Installing openSUSE 10.2 on a ThinkPad X60

Lenovo ThinkPad X60 (model 1707-CTO)

Hardware Details

• Intel Core Duo T2400 (1.83GHz, 2MB L2, 667MHz FSB)
• 2GB RAM (2 NonParity DDR2 SDRAM SoDIMM PC2-5300)
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 12.1 inch XGA (1024x768) (Lenovo LTN121XJ-L07)
• 80GB, 5400rpm Serial ATA (Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00)

• Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
• Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
• Bluetooth
• Firewire
• SD Card Reader
• 56K V.92 Modem

Software Details

• openSUSE 10.2 retail DVD9 iso

Installation procedure

Setup

Since I didn't get a dock or usb CDROM with this machine, I started the installation procedure using a USB Stick. I followed these instructions to set up a boot USB key. This contains GRUB and the loader for the installer. The actual installation media was on an NFS share. To set this up, copy the contents of the CDS/DVD into a directory (or mount the DVD iso image loopback) then share the directory containing CD1 via NFS, is the simplest way. Sharing the DVD as a SMB share works from windows, too.

Installation

Press F12 during POST to get the boot selector menu up, choose the USB Key. This boots into GRUB. Press F4 here to set the installation source to NFS or SMB as needed, and enter the server details. For example, with SMB, enter the server name, the name of the share, and the directory where the first CD's contents are, eg 'CD1'. Now the installer is loaded from the share and proceeds as a usual SUSE install. No special steps are required during the install, but read the documentation about preserving or moving the ThinkVantage rescue partition before you commit to the installation.

NOTE!

After installing the software, the installer reboots into the installed system to configure it, as usual. Note that because it was booted from a USB key, GRUB has been installed onto the key instead of the hard disk. You can correct this after the configuration is completed, but for now, keep the USB key inserted, boot from that again. The GRUB menu boots the installed system from the hard disk, just like the old days with LILO and a boot floppy. Once the installation and you're logged in, start YaST2, go to System, Bootloader, and change the boot loader location to its proper location (I recommend the boot or root partition with the Generic MBR option). Now the laptop can boot on its own.

What works out of the box

Hardware

• Ethernet adaptor
• Intel 3945ABG Wireless ethernet adapter
• GMA950 graphics with 3D acceleration with integral monitor
• Sound playback
• USB
• Bluetooth (with kbluetoothd, gets about 55kB/s with OBEXFTP)
• Trackpoint
• SD card reader

Power management etc

• Suspend to disk (Fn+F12)
• Suspend to RAM (Fn+F4)
• Disable display (Fn+F3)
• CPU speed stepping (required BIOS update to 2.05 though)
• LCD Brightness depending on current power scheme, via KPowersave and HAL

Extra keys

• Volume control, keyboard light and screen brightness control
• Lid switch (LCD off when lid closed, resume from suspend to RAM when opened)
• Multimedia keys with KMix and Amarok
• Browser back/forward keys with Konqueror

What had to be configured by hand

• Mouse wheel emulation, set "Emulate Mouse wheel with button 2" in SaX2 mouse settings
• Keyboard dead keys for international characters, set "Right Alt is Compose" in SaX2 keyboard settings, then ralt-shift-2, a => ä
• Sound recording, using KMix or other mixer, set the mic as capture source, turn it up, enable and turn up 'Capture' channel.
• By default the fan runs all the time. If power management on the ipw3945 is enabled, it only runs about 1/3 of the time. Use 'iwpriv eth1 set_power 7' to enable power management - this comes at the cost of increasing latency when using wireless. See the ipw3495 README for details

What doesn't work yet

• Xinerama with external LCD
• Dual head with external LCD

What I haven't tested yet

• Firewire
• PCMCIA slot
• Embedded Security Subsystem (TCPA)
• Active Protection System (HDAPS)
• Modem
• Maximum battery life

lscpi

> lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller AHCI (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
15:00.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev b4)
15:00.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 09)
15:00.2 Generic system peripheral [Class 0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 18)