Debian Unstable on a Lenovo Thinkpad X61
by Kai Hendry (any tips please get in touch)
Overall I think the X series is the best laptop to run Debian on, despite my following complaints =)
- Type: 7675-4KU S/N LV-F6040 07/10 Warranty
- Product ID: 76754KU
- Bios: 2.07 (7NETA7WW) update
- Lenovo Thinkpad X61 1300USD
- Order total: 1579USD (includes Tax)
- Maintenance manuals: PDF Videos
- Extra: 8 cell battery 150USD
-
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Unfortunately the new X61 with the Debian installer from a USB stick failed to work with the Boot error message. I did test the d-i USB stick with a friend's Compaq. On the Compaq the USB installer works, however further testing showed the USB stick does not work with my older X40 Thinkpad. So I suspect an odd bug with Debian install USB images with (my) Thinkpads. USB sticks created with Debian Live are fine with my Thinkpads.
So unfortunately I had to waste a few hours of my life installing the OEM
pre-install of Microsoft Vista. Vista ran painfully slowly on 1G of RAM and
there are tons of retarded 3rd party applications that I assume Lenovo put on
there. However once Vista booted, the win32 debian installer that is Goodbye
Microsoft works well. However you must run
cmd as Administrator and alter the boot
timeout, before trying
to reboot into the Debian Installer. Otherwise you will not be able to choose
the Debian installer and you'll reboot into Vista again!
I installed etch and then immediately switched my
sources.list
to unstable. I started the install in the USA and finished in the UK, hence I
needed the sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata command to setup the timezone.
I think I did try LVM with Debian Etch installer, but it did not work. :/
Painfully I re-installed my X61 to 686 (from amd64) with LVM using the very latest Debian installer. You might find this network TFTP boot guide helpful. :)
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation Mobile IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Mobile SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
05:00.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev ba)
05:00.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd Unknown device 0832 (rev 04)
05:00.2 Generic system peripheral [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 21)
Linux x61 2.6.26-1-686 #1 SMP Thu Aug 28 12:00:54 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux
Module Size Used by
aes 27744 1
i915 22592 2
drm 75668 3 i915
vmnet 39316 13
parport_pc 34020 0
parport 34088 1 parport_pc
vmblock 14624 3
vmmon 931628 0
rfcomm 36344 0
l2cap 22496 5 rfcomm
bluetooth 50436 4 rfcomm,l2cap
ipv6 242788 21
acpi_cpufreq 9260 1
cpufreq_powersave 1856 0
cpufreq_userspace 4292 0
cpufreq_stats 5184 0
cpufreq_conservative 6952 0
cpufreq_ondemand 8332 1
freq_table 4544 3 acpi_cpufreq,cpufreq_stats,cpufreq_ondemand
fuse 41876 1
loop 17092 0
firewire_sbp2 14188 0
tsdev 8160 0
arc4 2048 2
ecb 3584 2
blkcipher 6340 1 ecb
yenta_socket 24908 0
rsrc_nonstatic 11904 1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core 37076 2 yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
battery 12296 0
sdhci 16972 0
mmc_core 27620 1 sdhci
snd_hda_intel 259100 3
ac 5636 0
snd_pcm 72132 2 snd_hda_intel
serio_raw 6724 0
snd_timer 21156 2 snd_pcm
video 18608 0
output 3840 1 video
button 8336 0
iwl3945 83656 0
i2c_i801 9264 0
i2c_core 23264 1 i2c_i801
firmware_class 9472 1 iwl3945
psmouse 36368 0
intel_agp 23348 1
mac80211 122020 1 iwl3945
agpgart 31624 3 drm,intel_agp
cfg80211 7336 1 mac80211
snd 48356 7 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 7584 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 10088 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
thinkpad_acpi 45596 0
nvram 8520 1 thinkpad_acpi
pcspkr 3264 0
evdev 9472 6
ext3 121544 3
jbd 55368 1 ext3
mbcache 8320 1 ext3
dm_mirror 21632 0
dm_snapshot 16932 0
dm_mod 52640 9 dm_mirror,dm_snapshot
sd_mod 27424 3
piix 8932 0 [permanent]
generic 4804 0 [permanent]
ide_core 112484 2 piix,generic
firewire_ohci 16640 0
firewire_core 39072 2 firewire_sbp2,firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t 2208 1 firewire_core
ahci 22692 2
e1000 113696 0
ehci_hcd 31372 0
ata_generic 7588 0
libata 113488 2 ahci,ata_generic
scsi_mod 136684 3 firewire_sbp2,sd_mod,libata
uhci_hcd 23056 0
usbcore 130568 3 ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
thermal 15580 0
processor 34696 2 acpi_cpufreq,thermal
fan 5092 0
top does not show them as two seperate processors. So I am wondering how the
processing actually works. When I compile WebKit the cc1plus process only
seems to take 30-odd percent of the CPU on top. I'm very confused.
