https://www.thinkwiki.org/w/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=RyanThinkWiki - User contributions [en]2026-04-18T21:05:12ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.31.12https://www.thinkwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Installing_Debian_3.1_(Sarge)_on_a_ThinkPad_T42&diff=15926Installing Debian 3.1 (Sarge) on a ThinkPad T422005-07-23T20:26:32Z<p>Ryan: /* Cpufreq speedstepping */</p>
<hr />
<div>==My specs==<br />
I've just got a Thinkpad T42 (2373-9VG) with the following specs:<br />
<br />
* Pentium M745 (1.8GHz, 2Mb L2 Cahce)<br />
* 1 Gb RAM<br />
* 80GB 5400rpm HDD<br />
* 14.1 SXGA+(1400x1050) TFT LCD<br />
* 64MB ATI Radeon 9600<br />
* 24x24x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD<br />
* Intel 802.11b/g wireless(MPCI)<br />
* Bluetooth/Modem(CDC)<br />
* 1Gb Ethernet(LOM)<br />
<br />
==Preparing==<br />
First I had to start up Windows and check that everything worked out well. It did. Next step was to go into BIOS and disable the restore-partition on the harddrive. I also changed the IRQ settings in BIOS from 11 to Auto. Not sure if you have to, but I read that you should somewhere.<br />
<br />
Then I repartitioned the disc (one small windows partition, one swap and one ext3 partition).<br />
<br />
==Installing Debian/Sarge==<br />
<br />
Boot up the Debian Installation CD. Remember to boot the CD up with "linux26" to get the 2.6.x kernel directly.<br />
Everything worked just fine. Remember to chokkkose the radeon display-driver for X though. <br />
<br />
Extra packages I installed:<br />
* acpid<br />
* alsa<br />
* ipw2200-source<br />
* module-assistant<br />
* laptop-mode-tools (spins down your hd when on battery)<br />
* hibernate<br />
<br />
==2.6.10 kernel==<br />
Then a downloaded the source for the 2.6.10 kernel. I stole a 2.6.9-config file and did a "make oldconfig". <br />
<!-- This link doesn't work: <br />
[http://configfile This is] what came out that process.<br />
--><br />
I didn't use any patch, it's simply not needed with kernel 2.6.10.<br />
<br />
==Display drivers==<br />
<br />
I chose to stick with the opensource driver radeon since there were reports on problems with hibernation with the driver [[Fglrx | ATI drivers]]. However it should be pointed out that the opensource driver is much slower, so if that bugs you...<br />
<br />
==Modem==<br />
Some people have reported that the [http://www.smlink.com/content.aspx?id=132 SmartLink] drivers (sl-modem) worked. However, for me they did not (I did get AT-commands to work, but not the dialing out). Instead the [http://www.linuxant.com/drivers/hsf/downloads-installer.php Linuxant] driver (hsfmodem) worked just fine (the 14.4kbps is free but you'll have to pay a rather small amount for the full version of the driver).<br />
I had to put the snd_intel8x0m modules into /etc/hotplug/blacklist so that hotplug wouldn't load this faulty (?) module on boot. Otherwise the installation was straight forward.<br />
<br />
==Bluetooth==<br />
I did a "apt-get install bluez-utils" and, voila, the bluetooth worked. I use the multisync package to sync my SonyEricsson T610 with Evolution and it works great. <br />
<br />
To get gprs working I had to do a bit of work. I followed the instructions on [http://nix.fulhack.nu/z600/ this page] and got it working in the end.<br />
<br />
==Wireless==<br />
Not yet tested but shouldn't be a problem with the [Ipw2200 | ipw2200] driver.<br />
<br />
==Hibernation==<br />
I decided not to care about standby-mode (when do you really use that?) since the ACPI standby-mode needs quite a lot of battery-power. However I wanted the hibernation mode. Coming up...<br />
<br />
==Cpufreq speedstepping==<br />
The cpufreq speedstepping in the 2.6.10 kernel works fine (without any patch). However it boots up with the "userspace cpufreq-govenor" which means that it does not take command over the setting the cpu frequencies itself. A "echo ondemand > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor" on boot fixes this (I made a small init.d-script for this). You can check the current cpu-freq with "cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq" (or "cat /proc/cpuinfo")and you can tweak the ondemand governor by setting the values in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/ondemand (I haven't though).<br />
<br />
==Special keys==<br />
I didn't bother with those. Volume, [[ThinkLight|light]], bluetooth and backlight works fine out of the box. The others I don't wotn (I especially don't want the standby button (Fn-F4) to work since Ctrl-F4 means switching to workspace 4 and I'm using that a lot (and my Ctrl on my desktop computer is where the Fn key is on the thinkpad)).<br />
<br />
[[Category:T42p]] [[Category:Debian]]<br />
<br />
I installed the tpb package:<br />
<br />
apt-get install tpb<br />
chmod a+rw /dev/nvram<br />
<br />
To start it I use this script:<br />
<br />
#!/bin/bash<br />
exec tpb<br />
<br />
I have a script with those lines in my .kde/Autostart folder.</div>Ryan