Installing Ubuntu 6.06 Flight 5 on a ThinkPad T60
Installation of Ubuntu 6.04 Flight 5 on a T60 (2623D6U). (note: Ubuntu 6.04 has been re-labeled as 6.06)
The Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) installer did not recognize the network card (Intel 82573L), so I decided to try 6.06 (an alpha version of Dapper Drake).
Contents
Summary
What works out of the box
- Network card
- Sound
What needs to be fixed post-install
- Graphics card (see http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Dapper_Installation_Guide)
- Dual core processor (get the linux-686-smp package)
- Wireless (see http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Intel_PRO/Wireless_3945ABG_Mini-PCI_Express_Adapter)
Installing of Ubuntu 6.04 alpha Flight 5
- First, you should look at Installation of Ubuntu 5.04 on a ThinkPad Template:T43 (1875). There is information on preserving the functionality of the ThinkVantage button, which I did not follow.
- You should probably create the IBM Rescue CDs before you begin. I expected the rescue partition to be able to restore my system to the factory default state if I messed up, but I was wrong.
- Downloaded CD ISO of Ubuntu's Dapper flight 5 (http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/flight5).
- I used the installer's partitioner. I reduced the Windows partition to 10GB, left the IBM recovery partition alone, and created four ReiserFS partitions for the Linux system: / (6GB), /usr (8GB), swap (2.5GB), and /home (the remaining space).
- I let the installer install GRUB in the MBR. I kind of regret doing that because now the ThinkVantage button does not work properly. See the T43 instructions on the alternative methods that might work.
- The installer recognized the network card (unlike Ubuntu 5.10).
- The blue "ThinkVantage" button now goes to GRUB instead of IBM's Rescue System. You can get to the IBM partition from the GRUB menu by choosing the "Windows NT" partition.
Fixes after installation
- X wouldn't start. The ATI x1300 is now supportes since driver version 8.24.8. To get a provisorily support for thr chip, change the Device driver in xorg.conf from "ati" to "vesa". A resolution fo 1400x1050 works fine on my T60 with the vesa drivers. But for a real support for yout X1300 follow the instructions on (http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Dapper_Installation_Guide) - Method 2.
- The linux-686-smp package supports the dual core processor. I verified that it worked by looking at /proc/cpuinfo. Because I needed to compile other modules anyways (e.g., the wireless drivers), I decided to get the 2.6.16 kernel source and compile it myself. I set the "Pentium M" processor type with 2 processors ([1]). The package generated by make-kpkg worked when I used make-kpkg's "--initrd" flag.
- To get the built-in wireless to work, I installed the 3945ABG wireless driver from SourceForge (http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/), the latest IEEE 80211 (http://ieee80211.sourceforge.net/downloads.php) modules, and the latest ipw2200 (http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ipw2200) modules.