SL Driver on Ubuntu

2009-04-28T18:42:02Z

Chessbone: added loose how-to for how to install the sl500 driver

{| width="100%"
|style="vertical-align:top" |
<div style="margin: 0; margin-right:10px; border: 1px solid #dfdfdf; padding: 0em 1em 1em 1em; background-color:#F8F8FF; align:right;">
{||
|
=== SL Driver on Ubuntu ===
This page describes one way to get SL500 hotkeys and brightness working with Ubuntu, via Alexandre Rostovtsev's driver. Hopefully it will save you time.

=== System Specs ===

*Ubuntu version: 9.04
*kernel: 2.6.29.2-ultimate
*Lenovo SL500 Thinkpad

Note: I had first tried installing the driver with the 2.6.28-11 kernel and had problems. It only worked when I changed to the more recent kernel.

=== General Steps ===
This is a loose description intended only as a general guide. As with any changes you make to your system, make backups as you go.

1. make sure that you have the linux headers or source for your kernel. Headers or source should be in /usr/src. For me, I have /usr/src/linux-2.6.29.

2. download Alexandre's driver from here: http://github.com/tetromino/lenovo-sl-laptop/tree/master and unpack it.

3. run 'make' to make the loadable kernel object for the driver. Note: I had to slightly modify the makefile and my /usr/src folder. I had to add 'PWD := $(shell pwd)' to the beginning of the makefile, and then I had to make /usr/src/linux be a symbolic link to /usr/src/linux-2.6.29.

4. test the module by inserting via insmod e.g. 'sudo insmod lenovo-sl-laptop.ko' The module should load with no errors. Check via 'dmesg' for more details.

5. If the module was loaded successfully, configure ubuntu to load the module on start-up, as follows:
a. move the module to /lib/modules/`uname -r`/volatile. (this is the directory for custom modules for your current kernel)
b. Run depmod to generate a new module dependency
c. create a file /etc/modprobe.d/lenovo-sl-laptop.conf which just has one line: 'options lenovo-sl-laptop control_backlight=1' (this tells modprobe to load the module with backlight control enabled)
d. edit the /etc/modules file and add the line 'lenovo-sl-laptop' to the end

6. edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file by adding 'acpi_backlight=vendor' as a kernel option to your kernel line. For example, my kernel line looks like this: 'kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.29.2-ultimate root=UUID=72cac052-0f0c-401c-baf3-629866143b33 ro splash acpi_backlight=vendor'

7. Re-boot. If all went well, you should be able to use the SL500's hot keys and control brightness.

Much thanks to Alexandre and Zhang Rui for their work in making the SL500 linux-friendly!

[[Category:SL Series]]

HOWTOs - Driver Installation

2009-04-28T18:15:53Z

Chessbone: added link for SL Driver how-to

{| width="100%"
|style="vertical-align:top;padding-right:20px;width:10px;white-space:nowrap;" | __TOC__
|style="vertical-align:top" |
This page holds information on how to make additional hardware work on your ThinkPad.

The pages linked here hold instructions for installing or configuring certain drivers to make them work with ThinkPad hardware. For an overview of the drivers themselves please look at the [[Drivers]] page.
|}

==Connectivity==
*[[How to setup Bluetooth|Bluetooth]] <tt>(How to enable and configure Bluetooth)</tt>
*[[How to make use of IrDA | IrDA]] <tt>(How to get IrDA working)</tt>

==Graphics==
* [[Additional options for the radeon driver | RADEON Driver for X]] <tt>(Additional options for the radeon driver)</tt>
* [[Fglrx | Proprietary RADEON Driver for X (fglrx)]]
* [[r300 | Open Source RADEON (ATI) Driver for X]]
* [[How to get TV-Out working on ATI graphic cards | TV-out on ATI chips]] <tt>(Get TV-out working)</tt>
* [[How to compile an experimental X server]]

