Suse and my IBM Thinkpad!

Suse kicks ass! I just wanted to let folks know that the web sites listed below allowed me to finally put a stable and working Linux distro (Suse 9.1) on my IBM Thinkpad X40. The key is disabling ACPI from the start by selecting the no ACPI installation option. I now have suspend and hibernate working for the first time, including my built-in Intel 2100 WIFI card. I'm impressed. Three cheers go to Deepak Sarda and Russell Bradford for posting their experiences...and of course, hats off to the Suse team.

http://www.bath.ac.uk/~masrjb/x40.html
http://www.antrix.net/stuff/suse_thinkpad/

Update:

Suse 9.2 is the first distro that I got working flawlessly on my IBM Thinkpad X40. ACPI/suspend to RAM/disk worked out of the box using 9.2 Pro, which I am running now. With ACPI I can get up to 5.5 hrs of battery life. Put acpi_sleep=s3_bios in the kernel boot line, enable suspend to RAM/disk in YaST Power Management/KPowersave, and disbale 3D acceleration for your video card (fixes resume issue). That's it! Even setting up and configuring the built in Intel Pro 2100 wifi card was a breeze. Use YaST to install the firmware and configure the wifi card. 9.2 even has a profile manager...very nice for multiple wireless profiles. I installed mplayer and the necessary video codecs for DivX, DVDs, etc., and installed mplayerplug-in for Firefox using apt4rpm...kiss RPM hell goodbye! I bought 9.2 online at the "reduced upgrade" price. Very impressive.

I have been using Suse on my Thinkpad X40 for quite a while - I really like it. With Suse 9.2 ACPI supend to RAM and Disk finally works! :-) Intel's 2100 min-PCI wireless cards works flawlessly (ipw2100 driver), all the keys work (tpb driver), and there is even a special ibm_acpi module that lets you do read temperatures and fan speed (I created a Karamba theme that gives me this info). I would be happy to share my experience of using this laptop with this distro with you if you need anything.

Did you manage to get SD card reader and internal Bluetooth and IR working? None of this things work for me.

By the way, IBM has the security chip driver for linux on their web site, but it is pretty for basic now, just for developers I guess. Well, we'll wait until somebody writes something useful out of it.

Hey, and one more thing. It seems that the built-in modem is a pure winmodem that doesn't work with any linux driver. I don't really care (since I have a PCMCIA modem) but still, do you know if there is a driver that works with the X40's modem.

Zhenya,
Thanks for the info. Could you post how you got tpb working...also post your tpbrc? Can you switch to LCD/external CRT/both with Fn-F7...I cannot, or maybe I don't have my XF86Config setup properly? I also cannot get Fn-F12 to suspend-to-disk. I just suspend-to-disk with KPowersave. Fn-F4 works fine, as does the light and LCD brightness levels. Do you have a script mapped to Fn-F5 to turn on/off your wifi card? I have not tried the SD card reader, internal Bluetooth, and IR port. I use DSL/ethernet, so the winmodem port remains unused. Thanks.

I use tpb that is in the Suse distribution. It works fine, you just have to add it to your startup files (e.g. add a symlink to $HOME/.kde/Autostart/). I put a small script there
######################################
#!/bin/bash
tpb -d --config=/path_to_the_config/tpbrc.my
######################################

and my rc file is nothing serious either:
#################################################################
#### TPB CONFIGURATION FILE for Zhenya's X40
#
# last edited 01/12/2004
# command to execute tpb -d --config=/path_to_file/tpbrc.my
#

### DEVICE SETTINGS

## NVRAM
# Should define the nvram device from where the information about the key
# states is read. Default is to try /dev/nvram, followed by /dev/misc/nvram.
#
NVRAM /dev/nvram

## POLLTIME
# Defines the delay between polls in microseconds. Default is 200000.
#
POLLTIME 200000


### KEYBINDINGS AND CALLBACK

## THINKPAD
# String with command and options that should be executed when ThinkPad
# button is pressed. It is possible to execute any program.
# By default no command is executed.
#
# THINKPAD /usr/bin/X11/xterm -T ntpctl -e ntpctl
THINKPAD /home/zhenya/bin/toote

