[TriLUG] without better support from the vendors...

[Chris Merrill]

In case anyone was following this thread, I thought I would
provide a status update on my struggle to get a number
of features working on a Thinkpad T23 under Linux.

Ed Hill wrote:

=>> (since September), I still have a large sist of things that don't work:
>> - serial port not recognized
> 
> Fixed (enable serial port in BIOS).


Fixed. 
 
>> - no video driver - uses generic LCD driver that restricts me to 
>> XFree86 3.x
> 
> fixed by Savage binary X driver see:
>   http://www.patoche.org/alone/info/t23.html

<snip>


This worked...until I put the Thinkpad in the docking station...at
which point starting X resulted in a lockup.  Other Thinkpad users
reported the same...but none knew of any fixes.  The X startup
hangs when probing the PCI devices.  I submitted a bug report
along with the "X --probeonly" logs to XFree, but haven't heard
anything yet.

 
>> - no audio driver
> 
> Fixed by installing Red Hat 7.2


Fixed.  I was able to apply the fix (some special lines in
modules.conf) to my existing Mandrake installation.

>> - suspend-to-disk non-functional (which means I cannot remove
>>   it from the dock without shutting down...which means I must reboot
>>   twice/day)
> 
> You need to create a hibernation file in a FAT32 partition to get the
> suspend-to-disk functionality.  See the following links for free
> linux-based tools to accomplish that:
> 
> http://www.procyon.com/~pda/lphdisk/
> http://mobilix.org/Mobile-Guide.db/mobile-guide-p1c3s3-linux-tools-to-repartition.html 


I tried this...but was unable to get hibernate mode to function.
Win2k does not use a separate partition - it uses a hibernate
file on the Win2k partition - so maybe the T23 is different
than previous models.
Interestingly, after talking with an IBM tech, I found that the
T23 Thinkpads handle hot-docking "natively" -- he said that no
special handling from the OS is required.  It also does not
require the Thinkpad to be sleeping or hibernating to either
dock or undock.  Unfortunately the claim of no OS support required
for hot-docking does not seem to be true.  There is a button
on the dock that activates the un-dock...but it doesn't work
when Linux is running.

>> - sleep works, but frequenlty looses mouse or keyboard when awakened
> 
> First try a newer kernel such as the one that ships with RH 7.2 or
> the kernel update for Red Hat 7.2 
> (http://www.redhat.com/download/mirror.html).
> If that doesn't do it, try disabling GPM.  I've had similar problems
> and the combo of updating the kernel and disabling GPM has fixed it
> and I don't know if it was the kernel, gpm, or both.


It turns out that Mandrake 8.1 has a newer kernel than RH 7.2...so
I can't find a more recent kernel...unless I want to build my own.
I would be willing to do that if somebody actually _knows_ that this
will fix the problem...but I haven't found any reports that address
this problem.  Disabling GPM had no effect.

 
>> - no hot-swapping of drive-bay devices

 >

> See: http://www.grennan.com/t20/
>   "You can warm swap your drives by going into suspend mode first.
>    First un-mounting any disk you are currently using and then
>    pressing Fn-F4 and wait.  After the system is fully suspended,
>    swap your devices.  When the swap is complete, tap the Fn key
>    to un-suppend."


Unfortunately that does not seem to apply to the T23.  When I

tried to remove the drives...it just beeped at me until I
re-inserted the drive.  Putting in another drive, ignoring the
beeping and awaking the Thinkpad resulted in a system crash.


In summary:
There are a number of features on my Thinkpad that are very useful
to me that I have not been able to get working with Linux:
- correct video drivers that will allow me to run XFree 4.1 - so
   that I can switch resolutions on the fly (needed to fully use
   the docking features).
- hot-docking
- suspend to disk
- sleep (works, but sometimes looses mouse and/or keyboard
   when awakened).

Just for fun (I'm glad nobody can throw tomatoes thru a mailing
list) I tried re-installing Win2k from IBMs rescue disks.  The
installation was smooth - because IBM has automated almost the
entire install tailored to the model.  I was mostly curious
to see if all these features _really_ worked.  For better or
worse, they all work very well.  I can put the thinkpad to
sleep at home, go to work, dock it, awaken it and it will
automagically switch to my external mouse, keyboard and display.
I can hit the un-dock button...wait a few seconds and pull it
out of the dock, put it to sleep and go home.

I still have one last hope for Linux, though...I'm going to

try to get IBM to send me their pre-installed Linux.  This
model was sold with Linux (OpenLinux?)...but they don't
anymore - so I don't know if they still support it.  I'm
hoping that all these features will work with their
(hopefully customized) version.  If that fails, I will
continue to try installing new versions of Mandrake (on
another HD) as they are available...hopefully someday these
features will work.

Until then, I'm switching back to Win2k (duck) for the T23 :(
I still will be running Linux on my home server (in fact,
I'm looking forward to building a new RH7.2 system - I'll be
retiring the P120 that is running RH7 now) and we use it
for our primary system servers in the office.

Thanks to all who offered help and advice while I struggled
with these problems.  This list is a great resource - it has
made my year-long journey in Linux-land very rewarding.

*********************************
Chris Merrill
cmerrill at nc.rr.com
*********************************