User:Piccobello

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Revision as of 17:09, 15 November 2007 by Piccobello (Talk | contribs) (→‎Gutsy install)
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My thinkpad

IBM ThinkPad X31 (2673-CBU), bought used.

Currently running: Kubuntu 6.06 (Dapper).

Lenovo page

Installation issues

I first installed Kubuntu 5.10 (Breezy). I wanted to keep Windoze, just in case I needed it (but I never use it ;) ), and keep the hidden protected area, and be able to reach it at startup, just in case I sell the laptop back at some point. My problem was that:

  • GRUB has to be installed either in the MBR or in the first partition. As an alternative I could have used the NT boot loader, see here. Anyway, I wanted to keep Linux in front, as I plan to remove windoze completely, and the first part of the disk should be faster.
  • Windows would only work being on the first partition (AFAIK)
  • Putting GRUB in the MBR would overwrite the original setup/recovery tools (AFAIK - Note: if you do this, and later manage to start Windows, it will rewrite the MBR anyway)

My solution (DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK):

  • Create a new primary partition for Windows, at the end of the disk, before the rescue partition. Copy windows there.
  • Modify windows' boot.ini:

$ diff /windows/boot.ini /windows/boot.ini~ 

3c3
< default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
---
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
5c5
< multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
---
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
  • Set root partition to (hd0,1) for Windows in GRUB menu. See also here.

My current partition table according to fdisk: 

Disk /dev/hda: 36.8 GB, 36825459200 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4477 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1           6       48163+  83  Linux
/dev/hda2            3651        4477     6642877+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/hda3               7         249     1951897+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda4             250        3650    27318532+   5  Extended
/dev/hda5             250        3650    27318501   83  Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order
NOTE!
My windows partition is a FAT32. This is because, after restoring it, AND BEFORE ever starting it, I renamed the file <windows-dir>/system32/convert.exe. I found this info somewhere on the net, see for example here: after install/restore, Windows filesystem is actually FAT32, and it's converted to NTFS only at the first run. This is useful as FAT is better supported by Linux.

Post-install configuration

  • (I think I) modified interfaces to enable hotplugging the ethernet cable. Which is wrong anyway. I also had to add lines to dhcp on both the wireless (eth0, see below) and the ethernet (eth1). Dapper upgrade removed hotplug, and it's still working, so that was really useless.
  • I enabled Fn + F5 creating file /etc/modprobe.d/ibm_acpi.modprobe with the following line:
options ibm_acpi hotkey=enable,0xff9f
  • Modified my GRUB menu.lst. The Fn + F5 stopped working.. Finally I found out why looking at /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.12/Documentation/networking/README.ipw2100 in section rf_kill, and modified /etc/acpi/wireless.sh accordingly, see here. After Dapper upgrade I further cleaned up the script. Now the wireless is disabled at boot, which is what I wanted, and is switched with Fn + F5.
  • I thought the built in wireless did not work, but in fact it does
  • I had an hissing sound when on batteries. I found out it's actually related to screen brightness, see here.

Dapper upgrade

All went fine.

  • This bug does not seem to present itself, and CPU scaling is still working fine.
  • Hybernation is now working. With Breezy, the system used to crash and reboot after resume.
  • With ibm-acpi ver. 0.8-2 I can now use the experimental settings, adding option experimental=1 to /etc/modprobe.d/ibm_acpi.modprobe.

Attempted Edgy upgrade

This was a disaster. apt-get got completely confused, grub messed up and at boot it could not find any of the kernel images on disk. As I was far back on the ubuntu release schedule anyway, I opted for plan B: fresh install of Gutsy.

Gutsy install

This went perfectly. I kept home partition and formatted the rest. Now I'm in the process of restoring previous tweaks.

  • Sound did not work: I just had to turn on and pull up the PCM output in kmix
  • tty1-6 disappeared, clicking CtrlAltF1 just showed a blank screen. Found a solution here. In my case I had to unban and load radeonfb.

Configuration files

Current issues

  • How can I switch Fn and Ctrl keys? (I guess I can't as Fn combinations are interpreted by the BIOS)
  • FnF7 does not always work
  • I'd like to use an ACPI key combination to restart X, as sometimes everything freezes, keybord included, but Fn key combinations as brightness, thinklight, still work.

Still untested

  • Irda
  • modem
  • IEEE 1394
  • Parallel port
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