Installing Ubuntu 6.10 on a ThinkPad X41 Tablet

2007-02-15T22:32:47Z

Kinglz: /* Wacom Stylus */

This document describes the process of (installing and?) configuring [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EdgyEft Ubuntu Edgy Eft] (final release expected October 2006) on a Lenovo ThinkPad X41 Tablet. With whatever relevance it may have, the particular model number used in testing was an 1869CSU. Keep in mind that at this document's inception 6.10 is a development version of the Ubuntu Linux OS.

== Success Chart ==

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
|-
|colspan=2| '''Item''' || '''Working'''
|-
|rowspan=2|Installation
| Network Installation ||class="diff-addedline"| Yes
|-
| USB Installation ||class="diff-addedline"| Yes (CD)
|-
|rowspan=4|Display
| Laptop Screen ||class="diff-addedline"| Yes
|-
| CRT / Projector ||class="diff-context"| Unknown
|-
| Screen Rotation ||class="diff-addedline"| Yes
|-
| Stylus ||class="diff-addedline"| Yes
|-
|rowspan=2|Power Management
| Software Suspend (hibernate) ||class="diff-context"| Unknown
|-
| Suspend to Memory (ACPI sleep) ||class="diff-addedline"| Yes
|-
|colspan=2| Audio ||class="diff-addedline"| Yes
|-
|rowspan=2| Wireless || 802.11b/g ||class="diff-addedline"| Yes
|-
| Bluetooth ||class="diff-context"| Unknown
|-
|rowspan=2|Extra Buttons || Keyboard Section ||class="diff-context"| Unknown
|-
| Tablet buttons ||class="diff-context"| Unknown
|-
|colspan=2| Fingerprint Scanner ||class="diff-context"| Unknown
|-
|colspan=2| Harddisk Active Protection ||class="diff-addedline"| Yes
|}

= Pre-Installation Notes =

== Tablet Screen Rotation (updated i810 drivers) ==

This edition of Ubuntu (Edgy) has XRandR enabled i810 drivers, which allow you to rotate your screen orientation on the fly. The command <tt>xrandr -o [orientation]</tt> will rotate your screen to your liking. For more information about the <tt>xrandr</tt> command, refer to the man file (<tt>man xrandr</tt>).

== Wireless Support ==

Wireless seems to be supported flawlessly in terms of drivers, though I'm not sure how well the built-in Network Manager works. I use the <tt>iwconfig</tt> command to manage my wireless, as I have a need to create pseudo-"profiles", and in this document I will describe this alternative process.

== Fingerprint Reader Support ==

Honestly, I care very little about the fingerprint functionality. Its only real use seems to be for gksu-type logins while the tablet is swiveled down, which doesn't occur often in my setup. If someone wants to explore/expound, please do, but I won't include any details about the fingerprint reader in this document.

== Terminology Used ==

For those of you new to Linux, I'll try to detail a few terms I use with little explanation:
* Xorg configuration -- the display configuration file, residing in <tt>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</tt>
* Execute a command -- press Alt-F2, then type <tt>gnome-terminal</tt> into the prompt and press enter -- this is a terminal into which you input said commands

= Installation Notes =

== Booting With NetBOOT ==

To boot over NetBOOT I fisrt went into the BIOS and change the boot settings so that PXE was first on the list. Then I set my desktop to be a DHCP server (dhcp3-server) and configured it using this site [http://wiki.koeln.ccc.de/index.php/Ubuntu_PXE_Install Ubuntu_PXE_Install] and installed tftpd-hpa

Then I downloaded the [http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/dapper/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz Dapper netboot archive] (I tried the testing edgy but it would not run on my X41 as of 9/9/06)

Then I assigned my desktop a static IP in the range I set my DHCP server up for and plugged my laptop into it with a cross over cable and rebooted.

The X41 received an IP and then connected to lftp and the same screen as the Ubuntu netboot CD has came up and I followed the instructions.

Once it was intstalled and up-to-date I ran (leave in all quotes, they are important)

<tt>sudo aptitiude update && sudo aptitude upgrade
gksudo "update-manager -c -d" </tt>

To upgrade to edgy eft

= Post-Installation Notes =

== Configuring Xorg ==

=== TrackPoint ===

Like in all ThinkPad Xorg configurations, add the following under the "Configured Mouse" device to enable TrackPoint scrolling:

Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"

=== Wacom Stylus ===

First install the wacom drivers with the following command:
sudo apt-get install wacom-kernel-source xserver-xorg-input-wacom wacom-tools

After doing this, I strongly suggest that you reboot your computer; however, if you're one of those people whose uptime is on the order of four years, I'm sure you'll figure out an alternative that I won't be describing here.

