Installing Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) on a ThinkPad X61

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Revision as of 11:56, 25 November 2009 by Jdthood (Talk | contribs)
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I installed Ubuntu 9.10 on the same ThinkPad X61 model 7673-CTO that I installed Ubuntu 8.10 on last year.

This time I installed from DVD+R using the Ultrabay Slim Multi-Burner III Drive in the UltraBase X6.

In the coming days I will test various features and extend this page.

DMI info for this model

# dmidecode -s system-manufacturer
LENOVO
# dmidecode -s system-product-name
7673CTO
# dmidecode -s system-version
ThinkPad X61

Kernel misdetects memory

Right at the beginning there was an important obstacle to overcome. The installed kernel would panic on boot.

I ran memtest+ from the installation disc to see if I had a memory problem. It reported errors above 4 GiB. That's odd, because I only have 4 GiB of RAM installed.

I surmised that the new kernel, version 2.6.31-14-generic-pae, errs in reckoning the amount of installed RAM. And indeed, the solution to the kernel panic was to add mem=4096M to the kernel boot parameter list.

Adding the tp-smapi module

$ sudo aptitude install tp-smapi-source
$ sudo module-assistant build tp-smapi-source
$ sudo module-assistant install tp-smapi-source
$ sudo modprobe thinkpad_ec tp_smapi hdaps

Edit the file /etc/modules to add these lines:

 thinkpad_ec
 tp_smapi
 hdaps

Ubuntu 9.10 contains version 0.40 of tp-smapi.

There is currently (19 November 2009) no hdaps-utils package in Karmic and so no hdaps-gl application.

Increasing battery life

To make the battery last longer by reducing the number and depth of charge cycles, edit /etc/sysfs.conf to add the lines:

 # Make battery live longer
 devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/start_charge_thresh = 50
 devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/stop_charge_thresh = 90

To effect the change either reboot or do:

$ sudo su 
# echo 50 > /sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/start_charge_thresh
# echo 90 > /sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/stop_charge_thresh

Docking

The ThinkPad X61 can be docked in the UltraBase X6.

Unlike with the previous versions of Ubuntu, if the X61 is removed from the UltraBase X6 then the X61 does not freeze.

However, I find that when the X61 is returned to the UltraBase the USB devices attached to the UltraBase do not work.

No /proc/acpi/ibm/dock

As with Intrepid and Jaunty the file /proc/acpi/ibm/dock does not exist even though the thinkpad-acpi module is loaded and the X61 is booted while docked in the UltraBase X6. So, instructions in the thinkpad-acpi README and elsewhere that make reference to this file cannot be followed.

/sys/devices/platform/dock.*

Under /sys/devices/platform there are directories dock.0 through dock.3 with these contents:

/sys/devices/platform$ ls -l dock.0
total 0
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-11-22 18:59 docked
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-11-22 19:22 flags
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-11-22 19:22 modalias
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    0 2009-11-22 19:22 power
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 2009-11-22 18:59 subsystem -> ../../../bus/platform
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-11-22 19:22 type
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-11-22 19:59 uevent
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-11-22 19:22 uid
--w------- 1 root root 4096 2009-11-22 19:22 undock

Surprisingly, the content of the docked file does not depend on whether or not the machine is docked in the Ultrabase X6.

docked contents
n content
0 1
1 0
2 1
3 1

/proc/acpi/ibm/bay

Formerly when the thinkpad_acpi module was loaded there was a /proc/acpi/ibm/bay file with the following contents (with the X61 docked in the UltraBase X6 with a Ultrabay Slim Multi-Burner III Drive in the Ultrabay Slim port).

# cat bay
status:         occupied
commands:       eject

However, this file no longer exists in Karmic.

Keys

ThinkVantage and Zoom keys not seen by X

Both the ThinkVantage and Zoom keys are seen and reported by ACPI.

$ acpi_listen
ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001018
ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001014

Neither shows up in the output of input-events.

The ThinkVantage key is seen by showkey (sometimes) as having keycode 0x148.

The ThinkVantage key is seen by xev, as KeyPress and KeyRelease events for keycode 156.

Steve Langasek wrote on Ubuntu bug report log 217504:
X can only handly 256 distinct keycodes due to a protocol limitation, and due to evdev the keycodes are now standardized to match the Linux input layer - with no keycode below 256 that could reasonably be substituted for KEY_ZOOM. As a workaround, you can add your own fdi file to /etc/hal/fdi/information that maps this key to a different keycode (see /usr/share/hal/fdi/information/10freedesktop/30-keymap-module-thinkpad-acpi.fdi for an example of how this is currently done).

