Linux on an IBM ThinkPad R50e

Table of contents

Specifications Things to do before installing Linux BIOS update Configuration of the BIOS HDD Acoustic Management Burn the recovery CDs Installing Debian GNU/Linux Compiling a new Kernel What works out of the box Configuring VESA Framebuffer Scrolling with the middle button and the trackpoint Wireless LAN Suspend-to-Ram (S3) Suspend-to-Disk (S4/Hibernate) VGA-Out ACPI Laptop-Mode Controlling the Fan Hotkeys (Fn-Fx keys) CPU-Frequencing 3D Graphics A Word on Security Enhancing your battery life Final steps Some output My configuration files To do Related documents and links This article is listed at... Thanks to

1. Download the latest version from IBM.
2. Read IBM's instructions.
3. Plug in the ACDC.
4. Start the downloaded BIOS update program under Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
5. Follow the instructions on the screen.
6. The system will restart.
7. Follow the instructions on the screen.

• Config -> Display -> Boot Display Device: ThinkPad LCD
• Config -> Display -> Brightness: High (disables the automatic dimming of the display, when the system runs on battery)
• Config -> Power -> CD-ROM Speed: Silent (makes your CD/DVD drive quieter, but slower)

1. Download the tool from Hitachi.
2. Burn it on a CD and start from it.

1. Don't call the IBM support.
2. Run Start -> Programs -> Access IBM -> Create CD/DVDs for recovery.
3. Put in 7 blank CDs.
4. Ready.

1. Download the i386 netinstall CD image for Debian 3.1 (about 111 MB)
2. Burn it on a CD and start from it.
3. Enter

   linux26

   as the boot command.
4. Install the basic system and the additional stuff you need.

How to compile your own Kernel:

1. Get the latest Kernel-sources from Kernel.org.
2. Unpack them and change in the linux-2.6.... directory.
3. Enter

   make menuconfig

   and configure the Kernel. If you don't know what to do, just copy my .config (without PCMCIA) in the directory. My .config is for Kernel 2.6.21.3 with the Suspend2-Patch applied. All the changes I suggest you to do at your Kernel configuration are already applied to this configuration.
4. Enter

   make

   ...become root and enter...

   make modules_install
   cp arch/i386/boot/bzimage /boot/vmlinuz
   cp System.map /boot/System.map

5. Re-adapt your /boot/grub/menu.lst if necessary.
6. Reboot your Linux with the new Kernel.

• the X-Server (the driver for the graphics chip is called "i810")
• ALSA (install alsa-base and alsa-utils; I set master volume and pcm volume to 77, to not overload the built-in speaker)
• the 3 buttons to control the volume
• the Fn+Home/End buttons to control the brightness/contrast of the display
• the Fn+PgUp button to control the ThinkLight
• DVD+/-/RAM reading
• Burning CDs/CDRWs
• PCMCIA (not with my .config though, because I deactivated it)
• GPM (the device is called "/dev/input/mice")

vga=0x318

fbi [filename]

mplayer -vo fbdev [filename]

Section "InputDevice"
  Identifier "Configured Mouse"
  Driver "mouse"
  Option "CorePointer"
  Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
  Option "Device" "/dev/input/mouse0"
  Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
  Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
  Option "Emulate3Buttons"
  Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
  Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
EndSection

• Type "about:config" in the URL-bar.
• Type "mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.action" in the filter and change the value from 2 to 0 via double-click.
• Type "mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.numlines" in the filter and change the value from -1 to 1 via double-click.
• Now the history is disabled and you can actually scroll vertically.

• Enable the following options in your Kernel configuration:
  • Networking \ Networking support
  • Device Drivers \ Network device support \ Wireless LAN drivers (non-hamradio) & Wireless Extensions
  • Cryptographic options \ AES cipher algorithms (i586)
  • Cryptographic options \ ARC4 cipher algorith
  • Cryptographic options \ Michael MIC keyed digest algorithm
  • Cryptographic options \ CRC32c CRC algorithm
  Don't enable the Kernel 80211 subsystem or the Kernel ipw2200 driver - they just suck!
• Compile, install and boot the Kernel.
• Download the latest firmware and unpack it into /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware.
• Download the ieee80211 subsystem for Linux from http://ieee80211.sourceforge.net/downloads.php, unpack and install it with `make` and `make install`.
• Download the latest ipw2200 driver from http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/downloads.php, unpack and install it with `make` and `make install`.

