Difference between revisions of "Installing Ubuntu on a ThinkPad T20"

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(simplify section on software memory requirements)
(clean up ACPI section)
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=== Suspending with ACPI ===
 
=== Suspending with ACPI ===
  
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A alternative to APM is ACPI. It is newer and more advanced, and preferred when it works. However, even with the newest BIOS (1.22) installed in the T20, Linux will still recognize the BIOS as "too old" and will disable ACPI. You can override this by adding this boot option: `acpi=force`.
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ACPI is a newer and preferred alternative to APM. On the T20 it necessary to force the use of ACPI, using
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the following instructions.
  
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Assuming you actually have Ubuntu installed (i.e., not running from Live CD) To add this boot option, open /boot/grub/menu.lst and look for the line(s) (there will be one for each boot menu choice) similar to:
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gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
  
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kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-386 root=UUID=1a2b3c4d-5e6f-1234-7a8b-1a2b3c4d5e6f ro
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Look for an uncommented line starting with "kernel" and add "acpi=force" to the end of the line. There should be
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a "title" line above describing the default kernel that usually boots. Making the change for just the default kernel should be sufficient.  
  
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(n.b., I've obscured the UUID hex string above).
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Once the file has been re-saved, you can re-install the bootloader. The command for that is:
  
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and add acpi=force to the lines you wish to change (i.e., the choices you want ACPI enabled for, though you probably only want to add to the line corresponding to the option for normal boot, not the recovery boot options).
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sudo grub-install /dev/hda
  
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'''NOTE''': Before running the grub-install line ''at your own risk'' below, make sure you know what you're doing (i.e., have read the grub documentation) and that /dev/hda ''is'' your boot drive otherwise you may render your system unbootable. Obviously if you're not using grub then this won't work. Now run:
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'''NOTE''': This assumes your hard drive is at /dev/hda. Use "df" to see your hard drive names if you are not sure.
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This operation can  potentially make your computer unbootable if there are mistakes, so be careful! (Of course, even if the hard drive became unbootable, you could most likely boot off a CD and fix it. )
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grub-install /dev/hda
 
  
 
In `/etc/default/acpi-support` adjust the following values:
 
In `/etc/default/acpi-support` adjust the following values:

Revision as of 17:07, 18 February 2007

Ubuntu 6.10, Edgy Eft

Blank Screen when booting Live CD

As described in Installing Ubuntu on a Thinkpad T21, there is an issue with the Savage driver which makes the initial boot into X hit and miss.

You can avoid this problem by using the alternate install CD. However, that doesn't allow you to do any pre-installation evaluation of the GUI that the Live/Install CD provides.

Using APM to Suspend

To enable APM when booting the Live/Install CD, add these boot options:

`noacpi acpi=off apm=on`

After booting, `Fn-F4` will still only put the command in a standby state, but using `apm --suspend` on the command line will successfully suspend machine, and it resumes as well.

Another user reports that APM leads to a unsuccessful shutdown, hanging on the last splash screen.

Suspending with ACPI

ACPI is a newer and preferred alternative to APM. On the T20 it necessary to force the use of ACPI, using the following instructions. 

gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Look for an uncommented line starting with "kernel" and add "acpi=force" to the end of the line. There should be a "title" line above describing the default kernel that usually boots. Making the change for just the default kernel should be sufficient.

Once the file has been re-saved, you can re-install the bootloader. The command for that is: 

sudo grub-install /dev/hda

NOTE: This assumes your hard drive is at /dev/hda. Use "df" to see your hard drive names if you are not sure. This operation can potentially make your computer unbootable if there are mistakes, so be careful! (Of course, even if the hard drive became unbootable, you could most likely boot off a CD and fix it. )

In `/etc/default/acpi-support` adjust the following values: 

MODULES="snd_cs46xx" 
RESTART_IRDA=true

Now, suspend-to-ram and suspend-to-disk and resume should all work OK, with the following caveats:

1. Weird errors seem to get output on resume. (TODO: list example here) 2. Sometimes the machine will randomly enter suspend mode. This has also been seen happening on Mandriva on the same model. It's generally rare enough to be little more than mildy annoying.

ACPI Suspend does not work on the LiveCD. `gnome-power-manager` logs to `/var/log/messages` that is beginning to suspend, but nothing happens. This looks like it might be a known bug in Ubuntu.

Special Key Support

The light and brightness keys work as expected. The volume keys have some on-screen visuals that automatically appear to illustrate them, using graphics that match the curren theme. Rather nice!

Video

Direct rendering / GL acceleration works. Use "PCI" in BIOS rather than AGP. I removed all modes apart from 1024x768. ppracer plays well at c. 10fps with all the eye candy on.

Driver "savage"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Option "SWCursor" "on"
Option "ShadowStatus" "on"
Option "DMAMode" "Vertex"
Option "DmaType" "PCI"
Option "BusType" "PCI"

HorizSync 28-51
VertRefresh 43-60

Have to set DefaultColorDepth to 16 in section Screen, otherwise, the memory card won't have enough memory to do acceleration.

Confirmed compatible wireless cards

Belkin f5d7050 Wireless 802.11g USB adaptor (version 3) works (plugged into dock's lower USB port). The procedure is essentially install the ndiswrapper-1.8 and work through https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessTroubleShootingGuide.=

DVDs

DVDs play great once you've installed all the missing multimedia plugins. (work through https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MultimediaApplications and the links to freeformats and restrictedformats pages).

Sound

Processor frequency scaling causes interruptions in sound output. To avoid this, disable scaling by removing the service powernowd (system > administration > service ...). This may reduce your run time on battery as a trade-off.

Software memory requirements

Here are some test results from trying software with Ubuntu on this model.

  • OpenOffice - OK with 128Mb
  • Eclipse - 128Mb is not enough, 384 is OK

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, Dapper Drake

When booting the Live/Install CD, adjust the boot options to add the following:

`noacpi acpi=off apm=on`

Sometimes the CD may stall on boot with a blank black screen. Trying again with "Safe Graphics" mode may help. (Or prehaps this is the same X issue with the Edgy Live CD, and it is simply trying again that helps).

Once booted, suspend and resume using Fn-F4 was successfully tested running from the LiveCD. However, in at least a couple of cases, the Live CD froze at seemingly random points shortly after resuming.

Results from a complete install still need to be documented.

See Also

Because the models are very similar, Installing Ubuntu on a ThinkPad T21 may also be helpful.

External Resources

Ubuntu T20

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