Difference between revisions of "Installing Ubuntu on a ThinkPad T21"

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'''Ubuntu 6.06 Desktop'''
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'''Ubuntu 6.10 Desktop'''
  
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The Ubuntu 6.06 Desktop CD is both a Live CD and a installation CD.  You can boot directly from the CD and it will run Ubuntu in live mode in X Windows so you can play with it.  Your hard drive will not be changed at all in this mode.  You can then choose to install it to your hard dirve by clicking the install icon on your desktop. After going through 5-6 screens and 15 minutes later, you are done.
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To install, we have to use the "alternate install" CD because X freezes on boot.
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Note: Safe boot won't work.
  
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Well, things are always more difficult than I thought.  My Thinkpad froze a few times during installation, when it tries to boot into X windows. Later I found out that Ubuntu 6.06 Desktop has trouble with the S3 Savage video hardware on my thinkpad. The only solution at the install stage is to keep rebooting from the CD. I tried to boot 5-6 times, and finally got though.
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Once it is installed and reboots,
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press ESC to get to the grub menu,
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'e' to edit the menu entry,
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then DOWN to get to the "kernel ..." line.
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Press 'e' to edit the kernel boot entry,
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then type "init=/bin/sh", ENTER.
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Press 'b' to boot the modified entry.
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This should get you in single-user mode.
  
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I did the following to get things working.
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Type  (without the # signs)
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        # mount -o remount,rw /
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        # cd /etc/init.d
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        # mv gdm gdm.old
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        # mv x11-common x11-common.old
  
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1) Make sure that the ethernet port on your Thinkpad T21 is connected to the internet. My Thinkpad froze again halfway through copying files to the hard drive.  I guess it was trying to find some files on the internet, so I plugged in the ethernet cable and reinstalled the OS.  My guess was right, and the second installation went through smoothly.
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To prevent X from booting the next time around.
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Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot the computer.
  
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{{NOTE|With Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) I only had to set "DefaultDepth 24" in xorg.conf as stated below. I did not need any custom kernel boot options nor did I need the BusType+DmaMode settings in xorg.conf}}
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Let Ubuntu boot normally.
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Don't edit the entry.
  
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After installation. Ubuntu will often freeze when it tries to boot into X windows.  My Thinkpad T21 kept getting stuck on a blank screen with "_" on the upper left corner. Here is a solution that worked for me:
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You should get a login prompt in a text-terminal.
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Login with your username and password, then type (don't type the $ sign)
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        $ sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  
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1)  Choose Safe Boot instead of Normal Boot.  It is the second line on the boot menu.
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Once in vi, type in order
  
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2)  Click Applications > Accessories > Terminal
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        /DefaultDepth
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        ENTER
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        :s/16/24
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        ENTER
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        ESC
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        ZZ
  
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3)  Type:  Sudo -H -s      (This command gives you power to modify the xorg.conf file later.)
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Once this is done, try starting X manually
  
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4)  Type:  gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf  (Make sure that the "X" in "X11" is capital X, and the "11" is number "eleven" not lowercase "LL".)
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        $ X
  
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5)  Add the following two lines into the "Device" section of your xorg.conf.
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Which should get you a X screen.
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No window manager will be running,
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so you can't do much but exit by pressing CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE.
  
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Option "BusType" "PCI"
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Once X is known to work,
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Option "DmaMode" "None"
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you can enable gdm and X again by undoing to first steps:
  
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6)  Save the file. Done!  Your Thinkpad won't freeze anymore when booting into X Windows.
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        $ cd /etc/init.d
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        $ sudo mv gdm.old gdm
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        $ sudo mv x11-common.old x11-common
  
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The X tip also applies to the {{T20}}, and probably the {{T22}} and {{T23}} as well.
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Then reboot the computer
  
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paulistano says:
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        $ sudo reboot
  
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I had a black screen problem on starting ubuntu and resolved it with changing
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You should then be greeted by the usual gdm login prompt.
  
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"DefaultDepth 16" to "DefaultDepth 24" in the xorg.conf
 
  
 
Crapulon says:
 
Crapulon says:

Revision as of 08:42, 18 January 2007

Ubuntu 6.10 Desktop

To install, we have to use the "alternate install" CD because X freezes on boot. Note: Safe boot won't work.

Once it is installed and reboots, press ESC to get to the grub menu, 'e' to edit the menu entry, then DOWN to get to the "kernel ..." line. Press 'e' to edit the kernel boot entry, then type "init=/bin/sh", ENTER. Press 'b' to boot the modified entry. This should get you in single-user mode.

Type (without the # signs) 

       # mount -o remount,rw /
       # cd /etc/init.d
       # mv gdm gdm.old
       # mv x11-common x11-common.old

To prevent X from booting the next time around. Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot the computer.

Let Ubuntu boot normally. Don't edit the entry.

You should get a login prompt in a text-terminal. Login with your username and password, then type (don't type the $ sign) 

       $ sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Once in vi, type in order 

       /DefaultDepth
       ENTER
       :s/16/24
       ENTER
       ESC
       ZZ

Once this is done, try starting X manually 

       $ X

Which should get you a X screen. No window manager will be running, so you can't do much but exit by pressing CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE.

Once X is known to work, you can enable gdm and X again by undoing to first steps: 

       $ cd /etc/init.d
       $ sudo mv gdm.old gdm
       $ sudo mv x11-common.old x11-common

Then reboot the computer 

       $ sudo reboot

You should then be greeted by the usual gdm login prompt.


Crapulon says:

I also found it is a good idea to have "acpi=off apm=on" as GRUB kernel options. Without this Ubuntu could not recognise the Ethernet port or internal modem. Edit the GRUB menu.lst file so that update-grub automagically adds these options. To do this:

1) Type: sudo vim /boot/grub/menu.lst

2) Find the section titled ## Start Default Options ##, then add the two new options to the line that begins with "# kopt=" eg. in my menu.lst file the new line (line 66) reads: 

   # kopt=root/dev/hda1 ro acpi=off apm=on

3) Write the changes and exit vim.

4) Now use update-grub to rewrite the boot options 

   Type: sudo update-grub

Reboot, and check that all is well.

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