I wrote a little script to manually shut down the W-LAN and, if it is already turned off, turn it on again. The script is called Fn-F5.sh. You can find it here.

Option          "VBERestore" "true"

Section "Device"
           Identifier      "Standardgrafikkarte"
	   Driver          "i810"
	   BusID           "PCI:0:2:0"
	   Option          "VBERestore" "true"
EndSection

• It switches to console one (prevents problems with after resume).
• It writes all unwritten data to the harddisk or whereever they are supposed to be written on.
• It unloads the Kernel module for the power button to prevent an immediate shutdown after resume.
• It writes current data from the graphic chip into the RAM.
• It starts the Suspend-to-Ram function.
• After resume the script is still running and writes the data back to into the graphic RAM.
• The Kernel module for the power button is loaded again.
• Finally the script switches back to console seven (X-server).

Patching the Kernel

• Download the Kernel-Patch for your Kernel version at www.suspend2.net.
• Unzip it and untar it.
• Switch into your Kernel source directory and apply the patch...

  cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.21.3/
  /usr/src/suspend2-2.2-rc16-for-2.6.21.3/apply

• Go into your Kernel configuration and activate
  • "File Writer" in "Power management options" => "Suspend2"
  • "LZF compression algorithm" in "Cryptographic options"
• Compile, install and boot your new Kernel.

Installing the Hibernate Script

• Download the hibernate script from www.suspend2.net.
• Unzip it.
• Install it...

  su
  hibernate-script-1.12/install.sh

• Change the FilewriteLocation in /etc/hibernate/hibernate.conf:

  FilewriterLocation /suspend_file 512

• Enter the following:

  mkdir /hibernate
  hibernate --no-suspend

  The last command creates the image file and returns something like

  file:/dev/hda2:0xb4800

• Append "resume2=" and what is returned as a Kernel parameter to your /boot/grub/menu.lst. It might look like this:

  title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.21.3
  root            (hd0,1)
  kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21.3 root=/dev/hda2 ro vga=0x318 resume2=file:/dev/hda2:0x3800
  savedefault
  boot

• Reboot your system.

Using it

su
hibernate

• It writes all unwritten data to the harddisk.
• It shuts down my W-LAN connection (if I do not do this the configuration in iwconfig is somehow gone).
• It saves the memory of the graphic chip into a file (this prevents graphic problems).
• It starts the hibernation cycle.
• After resuming the memory of the graphic chip is written back.
• The W-LAN is woken up again.

Clone Mode

echo crt_enable > /proc/acpi/ibm/video

Switching on-the-fly

• no mouse pointer on the monitor, only on the built-in display of the ThinkPad
• many games look weird on the external monitor
• most videoplayers will only show the video on the internal display (depending on your output plugin)

• Download i855crt and unpack the .tar.gz-file in /sbin/. The complete directory is now called /sbin/i855crt-0.4/
• Become root and run `Make`.
• Use my Fn-F7.sh to switch between LCD only and LCD + VGA-Out. This script is pretty much just an error workaround. You should take a look at it before using it and adapt it if necessary.

Permanent Clone Screen

mk@ThinkPad:~$ acpi -V
Battery 1: charged, 100%
Thermal 1: ok, 49.0 degrees C
AC Adapter 1: on-line

• Install acpid, hdparm and laptop-mode-tools.
• Change the /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf if necessary.

Making the buttons work

echo enable > /proc/acpi/ibm/hotkey
echo 0xffff > /proc/acpi/ibm/hotkey

Making it permanent

Defining actions

event=ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001004
action=sudo /usr/bin/Fn-F4.sh

Buttons and what they do:

• CPU Frequency Scaling
• Performance governor
• Intel Pentium 4 clock modulation

echo 750000 > scaling_min_freq
echo 750000 > scaling_max_freq

cat /proc/cpuinfo

Important:

• I put my contact information in the bootloader, so one can see it for a few seconds during startup. To do that, you have to edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst:
  Every line has to look something like this:

  title ---your_content---
  root

  As Grub would treat every line as a real entry, you should use the "default"-option. "default 7" for example highlights the 8th line automatically.
• I pasted a business card under my laptop.