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 15
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7300 @ 2.00GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 800.000
cache size : 4096 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm ida
bogomips : 3998.15
clflush size : 64
processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 15
model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7300 @ 2.00GHz
stepping : 10
cpu MHz : 800.000
cache size : 4096 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 1
cpu cores : 2
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm ida
bogomips : 3989.89
clflush size : 64
Speed stepping does seem to work. It seems to drop down to 800/2001 mhz in normal use.
Since the X61 I bought from Newegg only had 1G of memory, I wanted more. Armed with the memory information of the X61 I went to Frys in Palo Alto (thanks Paul from ACOA for the ride!) for the upgrade. I bought a single 2G RAM module and removed the two 512mb modules. Frys staff were kind enough to borrow me a small philips screw driver for me to perform the upgrade then and there.
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2006 1611 395 0 77 1170
-/+ buffers/cache: 364 1642
Swap: 2827 0 2827
I didn't try, but I suspect another 2G module could bring the machine to 4G. I should also try putting in one of the 512mb modules I took out.
I wish the thinkpad was sold with a RAM module socket for upgrades. I guess Lenovo save money by using 512mb modules for fulfilling orders.
x61:~% sudo hdparm -T /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 5744 MB in 2.00 seconds = 2878.97 MB/sec
x61:~% sudo hdparm -t /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
Timing buffered disk reads: 112 MB in 3.05 seconds = 36.78 MB/sec
Though:
x61:~% cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/alarm
alarm: 3604 mWh
And the BIOS is correctly set. There is no audible alarm like that of my Thinkpad X40 that the battery is running low. I don't notice the visual battery indicator in the status bar. :(
You need to setup the capture devices with alsamixer -V capture. See not notes on:
Btw to configure sound output with the correct kernel modules, that's easy with:
x61:~% sudo alsaconf
Using 2.6.26-1-686 and ALSA 1.0.16.
This is really irritating.
Why the mystery? I want to know how to access my SIM card! Any ideas? Right now I am quite happy accessing Internet via bluetooth mind ... I don't want one SIM card for my Lenovo and another for my phone. That's going to probably be expensive...
Use xbacklight as of version 7.3 of X.org.
/usr/bin/xbacklight -set 100%
I'm a little confused now how this relates to brightness. :)
Keys like the volume buttons, brightness and suspend Fn keys don't work. There does seem to be some ongoing work on the ibm-acpi-devel -- ibm-acpi Linux driver development.
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Used VESA driver instead initially. Something to do with agpart missing.
Later I tried the reconfiguring X again sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg and the Intel driver decided to work.
Dec 21 00:54:32 x61 kernel: [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810
Dec 21 00:54:32 x61 kernel: [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20060119 on minor 0
glxgears seems to run slow, but returns output like:
883 frames in 5.2 seconds = 169.373 FPS
840 frames in 5.2 seconds = 161.166 FPS
840 frames in 5.2 seconds = 160.245 FPS
Bit odd?
I have this 03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection [8086:4227] (rev 02) device. Annoyingly there are several ways to drive this device. I've gone for the most recent kernel and the firmware-iwlwifi. firmware-ipw3945 seems to be more popular, though 'iwlwifi' seems to work for me:
x61:~% dmesg | grep 3945
iwl3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection driver for Linux, 0.1.15ks
iwl3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2007 Intel Corporation
iwl3945: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
iwl3945: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels
wmaster0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-3945-rs'
ifconfig -a might show the wlan0 interface name screwed up (esp. if you
upgraded from Debian etch to unstable). I used the fix in the Debian Wiki's
iwlwifi page with the help of #debian-boot
people.
Currently it can join a WPA secured network fine, but it can't join a very ordinary WEP secured network, with the error:
mismatch in privacy configuration and mixed-cell disabled - abort association
- Ensure you have the wpasupplicant package installed
- /etc/network/interfaces
- /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
sudo wpa_clito manage wireless networks
The X61 wireless interface sadly seems rather inflexible like my X40. You have to reboot the machine to join a new network once you've associated with a network beforehand. In my experience this a typical problem with linux & wireless devices. I assume wireless devices are deliberately cripled by hardware vendors and their firmware to prevent 'hackers' from scanning wireless networks and breaking any radio laws.
When things go well you'll see:
x61:~% sudo wpa_cli
wpa_cli v0.6.0
Copyright (c) 2004-2007, Jouni Malinen <j@w1.fi> and contributors
This program is free software. You can distribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2.
Alternatively, this software may be distributed under the terms of the
BSD license. See README and COPYING for more details.