### X11 SETTINGS

## XEVENTS
# Some of the special keys generate X11 events instead of changing the nvram. TPB
# is able to grab those keys and run an application. However some people like to
# use the X11 events through xmodmap or the like. This option turns off the
# grabbing of the events. Affected keys are HOME, SEARCH, MAIL, FAVORITES,
# RELOAD, ABORT, BACKWARD, FORWARD and FN. Default is on.
#
XEVENTS OFF


### ON-SCREEN DISPLAY SETTINGS

## OSD
# Show on-screen display for volume, mute and brightness. Possible values are
# on and off. Default is on.
#
OSD ON

## OSDFONT
# Defines the font for the on-screen display. You may use "xfontsel" to choose
# one. Default is the default font of the xosd library.
#
# OSDFONT -*-lucidatypewriter-*-*-*-*-*-240-*-*-*-*-*-*
OSDFONT -adobe-helvetica-*-r-*-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1

## OSDCOLOR
# Defines the color of the on-screen display. You may use "xcolors" to choose
# one. Default is BLUE.
#
# Blue Grey...
OSDCOLOR WHITE

## OSDTIMEOUT
# Defines how long (in seconds) the on-screen display is shown after the last
# keys was pressed. Default is 3.
#
OSDTIMEOUT 1

## OSDOFFSET
# For backward compatibility. Same as OSDVERTICAL.
#
#OSDOFFSET 25

## OSDSHADOW
# Defines the offset of the font shadow in pixels. Default is 2.
#
#OSDSHADOW 2

## OSDSHADOWCOLOR
# Defines the color of the shadow of the on-screen display. You may use
# "xcolors" to choose one. Default is BLACK.
#
OSDSHADOWCOLOR GREY

## OSDOUTLINE
# Defines the width of the font outline in pixels. Default is 1.
#
#OSDOUTLINE 1

## OSDOUTLINECOLOR
# Defines the color of the outline of the on-screen display. You may use
# "xcolors" to choose one. Default is BLACK.
#
#OSDOUTLINECOLOR BLACK

## OSDVERTICAL
# Defines the offset from the top or bottom of the screen in pixels. Default is 25.
#
#OSDVERTICAL 25

## OSDHORIZONTAL
# Defines the offset from the left or right of the screen in pixels. Only
# supported by xosd 2.0.0 and above. Default is 25.
#
OSDHORIZONTAL 1

## OSDPOS
# Defines where the osd is shown. Possible values are top, middle and bottom.
# The value middle is only supported by xosd 2.0.0 and above. Default is bottom.
#
OSDPOS BOTTOM

## OSDALIGN
# Defines the alignment of the osd. Possible values are left, center and right.
# Default is left.
#
OSDALIGN CENTER
#################################################################



For setting my wireless network I use my own shell script that automatically connects me to one of the preconfigured networks that I usually use. If no networks is available it disables the network completely.

To hibernate I use the power button, and my fn-f7 switches the monitor. By the way, ibm_acpi module that I have mentioned earlier gives you the ability to do so in the command line, and a whole bunch more (produce system sounds, turn on/off the light, switch the monitor...). There is a thinkpad module and thinkpad-configure, I don't know if you've heard about them, but they give you a LOT of options to configure you Thinkpad via a nice GUI. However it seems that they use apm and I don't care for it since acpi is the way to go.

If you discover something nice about X40, post it here, please, so more can benefit out of it. :-)

### KEYBINDINGS AND CALLBACK

## THINKPAD
# String with command and options that should be executed when ThinkPad
# button is pressed. It is possible to execute any program.
# By default no command is executed.
#
# THINKPAD /usr/bin/X11/xterm -T ntpctl -e ntpctl
THINKPAD /home/zhenya/bin/toote

Thanks for the post! I will try it tonight. Are the power button and Fn-F7 automatically configured to perform suspend-to-disk and LCD/CRT switch when running tpb? In the section above, you have " THINKPAD /home/zhenya/bin/toote". What is this? How do you actually "map" certain keys to particular functions? It sounds like I need to install both the ibm_acpi module and tpb in order for this to work...correct? I guess I am confused as to what tpb actually does. From what I understand, the ibm-acpi module allows the various hot keys (Fn-*) to generate ACPI events. The ibm-acpi README says "Without this driver, only the Fn-F4 key (sleep button) generates an ACPI event." So, why would I need tpb? I do have thinkpad-configure installed, which is nice. Thanks for helping me (and others) clear this up.

