Installing Fedora 16 on a ThinkPad X201i

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NOTE!
This is based on the x86-64 version of Fedora 16 with the default GNOME desktop. Your experience with the 32bit version and/or KDE may be different.
Help needed
Not all models of this ThinkPad are equal, you may have a different WiFi adapter, or some options I did not have. If you tested them, please add their status down below.

New in this release

New in this Fedora release, with regards to this model ThinkPad is the following;

  • Better video performance for Intel graphics

Success Chart - Out of the box experience

The SMOLT profile for the X201i used for testing Fedora is here.

Item Working Notes
Installation Local CD/DVD install yes
Network Installation yes
USB Installation yes
Display - Intel HD Graphics Laptop Screen yes
VGA yes
Displayport unknown Requires a dock
DVI/HDMI unknown Requires a dock and Displayport to DVI or HDMI cable
Power Management Software Suspend (hibernate) yes
Suspend to Memory (ACPI sleep) yes
Audio yes
Wireless WiFi - Intel 6200 yes
WiFi - Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 unknown
WiFi - Realtek unknown
Bluetooth yes
WWAN with GPS unknown
Input Keyboard yes
TrackPoint yes
TouchPad unknown
Extra keys partial see ThinkPad Extra keys section below
Fingerprint reader yes
Ports Ethernet yes
Modem no May work with the binary Conexant HSF modem drivers.
USB yes
ExpressCard unknown
3-in-1 MultiCard Reader yes SD and SDHC tested
Harddisk Active Protection no Fedora ships the hdapsd rpm, but not the tp_smapi kernel module, which is required to read the motion sensor bugzilla
TPM yes tpm_tis is automatically loaded. After installing the tpm-tools rpm, and starting the tcsd service, the tpm_* commands seem to work.
Docking unknown

Tested and Verified on Fedora 16

Information in this section has been tested and verified using Fedora.

Installation

Installation is straight forward; you can follow the generic Fedora install instructions.

Configuration

Kernel

You may want to consider editing /etc/default/grub and adding pcie_aspm=force to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX line, and running # grub2-mkconfig. This will force enable PCIe ASPM power saving functions, which are getting disabled because the BIOS claims not to support it, but it does work and it makes a significant difference in battery life. A potential downside is that if the system really does not support it, you could experience system freezes, but I have not noticed any (YMMV).

X Server - Intel HD Graphics

Works out of the box, including Compiz and external VGA display.

Other display types (DisplayPort) have not been tested as they require a Dock.

ThinkPad Extra keys

ThinkPad keys are handled by a mixture of the thinkpad_acpi, acpi button, acpi dock and acpi video drivers.

Key Function Handled by Event Works Notes
FnF2 lock screen thinkpad_acpi yes yes
FnF3 battery thinkpad_acpi yes yes
FnF4 suspend acpi button yes yes
FnF5 wireless thinkpad_acpi yes partial Works as a radio kill switch, kills WiFi but not Bluetooth
FnF7 videomode thinkpad_acpi yes yes Switches between Mirror, LVDS only, Ext only and Extended desktop
FnF8 mouse input select thinkpad_acpi yes unknown
FnF9 eject thinkpad_acpi yes partial No default action, but can be associated with gnome-keybinding-properties
FnF12 hibernate acpi button yes yes
FnHome brightness up acpi video yes yes
FnEnd brightness down acpi video yes yes
FnPgUp thinklight - no yes no OSD
FnSpace zoom thinkpad_acpi yes no Known Xorg limitation, scheduled to be fixed with the new XKB2 extension, whenever that may be.
VolumeUp Volume Up ? yes yes
VolumeDown Volume Down ? yes yes
VolumeMute Volume Mute ? yes yes
ThinkVantage Vendor key thinkpad_acpi yes partial No default action, but can be associated with gnome-keybinding-properties
NextTab Browser Next tab standard keyboard driver yes yes
PreviousTab Browser Previous tab standard keyboard driver yes yes
Fn Up Stop standard keyboard driver yes yes
Fn Left reverse standard keyboard driver yes yes
Fn Right forward standard keyboard driver yes yes
Fn Down play/pause standard keyboard driver yes yes
Power Power button acpi button yes yes Need to press button for ~1 second to trigger event. Causes a dialog asking you what to do.
Lid Lid button acpi button yes yes
Dock Dock eject button acpi dock udev unknown
Radio switch Radio kill switch thinkpad_acpi udev yes