Selected interface 'wlan0'
Interactive mode
> status
bssid=00:90:d0:ef:34:7f
ssid=hendry.iki.fi
id=2
pairwise_cipher=CCMP
group_cipher=TKIP
key_mgmt=WPA2-PSK
wpa_state=COMPLETED
ip_address=192.168.1.65
You probably need a reboot if you see:
> status
wpa_state=SCANNING
The iwlwifi seems generally quite unstable. :( I've heard of people removing the intel wireless and replacing it with a better atheros based mini-pci device. Or perhaps resorting to the earlier driver ... :(
Monitor-Mwait will be used to enter C-3 state
wlan0: RX deauthentication from 00:1c:10:36:43:50 (reason=7)
wlan0: deauthenticated
wlan0: RX deauthentication from 00:1c:10:36:43:50 (reason=7)
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50
wlan0: RX deauthentication from 00:1c:10:36:43:50 (reason=7)
wlan0: RX deauthentication from 00:1c:10:36:43:50 (reason=7)
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50
wlan0: RX deauthentication from 00:1c:10:36:43:50 (reason=7)
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50
wlan0: RX deauthentication from 00:1c:10:36:43:50 (reason=7)
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50
wlan0: authentication with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50 timed out
iwl3945: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting 0x82000008.
iwl3945: Error Reply type 0x00000000 cmd REPLY_SCAN_CMD (0x80) seq 0x443B ser 0x00000000
iwl3945: Can't stop Rx DMA.
wlan0: failed to restore operationalchannel after scan
iwl3945: No space for Tx
iwl3945: Error sending REPLY_ADD_STA: iwl_enqueue_hcmd failed: -28
iwl3945: No space for Tx
iwl3945: Error sending REPLY_TX_PWR_TABLE_CMD: iwl_enqueue_hcmd failed: -28
wlan0: RX deauthentication from 00:1c:10:36:43:50 (reason=7)
iwl3945: REPLY_ADD_STA failed
wlan0: Initial auth_alg=0
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50
wlan0: Initial auth_alg=0
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50
wlan0: authentication with AP 00:1c:10:36:43:50 timed out
iwl3945: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting 0x82000008.
iwl3945: Error Reply type 0x00000000 cmd REPLY_SCAN_CMD (0x80) seq 0x4419 ser 0x00000000
iwl3945: Can't stop Rx DMA.
The fact of the matter is that the Thinkpad X61 runs hot (bad Lenovo design), so you'll probably need the fan even whilst the machine is idle or off mains. :(
From 2.6.23+ the kernel module 'thinkpad_acpi' supersedes 'ibm_acpi'.
If you get "bash: echo: write error: Invalid argument" error message you are
missing "experimental=1 fan_control=1" arguments on the thinkpad_acpi modprobe.
To properly configure this on a Debian system edit
/etc/modprobe.d/thinkpad_acpi.modprobe.
x61:~% grep fan /etc/modprobe.d/thinkpad_acpi.modprobe
options thinkpad_acpi hotkey=enable,0xffffbf experimental=1 fan_control=1
Since the Thinkpad embedded fan controller is a bit dumb ass, you unfortunately need to run your own fan controller script.
To monitor temperature I use yacpi and have a look how I use yacpi with my window manager (screenshot). Also I use root-tail to see what tp-fancontrol is doing by logging messages to my background.
Configured with the help of this bluetooth dialup Internet guide.
Bluetooth is fantastic as it allows me to use dial up networking (DUN) of my Nokia E65 to connect to the Internet with 3G. :)
- my three.co.uk peers config invoked by a
sudo pppd call gprs(not the debian way withponmind)
Radically reduce boot times by issuing sudo s2ram -f -a 3 instead of sudo halt. Works great. Need to lock the screen with something like slock
beforehand mind. Would be great to study if power is consumed.
Btw in suspend you'll see the crescent moon symbol light.
It seems to work 2 out of 3 times on my current 2.6.26 configuration... :/
You need to load the mmc_block and sdhci modules manually in
/etc/modules for
some reason and also checkout my
fstab to see how I
mount typically my camera's SD card on /mnt/sd.
x61:~% mount | grep mmc
/dev/mmcblk0p1 on /mnt/sd type vfat (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,user=hendry)
x61:~% df -h | grep mmc
/dev/mmcblk0p1 3.8G 32K 3.8G 1% /mnt/sd
Good news! The X61 supports my new 4G SDHC card:
Apr 9 14:19:49 x61 kernel: mmc0: new SDHC card at address e624
And the SDHC card works in my "Canon IXUS 950 IS" camera.
According to powertop long term: 17.0W,/4.2h on the biggest 8 cell battery. My X40 by comparison could run as low as 10W for extended periods, though its 8 cell battery is old.