==Input==
*[[How to configure the TrackPoint|TrackPoint configuration]] <tt>(How to make your TrackPoint behave as you wish)</tt>

==PowerManagement==
* [[How to get SpeedStep working on Coppermine-piix4-smi based ThinkPads | SpeedStep on piix4]] <tt>(How to make SpeedStep (cpufreq) work on Coppermine-piix4-smi based ThinkPads)</tt>
* [[How to get SpeedStep working on_P4-class-Celeron_based_ThinkPads | SpeedStep on P4-class Celeron]] <tt>(How to get SpeedStep working on P4-class-Celeron based ThinkPads)</tt>
* [[How to configure cpufreqd | cpufreqd]]{{footnote|1}} <tt>(How to configure the cpufreqd frequency scaling daemon)</tt>
* [[How to use cpufrequtils | cpufrequtils]]{{footnote|1}} <tt>(How to use the cpufrequtils frequency scaling utils)</tt>
* [[How to configure powernowd | powernowd]] {{footnote|1}} <tt>(How to configure the powernowd frequency scaling daemon)</tt>
* [[How to configure powersaved | powersaved]]{{footnote|1}} <tt>(How to configure the powersaved frequency scaling daemon)</tt>

==Safety & Security==
*[[How to enable the fingerprint reader|Fingerprint Reader]] <tt>(How to make pam use the fingerprint reader)</tt>
*[[How to protect the harddisk through APS]] <tt>(How to make automatic emergency disk head parking work)</tt>

==SL Driver==
* [[ SL Driver on Ubuntu ]] <tt>(How to get Alexandre Rostovtsev's SL-series driver working with Ubuntu)</tt>

==Storage devices (harddisk, cdrom)==
*[[How to configure and use libata SATA / PATA drivers]]

==Sound==
*[[Script for configuring the CS4239 sound chip in PnP mode|CS4239 sound chip in PNP mode]] <tt>(How to make it work on the ThinkPad 600E)</tt>

==Wireless LAN==
* [[How to install ndiswrapper for the Intel 2200bg WLAN adaptor | ndiswrapper for Intel 2200bg]] <tt>(ndiswrapper configuration for intel/pro 2200BG)</tt>
* [[How to install ndiswrapper for the IBM 11a/b/g WLAN adaptor | ndiswrapper for IBM 11 a/b/g]] <tt>(ndiswrapper for IBM 11 a/b/g)</tt>
* [[How to install ndiswrapper for the ThinkPad 11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini Express Adapter | ndiswrapper for
ThinkPad 11a/b/g/n]]<tt>(ndiswrapper for ThinkPad 11a/b/g/n)</tt>
* [[ipw2100]] <tt>(native Linux driver for Intel 2100)</tt>
* [[ipw2200]] <tt>(native Linux driver for Intel 2200/2915)</tt>
* [[madwifi]] <tt>(Linux driver for atheros chipsets)</tt>
* [[orinoco]] <tt>(Linux driver for Hermes/Prism chipsets)</tt>
* [[hostap]] <tt>(Alternative Linux driver for Hermes/Prism chipsets)</tt>
* [[How to install wpa_supplicant|wpa_supplicant]] <tt>(How to compile and configure wpa_supplicant)</tt>

==Additional Hardware==
* [[How to install the IBM Ultracam II driver | IBM UltraCam II]] <tt>(How to make the IBM UltraCam II work under Linux)</tt>

* [[How to get the internal SD card working]] <tt>(Howto patch and build the modules)</tt>

{{footnotes|
#Don't forget that the newer kernels have fancier cpu frequency governors like OnDemand and Conservative that are easy to configure via SysFS. These governors are adequate in many situations and do not require user-space daemons such as cpufreqd, powersaved, or powernowd. Read more about it on the [[How to make use of Dynamic Frequency Scaling|Dynamic Frequency Scaling page]].
}}

ThinkWiki - User contributions [en]

SL Driver on Ubuntu

HOWTOs - Driver Installation