[Note: this document contains instructions for installing Linux kernels >= 2.6.20 on the IBM T60. For older kernels, see my original writeup.]

Quick links: [Background] [Video] [Sound] [Wireless] [Files]

I've owned many laptops, from Toshibas to Dells and everything in between. Somewhere around the year 2000, I became a devout IBM ThinkPad fan and have since owned a 600E, T21, T23 and now a T60. The T60 is the first T-series ThinkPad laptop from IBM since their purchase by Lenovo. Delivery on this new model was slow: I placed my order on February 3, 2006 and received the laptop on March 15, 2006.

My T60 is a 2623-D4U with the Intel Core Duo 1.66Ghz processor and 1GB of memory. Thus far, I'm most impressed with the machine's speed and construction quality. The lid, hinges, case, etc are all top-notch. The high-order low-down:

I typically run FreeBSD, but this machine's hardware basically dictates running GNU/Linux. The Video and Wireless drivers are proprietary from ATI and Intel respectively and only offered for Linux. This web page is help others setting up Linux on the T60.

I'm a big fan of FreeBSD ports, so my natural choice of Linux distribution is Gentoo for its portage system. Thus, this document focuses on Gentoo on the T60 but may be useful for other installations.

First, install Gentoo from the distribution CDs. This may involve repartitioning your system so you can dual-boot, see the Gentoo documentation for initial installation details. If you attempt to reboot, the laptop will not come up successfully: the stock kernel is missing the AHCI SATA drivers (i.e. missing Kernel options CONFIG_SCSI_SATA and CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_AHCI) required and will complain that it can't mount the root partition. Listed below is a link to a complete, working T60 Kernel configuration for the latest stable 2.6.20-r8 Linux kernel.

Once you have a working, bootable machine based on the Kernel configuration here, one can next get other facilities on the box working. Don't forget to update your portage tree before installing packages by issuing:

# emerge --sync

The kernel includes support for the Intel AD1981HD audio controller on the T60 via the CONFIG_SND_HDA_INTEL configuration directive. To configure as activate the sound card, enter the following commands as root:

# alsaconf
# usermod -G audio yourusername
# rc-update add alsasound boot

Unfortunately, no native drivers exist for the ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 or X1400, so one is forced to use ATI's proprietary drivers. Luckily, the kind Gentoo folks provide a package for easy installation. Since the latest ATI driver (required - others don't work properly) is marked unstable, we first add it to our portage package.keywords file. Next, we emerge ati-drivers, set the driver and configure x.org:

# emerge -aDtv ati-drivers
# modprobe fglrx
# eselect opengl set ati
# /opt/bin/aticonfig --initial --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Now we're all set to fire up X. The fglrxinfo program should display information on the ATI driver while glxgears is an OpenGL application that tests frame rate.

$ startx
$ /opt/bin/fglrxinfo
$ /usr/bin/glxgears

Again, unfortunately, the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG internal wireless adapter is not supported by the stock Kernel and requires a combination of proprietary and open code from Intel. Fortunately, Intel provides Linux support through their IPW3945 project and Gentoo has nicely wrapped it all into a set of packages. We'll add the packages:

# emerge -aDtv net-wireless/ipw3945 net-wireless/ipw3945d net-wireless/ipw3945-ucode
# emerge -aDtv net-wireless/wireless-tools

# modprobe ipw3945
# iwconfig eth1
# iwlist scanning

# iwconfig eth1 essid "myessid"
# dhcpd eth1

Older Kernels <2.6.19 do not support SATA AHCI suspend modes. The symptom is that the laptop will suspend, but cannot access the disk (hangs) when it resumes. For older Kernels, you must enable SATA compatability mode in BIOS (ThinkVantage, Config, SATA, Compatability). Your best bet, however, is to upgrade to a recent kernel.

# hibernate-ram

• IBM T60 ThinkWiki
• Ubuntu T60 Guide