The wireless driver iwl3945 seems to cause wakeups, though I am not even
using it. Very dissapointing. The wifi switch is not very useful as it also
switches off bluetooth. When I am out and about I like to switch off wifi and
just use bluetooth to access the Internet on trains for example.
[ 3474.642722] ACPI Exception (evregion-0420): AE_TIME, Returned by Handler for [EmbeddedControl] [20080321]
[ 3474.642747] ACPI Error (psparse-0530): Method parse/execution failed [\_SB_.PCI0.LPC_.EC__.BAT0._BST] (Node f703c8d8), AE_TIME
[ 3474.642906] ACPI Exception (battery-0360): AE_TIME, Evaluating _BST [20080321]
I get this message on 2.6.23 or 2.6.24 kernels with Bios: 1.06 (7NET25WW)
Message from syslogd@x61 at Tue Jan 15 11:28:42 2008 ...
x61 kernel: Disabling IRQ #21
From dmesg
irq 21: nobody cared (try booting with the "irqpoll" option)
[<c014e3b6>] __report_bad_irq+0x36/0x75
[<c014e5d0>] note_interrupt+0x1db/0x217
[<f885fa1e>] usb_hcd_irq+0x21/0x4e [usbcore]
[<c014dadd>] handle_IRQ_event+0x23/0x51
[<c014ed3d>] handle_fasteoi_irq+0x86/0xa6
[<c0106552>] do_IRQ+0x55/0x6f
[<c0127fa0>] irq_exit+0x53/0x6b
[<c0115d1b>] smp_apic_timer_interrupt+0x71/0x7d
[<c010487b>] common_interrupt+0x23/0x28
=======================
handlers:
[<f885f9fd>] (usb_hcd_irq+0x0/0x4e [usbcore])
Disabling IRQ #21
This is a Lenovo problem that is fixed in their BIOS update as the changelog:
(Fix) Unexpected interrupts from the USB controller may occur. (BIOS)
I created a bootable USB stick using approach 4 from Thinkwiki and Lenovo's ISO update for the X61.
I tried to dd my USB stick to an image file to share this upgrade resource.
However dd creates an image 2G large which bzip2 is unable to radically
downsize for sharing. :(
In the BIOS I've ramped up the brightness. I think this Lenovo option is a little silly. I wish they just fitted a decent LCD panel. Current thinkpad screens are dim and have poor viewing angles compared to competitors. :(
Definitely areas of improvement are:
- The top side of the lid hole see note - reader informs me this is where bluetooth is installed
- the ThinkVantage panel weakness - very tacky
- Why the wireless switch and what about Fn+F5?
- needless cardbus/pcmcia slot - who uses this?
- remove the firewall port and add one more USB port (3 is an improvement from 2 of the X40)
- Remove the Windows keys (waste of space) or perhaps remove the Fn key?
- The mouse buttons are sadly not as solid as those on the X40 - the Thinkpad thankfully is the only laptop I can think of with a dedicated middle/third mouse button, which is very nice for X users.
- stories of the keyboard scratching the screen (doesn't affect my model)
- fingerprint reader. wtf actually uses this? remove it or make it more integrated with hardware (see not about hard drive encryption below)
- the XGA screen is just terrible compared to almost any other laptop out there. Too dim and surely you could give us a SXGA option? Please?
- The new power standard. What a feck up! Many companies such as Google have setup their conference rooms with the old Thinkpad PSU style. Since Lenovo has changed it, it has really pissed off people including myself. Lenovo's excuse is that Intels require more power. This is a laptop computer, laptops should be using LESS POWER, not more!
Since this Thinkpad X61 was bought in the states, it seems to only have a warranty for the USA. :(
This is poor because when I bought my previous Thinkpad X40 in Korea, I had world wide onsite warranty included. No extra charge. I used it whilst travelling and generally had some excellent IBM support people service my X41's laptop hard drive which crashed a couple of times ...
Also when you buy an Apple Macbook in the states, you'll have warranty in the UK (ok, this can depend).
Worldwide warranty is professional and what IBM thinkpad owners expect.
Ricardo also writes in to say:
I have only the portuguese warranty, no international one, and, to my
disappointment, here you can't buy the extended care warranty, the one that
protects from spills and drops... Lenovo is really a bit worse than IBM.
Lenovo's innovation is very poor. A good feature that some good engineers could figure out is hardware encryption. So I don't have to mess about applying encryption as software for my hard drive partitions and suffer the overhead for doing so.
UPDATE: Full Disk Encryption is the answer to my prayers. Thank you Lenovo. Now just make your computers cheaper now please. An EEEPC 1000 Atom based machine isn't far off an X61 and 1/5 of the price here in the UK!