Refs:

Bug reported: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/+source/linux/+bug/217504/

Fn-F5 emits KEY_RADIO instead of KEY_WLAN

In Intrepid and Jaunty emitted KEY_RADIO instead of KEY_WLAN but this has now been fixed.

Table of keycodes for special keys and key combinations in Jaunty

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
key combination extra function symbol showkey scancode showkey keycode input-events acpi_listen xev GNOME keyboard shortcuts
⟦◁̸ (loudspeaker icon with stroke) down: e0 20 up: e0 a0 113 (none) (none) 121 XF86AudioMute
⟦◁▾ (loudspeaker icon, down arrow) down: e0 2e up: e0 ae 114 (none) (none) 122 XF86AudioLowerVolume
⟦◁▴ (loudspeaker icon, up arrow) down: e0 30 up: e0 b0 115 (none) (none) 123 XF86AudioRaiseVolume
ThinkVantage down: e0 1f e0 9f 148 (formerly 360) KEY_VENDOR ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001018 156 XF86Launch1
Fn up: e0 63 e0 e3 143 (none) 151 XF86WakeUp
Fn-F1 (none) 466 KEY_FN_F1 ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001001 (none) (none)
Fn-F2 padlock down: e0 12 e0 92 152 KEY_SCREENLOCK ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001002 160 (formerly none) XF86ScreenSaver
Fn-F3 battery down: e0 71 e0 f1 236 KEY_BATTERY ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001003 244 (formerly none) (none)
Fn-F4 down: e0 5f e0 df (or sometimes nothing) 142 KEY_SLEEP ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001004 150 (formerly none) XF86Sleep
Fn-F5 radiating computer down: e0 73 e0 f3 238 (formerly 385) KEY_RADIO ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001005 246 (formerly none) (none)
Fn-F6 (none) 471 KEY_FN_F6 ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001006 (none) (none)
Fn-F7 screen, line, computer down: e0 56 e0 d6 227 KEY_SWITCHVIDEOMODE ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001007 235 (formerly none) (none)
Fn-F8 trackpoint, line, trackpad down: e0 79 e0 f9 192 KEY_F22 ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001008 200 (formerly none) (none)
Fn-F9 computer, ⏏ down: 6f ef 194 KEY_F24 ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001009 202 (formerly none) (none)
Fn-F10 down: e0 63 up: e0 e3 143 (none) (none) 151(formerly none) XF86WakeUp
Fn-F11 (none) 476 KEY_FN_F11 ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 0000100b (none) (none)
Fn-F12 screen, arrow, diskpack down: e0 25 e0 a5 (or sometimes nothing) 205 KEY_SUSPEND ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 0000100c 213 (formerly none) (none)
Fn-Home ☀▴ down: e0 54 e0 d4 225 KEY_BRIGHTNESSUP ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001010, video LCD0 00000086 00000000 233 (formerly none) XF86MonBrightnessUp
Fn-End ☀▾ down: e0 4c e0 cc 224 KEY_BRIGHTNESSDOWN ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001011, video LCD0 00000087 00000000 232 (formerly none) XF86MonBrightnessDown
Fn-PgUp illuminated overhead lamp (none) (none) (none) (none) (none)
Fn-Space screen with magnifying glass ("zoom" symbol) (none) 372 KEY_ZOOM ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001014 (none) (none)
Fn- barred right arrowhead ("next" symbol) down: e0 19 up: e0 99 163 (none) (none) 171 XF86AudioNext
Fn- right arrowhead, double bar ("play/pause" symbol) down: e0 22 up: e0 a2 164 (none) (none) 172 XF86AudioPlay
Fn- barred left arrowhead ("prev" symbol) down: e0 10 up: e0 90 165 (none) (none) 173 XF86AudioPrev
Fn- ∎ ("stop play" symbol) down: e0 24 up: e0 a4 166 (none) (none) 174 XF86AudioStop
◂⎗ (left arrowhead, page icon) down: e0 6a up: e0 ea 158 (none) (none) 166 XF86Back
⎘▸ (page icon, right arrowhead) down: e0 69 up: e0 e9 159 (none) (none) 167 XF86Forward

Hotkey mask when the above table was compiled:

$ cat /sys/devices/platform/thinkpad_acpi/hotkey_mask
0x00fdffff
$ cat /sys/devices/platform/thinkpad_acpi/hotkey_all_mask
0x00ffffff
$ cat /sys/devices/platform/thinkpad_acpi/hotkey_recommended_mask
0x008c7fff
$ cat /sys/devices/platform/thinkpad_acpi/hotkey_report_mode
1

Compare Default meanings of special keys.