Few X60s questions

[RUSH2112]

I've been (painfully) running Windows on my X60s 1704-69U, since I couldn't get a Linux distro working right on it. When Ubuntu 6.10 was released, I figured I'd give it a shot. I much prefer Gentoo, but I know that Ubuntu is pretty good about working out of the box, so it is generally preferable on Laptops, especially newer ones. It works pretty well and is very useable. The Thinkpad wireless card works fine, suspend and hibernate work, SMP works (even with the generic i386 kernel, but I installed the 686-smp kernel to optimize performance).
I just have a few quick questions

1. Sound? It worked on the live cd, but not on the install. Any tips?
2. Is there any way to get the wireless switch to work. The system just seems to ignore it.
3. Any tips for improving battery life? Gnome only estimates 3hrs 30 mins, and thats with brightness on medium. I easily do 6 hours with wireless on in Windows.
4. I know there was not much last time I ran Linux on a laptop, but there may be something that I was missing or that has since come out for this, but are there any decent wireless managers? I need to connect to 3 different wireless networks, one has WEP. I hate having to either go through the hassle of Gnome Wireless Manager or edit /etc/network/interfaces every time I switch networks.
5. The system also seems to run a bit warmer under Linux

I checked ThinkWiki and a few other places, I really couldnt find anything for these questions.

[dfumento]

A very important rule in successful computing is "don't make trouble for yourself." That is one reason why we purchase Thinkpads and not Dells (not so well built, terrible support) or Apples (incompatible software).

IBM has an official Linux for Thinkpads with various ThinkAdvantage utilities already compatible with it. I installed it dual boot without problems on an X60s. It is called Novel SLED 10. Use this and minimize your problems. You see, this particular version of Linux has gone through extensive IBM testing like the Thinkpads themselves.

For instance, I got 4:30 battery life with full brightness compared with your 3:30 hours with half brightness. Access Connections works with this version and handles the wireless problems you are having.

See for complete step by step instructions:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=31975

For you own sanity, just go with the tried and true standards. Since Novell SLED 10 is what major companies such as Intel and Cicso use on Thinkpads (preinstalled by IBM), you are going to get much better support. It was also chosen by IBM after an extensive evaluation of the various Linux versions.