A how-to for Ubuntu Breezy on a ThinkPad T42

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Edward Mendelson · #1 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:00 am

First try: please let me know of any corrections and additions:

http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/ubuntubre ... adt42.html

Edward Mendelson · #2 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 9:29 am

I've added a "what not to do" section to the how-to, because a lot of obsolete information is floating around the web, and tends to get repeated and reused without having been tested.

netguardianii · #3 Post by **netguardianii** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 11:16 am

This page is based on Ubuntu Linux 5.10, the "Breezy Badger" release, on an IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T42, model 2373 H6U, a model with an ATI Mobile Radeon 9600 video chip and 1400x1050 display, the IBM/Atheros wireless mini-PCI card, Bluetooth, and the fingerprint sensor. I have also included notes on my experience with an older model, the 2373 JTU, with an ATI Mobile Radeon 7500 video chip and 1024X768 display, the IBM/Atheros wireless mini-PCI card, but no Bluetooth and no fingerprint sensor. I have not tested the infrared feature on this machine. The fingerprint reader is not supported under Linux.

Would you happen to know if Ubuntu provides support for the Intel 2200 b/g wireless card?

kaiser · #4 Post by **kaiser** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 11:25 am

AFAIK the IPW Drivers have already made it into the official Linux-Kernel (as of Version 2.6.12). My Ubuntu Breezy has definitively got both ipw2X00 modules.

Edward Mendelson · #5 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 11:26 am

I've never tried it, but you'll find plenty about that chip if you search www.ubunutforums.org, for example, here (read the WHOLE thread):

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread. ... intel+2200

Remember - I have no idea whether the information is right or not. (I'm trying not to convey information that I don't know from experience. There's a bit too much of that on the internet already!)

kaiser · #6 Post by **kaiser** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 8:42 am

i don't get it. actually I didn't install the fglrx-driver but Hibernation won't work. Standby on the other hand is working fine. What the hell am i doing wrong?

Edward Mendelson · #7 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 11:42 am

If you did ANYTHING to alter the default setup, or if you installed over Breezy (instead of on a new system), that might be the problem. Hibernation definitely works "out of the box" with a clean install and a TP42 with the 9600 chip.

Hibernation does NOT work out of the box with an ATI 7500 chip (check IBM's specifications, don't believe what the configuration file tells you); the solution to this problem is on my how-to page.

kaiser · #8 Post by **kaiser** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 12:53 pm

i had it working once. If i remember right, before i installed the -686-Kernel. So that would mean, i had to use the -386-Kernel?

ok, i reinstalled the -386-Kernel, and it just works (tm). So I would say it's verified that if I wanted to use Hibernation i have to stay with this Kernel. Dang it.

Edward Mendelson · #9 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 1:13 pm

I'm using the 686 kernel; no trouble with hibernation. I would have said so on my how-to page. But as you see from my page, EVERYTHING on the page starting with "Hardware setup" assumes that you've already installed the 686 kernel.

I would suggest that you try a clean install, then immediately install the 686 kernel (AND DO NOTHING ELSE); restart, and see if hibernation works.

Edward Mendelson · #10 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 4:00 pm

Kaiser,

I just found this blog posting about the flgrx driver and suspend on a T42p. I haven't tried it. If you decide to try it, please let us know whether it works:

http://www.intertwingly.net/blog/2005/1 ... 1130164338

rossman · #11 Post by **rossman** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 12:47 pm

Edward,

First of all, thank you very much for all your hard work pulling all that info into one concise website. It was a big help to me upgrading (fresh install) from Hoary to Breezy.

I got WPA working on my 2373-3UU (Atheros PCI 802.11a/b/g wireless). Here is what I did:

1) install wpasupplicant from synaptic package manager

2) Create wpa_supplicant.conf

Code: Select all

sudo gedit /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

add the following lines (subsituting your SSID and secret key):

Code: Select all

network={
ssid="ssid"
scan_ssid=1
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
psk="secret key"
}

save and exit.

3) run wpa_supplicant

Code: Select all

sudo wpa_supplicant -iath0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Dmadwifi -d

once that is working OK then get wpa_supplicant to start automatically at bootup:

1) edit /etc/default/wpasupplicant

Code: Select all

sudo gedit /etc/default/wpasupplicant

2) edit/add the following lines:

Code: Select all

ENABLED=1

OPTIONS="-iath0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Dmadwifi -w"

save and exit.

