Tweaking the thinkpad 600

[gotaserena]

Hello,

If you have this amazing machine and tried to install ubuntu in it you may have come across some problems. Most of these have to do with pccard support (formely known as pcmcia) and the dreaded sound card. I've managed, through a lot of help from fellow ubuntu'ers, to solve them in a satisfactory manner.

Part of the problem so far is that most of the solutions I've come across involve turning ACPI support off at the kernel level. Aside from disabling part of the BIOS calls which are very useful for laptop users, kernel developpers have also turned APM support off as of 2.6.15. Turning ACPI off is a dead-end street.

Caveat emptor: I can vouch for this instructions on the thinkpad tp600 alone. If you have some other model, like 600E or 600X, it may or may not work.

Before start you'll need to disable fast boot at the BIOS level. This can be done by pressing and keep pressed F1 when you turn the machine on. After the start screen you'll see the boot menu. Click on "Config" and then on "Quick Boot". Click on "Disable", go to the main menu and restart. Now that your BIOS is set, on to the solutions:

1. Problem: My video resolution is screwed up.
   Cause: Ubuntu tries to use 24bpp for the default 1024x768, which is not supported by the video card.
   How to solve it: edit /etc/X11/xorg-conf and find the "Screen" section. Change the DefaultDepth to 16. Now restart the X server (ctr-alt-backspace) and you should be set
   
2. Problem: Sound doesn't work.
   Cause: Sound card that ships with the thinkpad 600 is made before the dawn of time and needs to be configured manually.
   How to solve it: First, edit your /etc/modules and add the line "snd-cs4236" to it. Now back up your /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base and write this in it instead:
   

   alias char-major-116 snd
   alias char-major-14 soundcore
   
   alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
   alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
   alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-css
   alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
   alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
   
   alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
   alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1
   alias sound-slot-2 snd-card-2
   alias sound-slot-3 snd-card-3
   
   alias sound snd-card-0
   alias snd-card-0 snd-card-cs4236
   
   alias snd-minor-oss-0 snd-card-cs4236
   alias snd-minor-oss-1 snd-opl3
   alias snd-minor-oss-3 snd-pcm-oss
   
   options snd-cs4236 port=0x530 cport=0x538 mpu_port=-1 fm_port=0x388 irq=5 dma1=1 dma2=0 isapnp=0 sb_port=0x220
   
   install snd modprobe --ignore-install snd $CMDLINE_OPTS && { modprobe -Qb snd-ioctl32 ; : ; }
   install snd-pcm modprobe --ignore-install snd-pcm $CMDLINE_OPTS && { modprobe -Qb snd-pcm-oss ; : ; }
   install snd-mixer modprobe --ignore-install snd-mixer $CMDLINE_OPTS && { modprobe -Qb snd-mixer-oss ; : ; }
   install snd-seq modprobe --ignore-install snd-seq $CMDLINE_OPTS && { modprobe -Qba snd-seq-midi snd-seq-oss ; : ; }

   Now run "sudo depmod -a". Open /boot/grub/menu.lst. Find the line that begins with "# kopt="... and append this to it:
   

   acpi=force pci=noacpi pnpbios=off pci=usepirqmask

   As a suggestion, find the line that begins with "# defoptions" and append this to it:
   

    vga=0x316 resume=/dev/hda2

   save and exit. Now run "sudo update-grub". Reboot. If nobody has changed the IRQ assignment at BIOS, then sound should work while keeping nice ACPI support like suspend to disk, suspend to ram and battery/temperature info.
   
3. Problem: My modem doesn't work.
   Cause: See item 2. Now the problem is even worse since the modem shares an IRQ with the serial port. Disable the serial and the modem will work.
   How to solve it: Get mwave to work with the serial port on. If I get it I'll post it here.
   
4. Problem: Suspend and Hibernate don't work.
   Cause: Some modules don't have power management support.
   How to solve it: edit /etc/default/acpi-support as follows
   1) Uncomment ACPI_SLEEP:
   

   ACPI_SLEEP=true

   2) Change ACPI_SLEEP_MODE to "standby". I couldn't make suspend-to-ram work with S3 sleep.
   

   ACPI_SLEEP_MODE="standby"

   3) Find the line beginning with "MODULES". Make it look like:
   

   MODULES="snd-cs4236 acx"

   you should also add known "problematic" modules like those of wlan cards -- acx in my case.
   
   And, last but not least, if you are on GNOME or XFCE, open gnome-power-preferences and go to "general" and select "suspend" or "hibernate" for the default action of the sleep button. KDE users have the analogue klaptopmode with similar capabilities but I don't know how to configure it.

Hope this will be useful.

EDIT: I forgot to say that the "pci=noacpi" option at the kernel level was the most important to get the my PCCard working. I've got a D-Link GW-650+ (based on the chip TI100, or the acx module) working *only* after passing this option on at boot.