Next step is to check to see if <tt>/dev/wacom</tt> exists. A '<tt>ls -al /dev | grep wacom</tt>' should do the trick quite nicely. If it does exist, add the following to your Xorg configuration.

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom"
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection

And under the ServerLayout section add:

InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"

Some people seem to have slightly different configurations (potentially due to model differences). At any rate, if you're looking to find what serial device your stylus is, a simple '<tt>dmesg | grep ttyS</tt>' should do the trick. Be sure to append to this article if the procedure varies from model to model.

If the stylus still does not work after suspending (even after applying the fix below) try replacing all the "/dev/wacom"'s in your xorg to "/dev/ttyS0".

==== Suspend Fix ====

Every suspend/resume cycle drops the wacom, so create the file <tt>/etc/acpi/resume.d/20-setserial.sh</tt> and add the following (modify settings for your device if necessary):

#!/bin/bash
/bin/setserial /dev/ttyS0 port 0x0200 irq 5 autoconfig

Then, go ahead and run a:

sudo chmod +x /etc/acpi/resume.d/20-setserial.sh

You should be all set to resume with stylus support.

=== ACPI Swivel Events ===

When you swivel your tablet's LCD down or up your computer triggers what's called an ACPI event. This is an event similar to pushing the power or sleep buttons -- it's telling the OS about something that's going on with the hardware.

In Linux, ACPI event handling is bundled into a nice neat little package. First, to make sure you can hear the ACPI event when it happens, run the command '<tt>acpi_listen</tt>'. The command line will hang there until it picks up on an ACPI event that's occuring, and then it will dump it to the screen. After running acpi_listen, while it's hanging there, swivel your screen down, and then back up. You should get a result similar to this:

$ acpi_listen
ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00005009
ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 0000500a

The first HKEY entry is your swivel-down-event identifier and the second is your swivel up. If your values differ from those displayed here, be sure to use your values instead.

Next, what we do is create new ACPI handler entries for the specified events, which we operate on in <tt>/etc/acpi/</tt>.

The <tt>/etc/acpi/</tt> folder generally contains shell files to be executed when events occur. Since there's no shell files to handle swivel events yet, we're gonna go ahead and create some. Yeah, that'd be great.

Use your favorite text editor to modify the following files (the file names are the second line with the # symbol).

#!/bin/sh
#/etc/acpi/x41tsdown.sh
echo 'Rotating screen...'
if [ "`/usr/bin/xrandr -o right -v | grep -i 'randr' | wc -l`" -ne "1" ]
then
echo '!! Something went wrong...'
export DISPLAY=":0.0"
export XAUTHORITY=/var/lib/gdm/\:0.Xauth
/bin/xset -display $DISPLAY dpms
echo 'Trying to rotate again...'
/usr/bin/xrandr -o right
fi
echo 'Rotating stylus...'
/usr/bin/xsetwacom set stylus rotate 1
echo 'Starting keyboard...'
/usr/bin/xvkbd&

#!/bin/sh
#/etc/acpi/x41tsup.sh
echo 'Unrotating screen...'
if [ "`/usr/bin/xrandr -o normal -v | grep -i 'randr' | wc -l`" -ne "1" ]
then
echo '!! Something went wrong...'
export DISPLAY=":0.0"
export XAUTHORITY=/var/lib/gdm/\:0.Xauth
/bin/xset -display $DISPLAY dpms
echo 'Trying to unrotate again...'
/usr/bin/xrandr -o normal
fi
echo 'Rotating stylus...'
/usr/bin/xsetwacom set stylus rotate 0
echo 'Killing keyboard...'
killall xvkbd

Then run:

sudo chown root.root /etc/acpi/x41tsdown.sh
sudo chmod 755 /etc/acpi/x41tsdown.sh
sudo chown root.root /etc/acpi/x41tsup.sh
sudo chmod 755 /etc/acpi/x41tsup.sh

If you'd like to edit these scripts with your favorite text editor (which, I realize, is most likely [http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed.msg.html ed]), it's fairly obvious that they're located in <tt>/etc/acpi/</tt> as <tt>x41tsdown.sh</tt> and <tt>x41tsup.sh</tt>. These commands make the shell scripts that handle the events... once we register the events. Let's do that now.

sudo cat <<EOF > /etc/acpi/events/x41t-swivel-down
# /etc/acpi/events/x41t-swivel-down
# called when tablet head swivels down
event=ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00005009
action=/etc/acpi/x41tsdown.sh
EOF

sudo cat <<EOF > /etc/acpi/events/x41t-swivel-up
# /etc/acpi/events/x41t-swivel-up
# called when tablet head swivels up
event=ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 0000500a
action=/etc/acpi/x41tsup.sh
EOF

Now, awaken your inner ACPI daemon with the following commands:

sudo /etc/init.d/acpid force-reload
sudo /etc/init.d/acpid restart

And swivel down your LCD to make sure it works.

