerver I recommend to install gpointing-device-settings for more options then in standard mouse settings.

yum install gpointing-device-settings

after installation you can find it under System --> Settings --> Pointing Devices

Trackpoint

If you feel uncomfortable with the slow TrackPoint you can adjust it´s speed and sense by passing values between 0 and 255 to /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/[speed,sensitivity,rate] either manually or at boot with this script (this will not affect other pointing devices):

#! /bin/bash

# TrackPoint Settings

echo -n 200 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/speed 
echo -n 255 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity
echo -n 255 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/rate 

save it as .trackpoint-settings in your home folder.
open a terminal and change into your home folder with

cd ~

make the file executable

chmod +x .trackpoint-settings

then add the file to your rc.local (replace YOUR_HOME_DIR with your username!!)

su -c 'echo ". /home/YOUR_HOME_DIR/.trackpoint-settings" >> /etc/rc.local'

play with the values between 0 and 255 until it fits for your needs.

To enable middle button scrolling for your TrackPoint open Pointing Devices go to TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint and check emulate mouse wheel. Choose a button from the dropdown (2 = middle)

Touchpad

Under Fedora you can use two finger scrolling. If you want to enable it open Pointing Devices and navigate to scrolling

Fingerprint reader

NOTE!
The fingerprint reader is an INSECURE device and gives a false sense of security! There has been quite a bit of research by a hacker named Starbug, a member of the Chaos Computer Club, Berlin, Germany. He outlined in two very good talks how to forge each and every available fingerprint sensor available at the cost of a few euros, using materials from your local hardware store, a digicam and a laser printer!

Remember, using fingerprints for authentication is much similar to having a password which is written on anything you touch.

ThinkPad Extra keys

ThinkPad keys are handled by a mixture of the thinkpad_acpi, acpi button and acpi dock drivers.

Key Function Handled by Event Works Notes
FnF2 Lock the computer - unknown yes
FnF3 Select Power Plan - unknown unknown
FnF4 Put Computer to sleep/standby mode - unknown yes
FnF5 wireless - unknown unknown
FnF6 Change camera/audio settings - unknown unknown
FnF7 Switch Display output location - unknown unknown
FnF8 Change ultranav device settings - unknown partial Allows to turn on/off trackpad
FnF12 Put computer in hibernation mode - unknown unknown
FnHome brightness up - unknown yes
FnEnd brightness down - unknown yes
FnPgUp thinklight - unknown yes
FnSpace zoom - unknown unknown
FnPrtSc Have the same function as the SysRq key. - unknown unknown
FnScrLk Enable or disable the numeric keypad. - unknown yes
FnPause Have the same function as the Break key. - unknown unknown
ThinkVantage Vendor key - unknown unknown
VolumeUp Volume Up - unknown yes
VolumeDown Volume Down - unknown yes
VolumeMute Volume Mute - unknown yes
MicMute Microphone Mute - unknown no
NextTab Browser Next tab - unknown yes
PreviousTab Browser Previous tab - unknown yes
Power Power button - unknown yes
Lid Lid button - unknown yes