Installing Ubuntu 11.04 on a ThinkPad W520

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Revision as of 18:18, 17 August 2011 by Abtin (Talk | contribs) (Out-of-the-box Stats)
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Out-of-the-box Stats

Component Status
Optimus Unsupported - See the Bumblebee project
Intel Graphics (Integrated) Works out-of-box
Nvidia Graphics (Discrete) Requires drivers, updated kernel.
ultranav scrolling Requires tweaks - See below
Fingerprint Reader Requires tweaks -See below
ACPI - Suspend to Disk (Hibernate) Untested
Webcam Works out-of-box
Harddrive Active Protection Untested
VGA out Untested
Firewire Untested
Modem Untested
Wireless - Thinkpad Untested
Wireless - Intel Advanced N Untested
Wireless - Intel Ultimate N Works out-of-box
Audio in Untested
Audio out Untested
Wired LAN Untested
Thinkvantage Button Untested
Wireless killswitch Untested
Trackpoint Works out-of-box
Trackpad Untested
Trackpad scrolling (side or two-finger) Untested
Sound card Works out-of-box
Volume up/down/mute buttons Works out-of-box
Microphone mute button untested
Optical drive Works out-of-box
USB Untested
ACPI - Lid Open/Close Untested
ACPI - Suspend to RAM Untested
SD/MMC Memory card reader Untested
FN-F2 (Lock) Works out-of-box
FN-F3 (Battery) Works out-of-box
FN-F4 (Sleep) Untested
FN-F5 (Wireless) Untested
FN-F6 (Conferencing) Untested
FN-F7 (Display) Untested
FN-F8 (Mouse) Untested
FN-F12 (Hibernate) Untested
FN-Home/End (Brightness) Untested
FN-PgUp (Thinklight) Untested
FN-PrtSc (SysRq) Untested
FN-ScrLk (Numlock) Untested
FN-Pause (Break) Untested
FN-Space (Zoom) Untested
FN-Up (Stop) Untested
FN-Down (Play-pause) Untested
FN-Left (Previous) Untested
FN-Right (Next) Untested

Installation

Normal CD installation works fine. However, if Optimus is enabled, it may require a hard reboot upon completion.

Kernel

  • Kernel 2.6.38-8 is the shipping kernel with Ubuntu 11.04. It is buggy. For example, a common issue is to see kworker constantly hit 20% cpu when running top.
  • Upgrade to a newer kernel by going to [1] and downloading the headers, image, and _all files for your type of machine. Install them (you can just double-click in the UI if you don't know the commands). Reboot.

Optimus

  • BIOS
    • The OS Detect option does not work. If enabled, it will present Optimus to Ubuntu.
    • If graphics are set to Optimus, Ubuntu will default to using Intel graphics.
    • If graphics are set to Discrete, Ubuntu will default to using Nvidia. If dual-booting windows, this will cause problems with the default lenovo system image - possible (untested) fix is to manually reinstall nvidia drivers in windows.
    • If graphics are set to Integrated, Ubuntu will default to using Intel graphics.
  • The current kernel provided by Ubuntu conflicts with the Nvidia driver. Until Ubuntu upgrades to a newer kernel, you must manually install one.

Ultranav (Middle Mouse Button) Scrolling

Harddrive Active Protection

Fingerprint Reader

W520