Installing Ubuntu 6.06 on a ThinkPad R60

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Revision as of 19:33, 27 September 2006 by Wijister (Talk | contribs) (→‎Network: wifi card clarified)
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Overview

Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) works very well with the R60, needing very little or no configuration at all to get things working.

The following text is based on an dualboot win/linux installation with the Ubuntu 6.06 CD, on a R60 with Core Duo T2400, 512MB, 80GB, 15", SXGA+, ATI X1400 128MB, DVD±R. Other configurations should be very similar, as long as the newest version of Ubuntu is used.

Needs tweaking:

Untested:

  • Firewire (probably works)
  • Modem (probably works)
  • Card slots (probably depends on what you use them for)

Everything else just works, atleast after the very simple process of getting the drivers (explained below). Everything pretty much means everything, but if anyone want a list: USB, CD/DVD (also burner), UltraNav (mouse), dual cores, graphics card, sound card, network (cable and wifi), hibernation.


Before you start

Normally the machines come preinstalled with Windows XP. Also note that there is a somewhat hidden 5GB FAT32 partition that contains the recovery files used to reinstall Windows. If you only wants Linux, then all this can just be deleted. If you wants too keep Windows for dualboot, you have to decide if you want to keep the recovery partition.

If you want to keep windows, it's wise to make recovery CDs. You can both make a backup-cd/dvd, and make disks that contain what's on the recovery partition (these disks can only be made once, and require 2 DVDs or 6 CDs). Start Windows, and run the ThinkVantage-programs for this.

Partition and boot

Now boot with the Ubuntu-CD, start the installer and follow the simple guide until you reach the partition-question. If you want to keep Windows, select the option to do it manually. Now you will see the two Lenovo-created partitions. Resize the big partition with Windows on to the size you want. Then make a new partition for Ubuntu and a small swap partition. Complete the installer, and reboot into Windows. Chkdsk will start to scan C:\. It will probably correct some stuff, but hopefully Windows will start nicely afterwards.

Ubuntu will install the GRUB bootloader. At startup this will give you the choice of Linux and Windows, unless you got rid of the latter. It will also display a line with "Windows NT/2000/XP" if you kept the service partition. This is some sort of Windows based environiment where you can restore stuff. Find a GRUB-howto and edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to hide it in the list, if you want to. You probably also want to edit /etc/fstab and remove the line that mounts the service partition.

System update

When Ubuntu is up and running, you should first run a complete system update. A note will pop up telling you to do so, or you can run Synaptic or $ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade. Since it downloads a new kernel and some ACPI-stuff, among other things, this might resolve problems before you even notice they exist. So do this first! :)

CPU/Kernel

The R60 has a Dual Core CPU, and the default kernel is only using one of the cores. Start Synaptic and find the most recent 686-kernel (either linux-image-2.6.xx-xx-686 or the linux-686-smp metapackage). Download and install it, then reboot. You will now get another choice on the bootmenu for the 686-kernel. Boot with that one, and make sure $ cat /proc/cpuinfo lists two processors. Make sure you get the linux-restricted-modules-2.6.xx-xx-686 package too, it's needed for some of the drivers below.

The CPU frequencies gets clocked up and down as needed automaticly (to save power and generate less heat when not in use). You can add an applet to the Gnome panel to monitor this (two applets really, one for each core).

Network

The gigabit network card and wifi card work out of the box.

Note: Wifi needs the package linux-restricted-modules-2.6.xx-xx-xxx to work. This package is installed by default.

Graphics

The R60 can either come with some onboard Intel graphics, or a X-series ATI-card. Atleast for the latter, you need to install drivers. ATI delivers proprietary binary-only drivers called fglrx, that you can install with apt/Synaptic. See this guide for that, or just try: 

sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx fglrx-control
sudo depmod -a
sudo aticonfig --initial
sudo aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv

Then reboot, and run $ fglrxinfo to see that everything is fine. You can also try running $ glxgears to see if 3d-acceleration works as it should. When the drivers are in place, you can also select a higher resolution if you have a model with that. You can do that with the System->Settings->Resolution GUI.

Hibernation

In Gnome this seems to work without any config. Both the choice in the shutdown dialog, and Fn+F12 makes the machine hibernate properly. 'Sleep'-mode can be enabled in power settings.

In KDE this does not work by default. (Maybe look at kpowersave?)

Sound

Sound just worked, also from multiple sources at once. The three volume keys work fine. Fn+Arrows for Play/Stop etc, does not work yet.

Bluetooth

After installing KDE with friends, a program called Bluetooth OBEX Client showed up on the main menu. Transfering a image to a Nokia phone with this program worked perfectly, so at least some parts of Bluetooth does work.

UltraNav (mouses)

They both work fine, except horizontal scolling on the touchpad does not work. A fix for that will be posted if/when it's found. Also the middle mouse button works as a middle mouse button usually does in Linux, instead of being used to scroll like it does in Windows. Some of the other pages here suggest different things one can do for configuring this.

Fingerprint reader

Untested so far.

Keys

Several of the keys do something special in combination with the Fn-key. Some work automagicly, some don't. Here's a list of what works and what doesn't in Gnome. To fix/change, look at How to get special keys to work.

Does something by default:

  • Volume keys (up/down/mute)
  • Fn+Home Monitor brightness up
  • Fn+End Monitor brightness down
  • Fn+PgUp Turn keyboard light on/off
  • Fn+F2 Lock computer
  • Fn+F3 Shows battery info
  • Fn+F12 Hibernates the machine
  • Fn+Home

Needs to be enabled:

  • Fn+F4 Sleep-button. In Gnome the default is to do nothing, but can be set to sleep in Power Settings.

Doesn't do anything:

  • Fn+F5 toggle on/off wireless/bluetooth
  • Fn+F7 Supposed to switch between monitors (might do something if it's actually connected to another monitor)
  • Fn+F8 Starts UltraNav-config in Windows
  • Fn+F9 Used before undocking from a dockingstation in Windows
  • Fn+Spacebar Zooms the screen in Windows
  • ThinkVantage
  • Media keys (Fn + Arrow-keys)
  • Windows key
  • The other Windows key


In KDE, nothing works by default. To get some of it to work, you need to set up nvram:

  • $ sudo addgroup nvram
  • $ sudo adduser [your username(s)] nvram
  • Add 'nvram' to /etc/modules on a new line.
  • Add/change the last section of /etc/udev/rules.d/40-permission.rules and add 'KERNEL=="nvram", GROUP="nvram", MODE="0660".
  • Reboot.
  • Open KDE System Settings -> Laptops and power -> IBM Thinkpad Laptop.
  • (If it still complains about nvram, do some googling and fix it.)
  • Tick the box to run KMilo.
  • Change the programs for the buttons if you want to.
  • Log out and in again.

The volume keys, thinkpad-key and Fn+Spacebar should now do something. You should also get a dialog when using the brightness keys and the thinklight.

Other tips

Add this to ~/.Xresources for much nicer fonts in KDE: 

Xft.dpi:96
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