Network Manager is pretty slick but does not work well with my configuration. It drops the wireless connection constantly. I didn't figure it out completely but I'm guessing it has something to do with running wpa_supplicant at the same time. For my system Network Monitor seems to works OK.

I got suspend with flgrx drivers working from the website linked in the previous post. Very cool!

Edward Mendelson · #12 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 3:25 pm

Rossman,

Many thanks for adding that detailed how-to, which I'll try later on (I don't have WPA running right now) and will add to my page.

About the flgrx drivers - two quick questions:

(1) you report that suspend works, which is terrific. Have you also tried hibernation (suspend-to-disk)? Does it work?

(2) do you see any improvement over the stock driver in ordinary 2D performance, or is there only a difference in 3D?

Thanks!

rossman · #13 Post by **rossman** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 8:51 pm

No problem. Yes suspend and hibernation work. I have to say that it is not completely clean though. My wireless card is always disabled after suspend/hibernate. I have to manually activate wireless every time by clicking on Network Monitor > Configure > Activate.

No noticeable improvement for most normal use. I am able to open 6+ Xine instances playing Xvid MPEG movies at the same time. I could not do that before

. As far as 3D goes...

Code: Select all

glxgears -printfps

reports ~2152 FPS.

joseftu · #14 Post by **joseftu** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 9:32 pm

Ed, I loved your how-to, and read it over several times before even trying--I'm a Linux newbie, almost totally, and I really wanted to get a dual-boot working on my T43P. Your guide seemed like the best I had seen, and I had been playing with the Ubuntu Live CD, so I knew I liked Ubuntu.

But I somehow screwed it up, badly.

I thought I followed your instructions completely, but I did something wrong (I think) in installing GRUB. I did not install it to the MBR, but instead (as you said) to the first partition--sda1, which is where Windows XP was also installed.

Then the whole installation went fine, and I booted into GRUB and then Ubuntu with no trouble at all. Ubuntu looked great, and I was congratulating myself.

But then I tried to use grub to boot into Windows XP, and I couldn't. Every time I chose it from the menu, it would flash the lines from menu.lst (briefly, for an instant) and then go right back into grub. I could still get into Ubuntu, but Windows was unbootable.

I tried editing menu.lst a couple of times, with no luck, and even resorted to using the Windows recovery console to run fixmbr and just get rid of grub. But it wouldn't go. No matter what I did, it just went right to grub, and grub wouldn't boot windows.

I finally just used my recovery CD's and put the system back to factory default.

But I refuse to be defeated. I want to try again--and this time to do it right. Any ideas what I could have screwed up?

Edward Mendelson · #15 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 9:50 pm

I'm not sure I can help: my instructions are for either a fresh install on a completely reparitioned hard disk, or for dual-booting with Ubuntu on the 2nd HDD adapter. It sounds as if you're trying to dual-boot on a single hard disk. I have NEVER tried that, but for installing on the SAME hard disk with Windows XP, I *think* you should let Grub install itself on the MBR, or, if you want to preserve the F11 function, make sure that you install Ubuntu on a primary partition and install Grub on the partition with Ubuntu on it - not the one with XP. I don't know what the name of that partition would be, as I've never tried it.

So do NOT follow the advice in this message without CONFIRMING it with someone who has actually tried it! Double warning: do NOT follow this advice unless someone else CONFIRMS it on the basis of experience. I'm just guessing here!

By the way, I *think* you could have restored your MBR by using the IBM recovery diskette that I linked to in my post, and you could probably have saved yourself from reinstalling completely. But that would need a USB floppy (which is an essential thing for anyone with a ThinkPad, I think).

joseftu · #16 Post by **joseftu** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 10:06 pm

Thanks! I'll research further and get some confirmation.

And yes, the USB floppy is on my must-buy list, now! (I tried converting the floppy to a bootable CD--no luck). Lesson learned, there.

A how-to for Ubuntu Breezy on a ThinkPad T42

A how-to for Ubuntu Breezy on a ThinkPad T42

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