CAUTION: Swiveling actions while in one of your tty sessions will kill gdm!!!

To be continued...

=External Sources=
*This guide is listed at the [http://tuxmobil.org/ibm.html TuxMobil Linux laptop and notebook installation survey (IBM/Lenovo)] and the [http://tuxmobil.org/tablet_unix.html Linux on Tablet PCs and webpads survey].

Talk:Installing Ubuntu 6.10 on a ThinkPad X41 Tablet

2007-02-15T22:29:43Z

Kinglz:

== Annoying head parking ==

Does anybody else get an annoying, repetitive disk-head parking noise? I've already had to scrap one bad hard drive, I'm hoping this one isn't defective as well.

- Chris

== Wacom Suspend Fix ==

Awesome call by Trithemius with the acpi/resume.d wacom fix... I just fixed the command's little typo and added the chmod.

- Chris

== Suspend Fix Change in xorg ==
The info for getting the pen to work was great. I have a 1869CSU model too but for some reason when I used "/dev/wacom" the stylus would never work after suspending it (even with the fix). I found the solution was to change all the "/dev/wacom"'s in my xorg to "/dev/ttyS0".

== NetBoot Installation Move ==

I moved the NetBoot portion of the documentation, as it's part of isntallation instructions. The pre-installation notes were intended for README-like things, not so much actual procedure.

== Screen Rotation ==

I followed your guide to create the screen rotation scripts/events, and after acpi force-reload and restart it works just fine. But when I reboot the machine, I have to reload and restart acpi again, otherwise it won't work.

----
--[[User:Aerials|aerials]] 21:51, 27 September 2006 (CEST)

=== Re: Screen Rotation ===

Yeah, I've been having this problem as well, and I'm working on a (quick and easy) solution. The problem is a result of acpid starting in rc before there's a display configured... If you look in /var/log/acpid you'll see a whole bunch of "cannot find display". That's why after you get a display running and restart acpid, everything works.

- Chris

== rotate script ==

for me in order to get it working i have to modify 
x41tsdown.sh
<pre>
#!/bin/sh
XUSER=`who | grep ' :0' | cut -d ' ' -f 1`
if test -n "$XUSER"; then
su - $XUSER -c "DISPLAY=:0 xrandr -o right"
su - $XUSER -c "DISPLAY=:0 xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate CW"
su - $XUSER -c "DISPLAY=:0 xsetwacom set "cursor" Rotate CW"
su - $XUSER -c "DISPLAY=:0 xsetwacom set "eraser" Rotate CW"
su - $XUSER -c "DISPLAY=:0 xvkbd&"
sleep 2
fi
</pre>
x41tsup.sh
<pre>
#!/bin/sh
su - $XUSER -c "DISPLAY=:0 xrandr -omright"
XUSER=`who | grep ' :0' | cut -d ' ' -f 1`
if test -n "$XUSER"; then
su - $XUSER -c "DISPLAY=:0 xrandr -o normal"
su - $XUSER -c "DISPLAY=:0 xsetwacom set "stylus" Rotate NONE"
su - $XUSER -c "DISPLAY=:0 xsetwacom set "cursor" Rotate NONE"
su - $XUSER -c "DISPLAY=:0 xsetwacom set "eraser" Rotate NONE"
sleep 2
fi
killall xvkbd
</pre>

[[User:Waldwolf|Waldwolf]] 00:41, 4 October 2006 (CEST)

== Rotate Button ==

Following the suggestion in the [http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Installing_OpenSUSE_10.2_on_a_ThinkPad_X41_Tablet#Rotate_Button openSUSE 10.2 X41 Guide], and combining that script with xbindkeys (using xbindkeys-config), I was able to get on-demand screen and stylus rotation for the tablet access button. The aforementioned script needs to be changed so that all references to "Mouse[5]" refer to "stylus". However, when the screen is inverted (xrandr -o 1, I believe), the stylus axis seems to be totally reversed/reflected (I'm not very spatially inclined) while the other three orientations worked fine: I suspect this can be fixed by modifying the rotation value from CCW to...what? Are these rotations relative to each other? And what other values could I put there other than CW, NONE, CCW, and HALF?

--[[User:The ev|The ev]] 05:05, 13 February 2007 (CET)

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Installing Ubuntu 6.10 on a ThinkPad X41 Tablet

Talk:Installing Ubuntu 6.10 on a ThinkPad X41 Tablet