Debian on the IBM Thinkpad X40
Chapter 3 - Configuration

3.1 Network

I use ifplugd to automaticalle configure wlan and lan, however it does not yet default to lan when it can connect to both.

3.1.1 Intel e1000 Gigabit Ethernet Controller

The network card works straight forward inkluding media detection and autocrossing.

3.1.2 Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC

I use the driver from madwifi compiled as debian package following the guide at http://www.marlow.dk/madwifi by Martin List-Petersen.

3.2 GPM

Just make shure there is no repeat_type= line in your /etc/gpm.conf and it will work together with X.

       device=/dev/psaux
       type=autops2

3.3 XFree86

If you want automatic configuration install xdebconfigurator which is used for hardware detection in eg. Knoppix or Debian-Edu.

3.4 Powermanagement

3.4.1 CPU frequency scaling

You have to enable CPU scaling in your kernel (CONFIG_CPU_FREQ, CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE) and you will need a scaling daemon. I decided to go with powernowd in PASSIVE mode as I prefere long battery lasting (Immediately jump to lowest frequency when usage drops below 20%. Raise by "step" Hz if it goes above 80%.).

3.4.2 ACPI

If you use a recent kernel version, e.g. kernel-source-2.6.10, append acpi_sleep=s3_bios as kernel parameter to get your graphic card reset after resume and enable CONFIG_ACPI_IBM to get the Fn-x to work.

XFree sometimes is screwed then resuming so I modified /etc/acpi/actions/suspend.sh to change to vt1 and /etc/acpi/actions/resume.sh to change to vt7 which helps:

suspend.sh

     #!/bin/sh
     
     # lock screen
     user=`who | grep " :0" | awk '{print $1}'`
     export XAUTHORITY=/home/$user/.Xauthority
     export DISPLAY=:0
     su $user -c "xscreensaver-command -lock"
     
     # change to vt1
     chvt 1
     
     # stop daemons
     /etc/init.d/powernowd stop
     /etc/init.d/laptop-mode stop
     /etc/init.d/ifplugd stop
     /etc/init.d/wwwoffle stop
     
     # stop linuxant hsf modem 
     /usr/sbin/hsfstop
     
     # unload modules
     rmmod button
     rmmod ehci-hcd
     rmmod ath_pci
     
     # sync clock
     /sbin/hwclock --systohc

resume.sh

     #!/bin/sh
     
     # make shure we are on vt1
     chvt 1
     
     # load modules
     modprobe button
     modprobe ehci-hcd
     modprobe ath_pci
     
     # start daemons
     /etc/init.d/ifplugd start
     /etc/init.d/powernowd start
     /etc/init.d/laptop-mode start
     /etc/init.d/wwwoffle start
     
     # start linuxant hsf modem 
     /usr/sbin/hsfstop
     
     # sync clock
     /usr/sbin/hwclock --hctosys
     
     # change to vt7
     chvt 7

3.4.3 Suspend-to-disk

Suspend to disk works with recent kernel, make shure you append resume=/dev/$SWAPPARTITION to your kernel. If you use cryptoswap as I do you need to enable the otherwise unused swap partition prior to suspending and deactivating it after resume. You can do this eg. with /etc/acpi/actions/hibernate.sh:

hibernate.sh

     #!/bin/sh
     
     # activiate suspend swap partition as we use cryptoswap
     swapon -p 20 /dev/hda4
     
     # call suspend.sh
     . /etc/acpi/actions/suspend.sh
     
     # hibernate
     echo -n 4 >/proc/acpi/sleep
     
     # call resume.sh
     . /etc/acpi/actions/resume.sh
     
     # deactivate suspend swap partition
     swapoff /dev/hda4

3.5 Modem

lspci reports 0000:00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 01) and the documentation of sl-modem-source talks about HAMR5600 based AMR/CNR/MDC/ACR modem cards on southbridges like the ICH4.

However trying both modules for sl-modem (snd-intel8x0m or the proprietary slamr one) failed. The only driver I could get to work is the Connexiant HSFmodem Linux driver from Linuxant.

3.6 Sound

Sound works out of the box, just tell alsa-config to build the modules for intel8x0.

Loaded modules:

     snd_virmidi
     snd_seq_virmidi
     snd_mpu401_uart
     snd_seq_midi
     snd_rawmidi
     snd_intel8x0
     snd_ac97_codec
     snd_pcm_oss
     snd_mixer_oss
     snd_pcm
     snd_page_alloc
     snd_seq_oss
     snd_seq_midi_event
     snd_seq
     snd_timer
     snd_seq_device
     snd
     soundcore

Debian on the IBM Thinkpad X40