x220 Ubuntu 11 natty install guide?

Hi,

Does anyone have an Ubuntu install guide for the x220?

I actually installed Ubuntu from a usb stick and everything works just fine except for:

--touchpad/trackpad
--fan is on all the time
--unsure if there is any good speedstep or power management going on

But the latest natty (ubuntu 11), is much closer to working right out of the box.

My issue is I'm not sure if I need tpctl (a thinkpad config tool) or thinkpad_acpi . Some of these tools have been included in the latest version of natty it seems and I'm not sure what needs to be downloaded and installed separately at this point.

I am expecting to get equal battery life in Ubuntu as I do in Windows 7. Just not sure what optimizations I need in order to get a truly optimized thinkpad running ubuntu.

Thanks

 

I just posted a Linux thread yesterday:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/575569-linux-x220.html

I enabled thinkpad_acpi last night to attempt to muzzle the fan, but I didn't arrive at a satisfactory solution -- manually echoing fan levels works, but that's not feasible beyond testing.

What we really need is a BIOS fix; this is not specific to Ubuntu. The fan sounded the same to me in Windows.

As for tpctl, sounds like you'd want to look at tp_smapi actually -- SMAPI support for Linux - ThinkWiki. I'm still not sure that it's worth bothering with this one.

 

I have posted this before in another topic but,

According to the Ubuntu site there is a 'special image of Ubuntu' available for the T420 (basically the same hardware as the X220):

'A special image of Ubuntu is available via the computer manufacturer designed for this specific computer. It takes advantage of hardware features for these systems and may include proprietary software and codecs. Please contact the computer manufacturer for access to that specific Ubuntu operating system version'

Did anyone try to contact Lenovo about this yet?

 

Here's what I got back from a chat session:

 

I don't mean to sound discouraging, but you might be expecting too much. On my x201, I have optimized everything I could think of and the laptop still idles under Linux at some 30% more power use than under Windows.

The funny thing is, Windows users who reinstall from vanilla Windows media followed by manual installation of Lenovo drivers, report an increase in idle power use too. Lenovo seems to be doing some major voodoo in their Windows image, and they aren't letting people in on the secret.

 

Probably some registry tweaks. Someone with some free time should look into it!

 

Fun stuff..

"A special image of Ubuntu is available via the computer manufacturer designed for this specific computer"

_Kaitlin H: Yes, we dont have it.

 

What kernel version?

Not to be a broken record, but:

[Phoronix] Another Major Linux Power Regression Spotted

Short version: Anything recent is somewhat hosed

I can post a full regshot dump of a freshly booted x220t (when it arrives) if someone wants to go to the trouble to compare it to a clean install + same utilities.
Have "fun" but at least you won't be hunting down something nasty that knows how to hide.

 

Every major release since 2.6.34. I run Gentoo Linux. I compile my own kernel, along with the rest of the system. Helps avoid bloatware.

Yes, I've read it. I do get the impression that recently my machine's been idling at 11-12W rather than 10-11W like before (all measurements from PowerTop), but too many other things have changed on my system in the mean time for me to be able to attribute it with any certainty to the kernel.

Anyway, back to the topic of power use in Windows vs Linux. With 2.6.38, my system idles at 11-12W (11 when the HDD is off, 12 when it's on). With 2.6.34-35 it was 1W less. With the stock Windows 7, I've seen it idle at *under 7W*. The most annoying part of it is that I take pride in optimizing my Linux system; I don't run any background crap daemons indexing the disk, etc. Windows, which I barely use, is the stock install which hardly ever shuts up, it constantly accesses the HDD, etc.

I'm guessing the drivers simply aren't properly using advanced power management techniques under Linux. At least, that's the case with Clarkdale/Arrandale. x220 uses the new Sandy Bridge platform; perhaps the Linux drivers will do a more decent job there. That is not just wishful thinking. If you read Phoronix regularly, then you've seen the repeated articles on new SB-specific optimizations being introduced into the X graphics driver and the kernel. I haven't noticed that level of attention in the past.

 

Holy smoke! I didn't know that power consumption on Windows 7 is that low comparing to Linux. thanks for sharing that.

 

every laptop i've ever owned has had this skew. it's just that linux is terrible at effecient power management.