Thinkpads Forum

Has anybody installed any linux on either machine?
I imagine the distributions may need some tweaking, but does anybody have already a system that correctly handles the graphics (X) and the WiFi?

Keep an eye on this page, I sure am...

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Installin ... nkPad_X60s

I'm the author of that ThinkWiki page: it hasnt been updated in a while, since Ubuntu Dapper (now 6.06) is changing so rapidly the amount of stuff supported out of box will probably change rapidly, so an install document isn't yet relevant.

A current status update of how things are going can be found at:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/ThinkpadX60s

Note the graphics acceleration issue will likely be resolved this week, leaving only the hibernation and wireless issues left to resolve prior to Ubuntu 6.06 release. I'm optimistic.

Edit: forgot to mention, the laptop feels much "snappier" in terms of speed/responsiveness in Linux (686-smp) than in Windows already.

That's great news! I'm definetaly looking forward to dual-booting. Not that I'm looking forward to the windows half eating up half the drive but I doubt I'd be able to assimilate very well into college with a linux-only machine... Either way, I can't wait for dapper, nor can I wait for my x60s! Do you think we'll be able to run that spiffy xgl eye-candy?

mroth wrote: Edit: forgot to mention, the laptop feels much "snappier" in terms of speed/responsiveness in Linux (686-smp) than in Windows already.

What a great thing to hear. You made my day.

I hear that some folks owning the T60p are having fun getting hardware acceleration working with X11. For once, I feel good that the graphics card in this system is made by Intel. Apparently the opensource ATI drivers don't work with the new graphics chipset in the T60p, and ATI hasn't yet released proprietary drivers for linux.

I'm wondering how difficult it would be to get the fingerprint reader working with pam. Keep us up to date on your findings.

mroth wrote:Note the graphics acceleration issue will likely be resolved this week, leaving only the hibernation and wireless issues left to resolve prior to Ubuntu 6.06 release. I'm optimistic.

Any news on these items (wireless and graphics acceleration)? the wiki has not changed in a while...

ahrkron wrote:Any news on these items (wireless and graphics acceleration)? the wiki has not changed in a while...

I just updated the Wiki today. The short version: graphics acceleration and hotkeys (volume etc) now work.

I want to install either Linux or FreeBSD on my X60s as soon as the WiFi card is supported. I hope I don't have to wait too long

My understanding is that the WiFi card drivers exist (ipw3945.sourceforge.net), and work on the X60, but currently you have to build and install them yourself (including building the kernel). So you should be able to install them now, if you are keen...

Alternatively, does anyone know if the ndiswrapper drivers work with these cards? I should be getting my X60 tomorrow, and I'd like to get wifi working in some form as soon as possible. I have ndiswrapper working on my Dell, with no real hassles as long as I disable it before I try suspending.

Anyone got any recommendations on either (a) building the ipw3945 drivers by hand, (b) using ndiswrapper, or (c) waiting for official ubuntu support?

- Korny

korny wrote:Alternatively, does anyone know if the ndiswrapper drivers work with these cards? I should be getting my X60 tomorrow, and I'd like to get wifi working in some form as soon as possible. I have ndiswrapper working on my Dell, with no real hassles as long as I disable it before I try suspending.

Hmm, you are right. I could just go and try ndisgen(8) which comes with FreeBSD. But as much as I like to use FreeBSD, I guess I'd be better off using Linux when it comes to supported hardware.

As soon as I find some spare time I will give both FreeBSD and Ubuntu a try. I'll post my experiences here.

I have three partitions on my 120GB harddrive:

51 GB NTFS IBM_PRELOAD (C:)
4 GB FAT32 IBM_SERVICE
55 GB NTFS FREE (D:)

Now I want to install Ubuntu in the D: partition. Can I safely do this and also install the bootmanager coming with Ubuntu without losing the possibility to boot my windows partition?

What could I do if I run into trouble and the bootmanager does not detect the Windows partition anymore? :) Can the Think Vantage button help me out in this case? I have never needed the rescue partition at all, so I don't know much about how it all works.

Just to make sure before...

Any news on this?

Sonne: did you manage to get ubuntu working properly? I'm especially ineterested in the WiFi setup.

Mroth: any news?

The latest ubuntu beta kernel (2.6.15-22) has the updated wifi drivers, and they seem to be working (at least for me!)
See the bug page at https://launchpad.net/bugs/35215

There is still a minor problem that WPA is not working - this is filed as a separate bug at https://launchpad.net/bugs/41214

The summary page at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/ThinkpadX60s is probably the best place to check on these things...

I'm currently doing the final configurations on a Gentoo installation.
Everything except the audio is currently working. Dock/Undock works.
The external monitor jack on the dock only works when booting in the dock with a monitor attached. Once connected to the external monitor, the LCD is disabled and a reboot is required to get it back.
Still working to activate the EVDO card, although I don't foresee any issues.

Mike

Any news on linux installations?

Hogrider: is your wireless working? what about suspend and hibernate?

Also, does the installation of a dual boot interfere with the lenovo software?

Well...

A Windows corruption led to a restore which wiped the drive...still rebuilding.

Prior to the wipe:

• Basic system worked
• Wired and Wireless worked (incl. WPA)
• Sound, SD & EVDO did not work
• Dock/Undock worked

Suspend/Hibernate were not tested.

The real question might be "Did we really try?", and the sorry answer is no.
EVDO should work, just a matter of working out the right USB serial ports.
SD should work, it's recognized as a USB device, but the Intel chipset is new.
Suspend/Hibernate should work. Thinkpad ACPI interface is pretty well tested.
Sound is still 'iffy', same new Intel chipset.

I'm working on a re-install now, so I'll see how it goes.

Mike

Thanks for the info.

Was the "widows corruption" related to the intallation of Linux? (the modified partition, for instance)

Hi ahrkron, in case you didn't check it already,

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/ThinkpadX60s

In the Q&A section I posted a summary of my experience with dapper/final in my x60s. Essentially everything works, even AIGLX/compiz, and very well. The main problem I couldn't solve so far is that the machine runs hot and drains the battery so fast.

ahrkron wrote:Thanks for the info.

Was the "widows corruption" related to the intallation of Linux? (the modified partition, for instance)

Nope. Purely a windows software issue.

BTW, I'm back up on Gentoo. Still haven't tried suspend/hibernate, and working on the EVDO (not turning on for me yet). Everything else except the SD (which I haven't tried) is working.

Mike

Look at the awesome support listed in the SuSe Wiki for the X60s!:

http://www.remset.net/Members/Markus/su ... kpad-x60s/

I really want to be able to run NetBSD. I'm gonna give it a shot once I figure out how to partition playing nicely with windows and the thinkvantage backup partition.

I installed Suse 10.1 on my X60s last week. After a little fiddling (download of madwifi for my Atheros wifi card, a few text edits to enable suspend to RAM), basically everything is working. Recognized a lot more of my hardware out of the box than Ubuntu did. I'm a happy camper.

Were you having troubles with the Thinkpad wireless card or the Intel one?

Also, does EVDO work under Linux on the X60s?

I have the Atheros (Thinkpad) one. It was simple to download the madwifi packages using yast. I followed the guide for installing Suse 10.1 on the T60, and everything was basically the same.

I have not tried to use the WWAN, but there are reports that it does work with some hacking/workarounds on a T60. Maybe the new Lenovo drivers will help here.