You don't really need ibm_acpi module, it just provides another way to communicate with the hardware plus some extras. For instance, it reads CPU and other temperatures and fan speed so I wrote a karamba theme to show these useful values on the desktop. You probably shouldn't care for this module right now if you don't think you understand what it is for.

Some keys don't need a driver to function (the hardware takes care of them). Switching between monitors should be done without a problem in this case. Your volume keys also should work fine, right? However, tpb lets you detect these keys' press events and do some nice things like showing a message on the screen (via XOSD if you know what it is) or running a command. By the way, don't pay attention to my THINKPAD command, either comment that line or put a path to a different command you would like to have mapped to the IBM key.

You should be able to bind your power key with the hibernate function in YAST (look there for acpi configure or something). Or you can take a look at the config files and read info associated with each option. These configs are located in /etc/sysconfig/powersave/

Is it possible to boot and install off a usb cd rom drive?

Originally posted by chenmenis Is it possible to boot and install off a usb cd rom drive?

chenmenis,
Yep...the BIOS on the Thinkpad X40 supports booting from an external USB CD or hard drive. Just arrange the boot order in the BIOS so an external USB CD-ROM is first.


Zhenya,
Thanks for your comments...I'm good to go. I have suspend-to-disk mapped to the power button and switch between the LCD/CRT/both with a little program called i855crt found here.

Originally posted by chenmenis Is it possible to boot and install off a usb cd rom drive?

Sure, I had absolutely no problem doing so. I use Addonics Pocket Series II CD-DVD USB drive (model AEPDVDII8). Works great!

for enabling ACPI on your R40e look at

http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3549

patch works with 2.6.10 and 2.6.11

have fun,
strub

what do you guys think of getting a X40s or a Dell 700m ..

Dell 700M seems to be a power house compare the X40s (And cheaper).. But I am not sure if the 700M would be reliable enough especially the HD. I had some unpleasant experience with the LGs, HD controller screwed up.

X40 has the Active Protection thingio for HD and the magnesium cover.


Both of these machines use the intergrated videocard are there any problems with the driver in Suse?

Originally posted by chenmenis what do you guys think of getting a X40s or a Dell 700m .. Dell 700M seems to be a power house compare the X40s (And cheaper).. But I am not sure if the 700M would be reliable enough especially the HD. I had some unpleasant experience with the LGs, HD controller screwed up. X40 has the Active Protection thingio for HD and the magnesium cover. Both of these machines use the intergrated videocard are there any problems with the driver in Suse?

A lot of things work out of the box with Suse and X40. Intel 2100 wireless, Video with hardware 3D, for instance. I use suspend to RAM on a regular basis - work's great. X40's Active Protection you mentioned, I think, is software based, so, do not see it on Linux (only for MS). However, IBM's business idea and the whole computer design provide the assurance that the computer will serve for years. That's what you are paying for - decent components and sturdy, excellent design. Trust me, I've had almost a dozen of various laptops - IBM is something that I feel I will stick to. Also, people think they need a lot of power on a laptop. X40 is definitely not a desktop replacement, but I think mobility, battery, miniatureness matter more than a super wide LCD. You can get quite a few hours of juice from a standard batter, not to mention an extended one (5 hours or even more, not bad hah?).

I hope my information will help you to make the right decision,

I agree with Zhenya. If your laptop is your only computer, slap a P4 in it and get one with a 17" LCD, built-in DVD burner, and an NVidia card for "light" gaming. I am lucky to also have a dedicated desktop, so I got the X40...less than 4 pounds, 12" LCD, and long battery life. If I turn off the wireless and cut the LCD brightness in half while using OpenOffice, I can get up to 5.5 hours out the battery. Looking at the Dell website shows not much difference between the 700m and the X40, except for the CD drive (700m) and battery life (700m comes with 4-cell standard or about 3.5 hrs of battery life). If you get the Dell, I recommend the 8-cell battery upgrade and the CD burner. It seems the 700m comes with the Intel Pro 2200 wifi card, which has native linux drivers here. You may also want to check out Linux on Laptops and see if anyone has notes for the 700m.