• Decreasing the CPU wakeups per seconds: Your CPU tries to go to sleep as often as possible, but as soon as there are programs trying to do something, the CPU is forced to wake up. While your CPU is sleeping, it consumates less power than normal, so we'll try to let it sleep as long as possible. To achive that, you use the tool powertop from Intel. It shows you, which programs and Kernel modules wake your CPU. It also gives you hints on optimizing your Kernel configuration. Most changes are already applied to my .config, like:
  • Deactivating the PCMCIA Modules (I don't need them)
  • Activate AC97 Power-Saving Mode
  • Activate HPET.
• Mount your drives with the "noatime" option. This prevents Linux from writing timestamps each file access. Just append this option to the options in your /etc/fstab.
• Disable DRI: I usually don't run 3D applications on my notebook, so I appended Option "NoDRI" to the "Device" section of my /etc/X11/xorg.conf

• Delete the install files of the debian packages. apt-get does not do this automatically. Take a good look at the following output:

  ThinkPad:~# df /dev/hda2
  Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
  /dev/hda2              9614148   4863636   4262136  54% /                      <= before cleaning
  
  ThinkPad:~# apt-get clean                                                      <= cleaning
  
  ThinkPad:~# df /dev/hda2
  Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
  /dev/hda2              9614148   3437136   5688636  38% /                      <= after cleaning

  This simple command got me about 1.4 GB harddisk space back!
• Ged rid of this silly "Designed for ---some obsolete OS---" sticker.
• Take a look at the output of

  dpkg -l|less

  and remove all packages you do not need. It is really worth doing.

• bootlog (old one, still with PCMCIA modules)
• glxinfo (old one, still with activated DRI)
• lsmod
• lspci

/
|-- boot
|   `-- grub
|       `-- menu.lst
|-- etc
|   |-- acpi
|   |   `-- events
|   |       |-- Fn-F3
|   |       |-- Fn-F4
|   |       |-- Fn-F5
|   |       |-- Fn-F7
|   |       `-- Fn-F12
|   |-- apt
|   |   `-- sources.list
|   |-- cpufreqd.conf (not in use, see above!)
|   |-- hibernate
|   |   `-- hibernate.conf
|   |-- init.d
|   |   `-- hotkeys.sh
|   |-- laptop-mode
|   |   `-- laptop-mode.conf
|   |-- network
|   |   `-- interfaces
|   |-- rc2.d
|   |   `-- S22hotkeys -> ../init.d/hotkeys.sh
|   |-- sudoers
|   `-- X11
|       `-- xorg.conf (DRI deactivated!, see above)
`-- usr
    |-- bin
    |   |-- Fn-F3.sh
    |   |-- Fn-F4.sh
    |   |-- Fn-F5.sh
    |   |-- Fn-F7.sh
    |   `-- Fn-F12.sh
    `-- src
        `-- linux-2.6.21.3
 	    `-- .config (with applied Suspend2-Patch, without PCMCIA)

• Modem
• a few words about Antialiasing and Sub-Pixel-Hinting

• [YourKernelSourceDirectory]/Documentation/fb/vesafb.txt
• Article about Laptop-Mode
• Hardware information by IBM
• Hardware Maintenance Manual (HMM)
• Hardware removal and installation videos
• Intel PowerTop
• Kernel Rebuild Guide
• Pro-Linux: VESA Framebuffer-Konsole (in German)
• Site about Laptop-Mode Tools
• Site about Linux on various IBM laptops
• Suspend-to-Disk manual

• http://thinkwiki.org/
• http://tuxmobil.org/
• http://www.links2linux.de/
• http://www.linux.org/hardware/laptop.html
• http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/

• Boobaa for his hints about the scrolling in Mozilla Firefox
• Julius Plenz for his great HowTo
• Lutz Willek for a lot of ThinkPad specific help
• Nikolaj Sorensen for his `echo [0-7] > /proc/acpi/processor/CPU/throttling`-hint
• Werner Heuser for his help