Install Mandriva 2009.0 on a ThinkPad W500 - Revision history

ThinkGNU: Linux is only a kernel. Spelling. Added correction about EC mute.

2025-04-12T01:36:33Z

Linux is only a kernel. Spelling. Added correction about EC mute.

Daudo: /* Display / Xorg */

2009-01-22T14:25:13Z

‎Display / Xorg

Daudo: /* Things not working/issues */

2009-01-21T18:31:49Z

‎Things not working/issues

Daudo: /* Things not working/issues */

2009-01-21T18:30:07Z

‎Things not working/issues

Daudo: /* Display / Xorg */

2009-01-21T18:24:13Z

‎Display / Xorg

Daudo: /* BIOS Issues */

2009-01-21T16:29:26Z

‎BIOS Issues

Daudo: /* Suspend/Resume problem */

2009-01-21T16:25:24Z

‎Suspend/Resume problem

Daudo at 15:33, 19 January 2009

2009-01-19T15:33:18Z

Daudo at 15:28, 19 January 2009

2009-01-19T15:28:18Z

Daudo at 15:27, 19 January 2009

2009-01-19T15:27:59Z

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[:Category:W500|W500]] '''this is work under progress'''
+[[:Category:W500|W500]] {{NOTE|The below issues have been fixed in later GNU/Linux versions, but they have been left in case someone decides to try installing Mandriva 2009.0 for some reason.}}
 ==BIOS Issues==
 * [[Switchable Graphics]]
-Linux (ie Xorg) currently lacks the support for on-the-fly switching of GPUs. It not only does not support switching, you also have to expicically turn off switching in BIOS. Go to Config->Display->Graphics Device and '''DISABLE''' OS detection of switchable graphics.
+GNU/Linux with X.Org previously lacked the support for on-the-fly switching of GPUs. It not only did not support switching, you also had to explicitly turn off switching in BIOS. Go to Config->Display->Graphics Device and '''DISABLE''' OS detection of switchable graphics.
-If you don't disable OS detection, linux will see two graphic adapters (try it with lspci) and will be confused on which one to use, leading to random weird side effects such as hangs and worse.
+If you don't disable OS detection, Linux will enumerate two graphic adapters (see `lspci` output) and X.Org will be confused as to which one to use, leading to random weird side effects such as hangs and worse.
 * AHCI
@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 * booting with "vga=788" not working
-** the Mandriva installer added the "vga=788" parameter to my kernel boot line. That prevented the laptop from booting quite frequently, not always though. Still to be investigated, but removing "vga=788" from the kernel boot line solved the issue for now.
+** the Mandriva installer added the "vga=788" parameter to my Linux boot line. That prevented the laptop from booting quite frequently, not always though. Still to be investigated, but removing "vga=788" from the kernel boot line solved the issue for now.
 * [[Active Protection System]]
 ** HD-APS is not working for me, probably due to a BIOS bug, see [http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12221 http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12221]
@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 * Suspend/Resume
 ** while suspending works fine, resuming always ended with a blank screen, workaround below
-* muted audio not shown in alsa mixer
+* muted audio not shown in alsamixer
-** when you use the built in "mute audio" button on the ThinkPad keyboard, this is not show in any audio mixer I've tried. So if you don't hear a sound, give the "mute audio" button a try :-)
+** when you use the built in "mute audio" button on the ThinkPad keyboard, the EC does a hardware mute without sending a XF86AudioMute event, so the mute state will not show in any audio mixer. So if you don't hear a sound, press the "mute audio" or "volume up" button to unmute :-)
 * 3D and radeonhd
-** the radeonhd driver (still) does not support 3D acceleration
+** the radeonhd driver did not support 3D acceleration
 * 2D and fglrx
 ** see below

@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 ** consumes the least energy
 ** DVI connector on the [[ThinkPad Advanced Mini Dock]] ist not recognoized
 * radeonhd
@@ Line 55: / Line 56: @@
 So if battery life and 3D are important for you, you should probably use the intel driver, but I am fine with the radeonhd driver for now. And fglrx is nothing but proprietary nonsense, IMHO ... for a '''commercial''' driver this is ridiculous.
 [[Category:W500]][[Category:Mandriva]]

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 * booting with "vga=788" not working
-** the Mandriva installer added the "vga=788" parameter to my kernel boot line. That prevented the laptop to boot quite frequently, not always though. Still to be investigated, but removing "vga=788" from the kernel boot line solved the issue for now.
+** the Mandriva installer added the "vga=788" parameter to my kernel boot line. That prevented the laptop from booting quite frequently, not always though. Still to be investigated, but removing "vga=788" from the kernel boot line solved the issue for now.
 * [[Active Protection System]]
 ** HD-APS is not working for me, probably due to a BIOS bug, see [http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12221 http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12221]

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 As I've found most of the components are just working out of the box, I will only list the issues I have found so far:
 * [[Active Protection System]]
 ** HD-APS is not working for me, probably due to a BIOS bug, see [http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12221 http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12221]
@@ Line 27: / Line 29: @@
 * 3D and radeonhd
 ** the radeonhd driver (still) does not support 3D acceleration
 == Suspend/Resume problem ==

@@ Line 48: / Line 48: @@
 * fglrx
 ** changing runlevel to 3 (init 3) leaves you with X eating 100% CPU
-So if battery life, DVI and 3D are important for you, you should probably use the fglrx driver, but I am fine with the radeonhd driver for now.
+So if battery life and 3D are important for you, you should probably use the intel driver, but I am fine with the radeonhd driver for now. And fglrx is nothing but proprietary nonsense, IMHO ... for a '''commercial''' driver this is ridiculous.
 [[Category:W500]][[Category:Mandriva]]

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ==BIOS Issues==
 Linux (ie Xorg) currently lacks the support for on-the-fly switching of GPUs. It not only does not support switching, you also have to expicically turn off switching in BIOS. Go to Config->Display->Graphics Device and '''DISABLE''' OS detection of switchable graphics.
 If you don't disable OS detection, linux will see two graphic adapters (try it with lspci) and will be confused on which one to use, leading to random weird side effects such as hangs and worse.
 I also had to turn off AHCI in Config->SATA and used '''Compatibility Mode''' instead, otherwise the kernel would not boot occasionally.
-The T9400 and up CPUs also support advanced Intel Virtualization technologies. Just don't turn on VT-d (disk I/O virtualization) in BIOS, otherwise WLAN any a couple of other things will not work and even freeze your system, see [https://qa.mandriva.com/show_bug.cgi?id=44711 https://qa.mandriva.com/show_bug.cgi?id=44711]
+* Intel Virtualization
 ==Things not working/issues==

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 If resuming just leaves you with a blank black display, try the following:
-   echo "ADD_PARAMETERS='--quirk-vbe-post' > /etc/pm/config.d/w500_vbe_post
+   echo "ADD_PARAMETERS='--quirk-vbe-post'" > /etc/pm/config.d/w500_vbe_post
 == Display / Xorg ==

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 == Display / Xorg ==
-The laptop comes with [[switchable graphics]], so you can choose on your own which GPU to use:
+The laptop comes with [[Switchable Graphics]], so you can choose on your own which GPU to use:
 * intel