Install Guide: Debian Etch on T42 incl. Compiz

I have installed Debian Etch on my recently acquired IBM thinkpad T42.
I have installed cpu frequency control, compiz. I will post updates whenever I successfully install each module.

This guide is meant for noobs, I'm a pretty noob too, so experts, please bear with me. Suggestions for improvement are welcome.

Debian is the distro on which Ubuntu is based. Unfortunately, instructions for debian seem to be all over the place for a noob like me, so I'll try to compile everything here.
Debian vs Ubuntu:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=520049
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=549642


Specs: IBM thinkpad T42
Pentium M 2Ghz Dothan
2GB ram
38GB HDD
1400x1050 SXGA+ screen
ATI Mobility radeon 7500 video card with 32 mb ram
Atheros a/b/g wireles card


Done:
Base install, Suspend/hibernate, cpu frequency control, compiz.



Base Install:
I installed using the net install debian etch CD.
I was connected to the internet via the ethernet. I partitioned the HDD (38GB) into
Windows partiton
A fat32 partition (4.5GB)
A / partition (6.3GB)
A /home partition (17GB)
A swap partition (2GB)

I chose the "laptop" and "desktop" and "standard system" packages.
It installed everything, there was one warning message on one of the packages, I think it had to do with suspend to ram, I just clicked ok.

It rebooted into SXGA+ resolution, I logged in, did an update immediately, then immediately rebooted. This was via ethernet.

Post Install Configuration:
I edited my /etc/apt/sources.list file to the following:

Code:

#
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r0 _Etch_ - Official i386 NETINST Binary-1 20070407-11:29]/ etch contrib main

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib non-free

deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ etch main

Most debian installation instructions are of the format

Code:

apt-get install ...

But I recommend aptitude instead of apt-get. Aptitude is a better package manager than apt-get, and can be be used whereever apt-get can be used.
Just substitute aptitude instead of apt-get.
If you just type aptitude by itslef, it will open up in the console a list of packages installed, those available etc.
More on aptitude as a REF:
http://people.debian.org/~dburrows/aptitude-doc/en/

Back to the install.
I did

Code:

aptitude update

to update the database.
Then I installed some packages:

Code:

aptitude install build-essential

Then I had to type in the terminal

Code:

uname -r

to find out what kernel version I was running. The kernel I had was 2.6.18-4-686. From there I installed the kernel headers by typing in the terminal as root user :

Code:

aptitude install linux-headers-2.6.18-4-868

Obviously you should type “uname -r” in the terminal to find out which kernel you are running and install the appropriate linux headers for that particular kernel. As an example if you have 2.6.18-5-686 then you should install linux-headers-2.6.18-5-686.

Then the next thing to install is:

Code:

aptitude install debian-multimedia-keyring

This will put in the public key.
Then do update:

Code:

aptitude update

I then installed some more packages:

Code:

aptitude install  kaffeine xmms xpdf gv mplayer xine-ui
digikam sun-java5-jre sun-java5-plugin w32codecs libdvdcss2 rcconf

At this point mp3, avi files were playing fine.
rcconf is a neat console based utility to select which services should and should not be started at boot time.
I then deslected some services that were starting up, like mail-server utilities, printer, bittorent.

Standby/Hibernate:
These were working out of the box, provide I was logged in. I get kernel panic if I'm at the lgin menu. But if I'm logged in, then work fine.
Standby to RAM works espcially fast, like 5 seconds. And wake up equally fast.
Only problem is the area below the spacebar remains a bit warm in stanby. The wireless card and the gpu are in that area. I'm not sure how to fix that.

CPU Frequency Control:
I have to first remove this:

Code:

aptitude remove powernowd

The I installed sysfsutils, cpufreqd, cpufrequtils:

Code:

aptitude install sysfsutils cpufreqd cpufrequtils

Now we'll load the modules:

Code:

modprobe speedstep-centrino
modprobe cpufreq_conservative
modprobe cpufreq_ondemand
modprobe cpufreq_powersave
modprobe cpufreq_stats
modprobe cpufreq_userspace

speedstep-centrino is the module for controlling centrino processors, the rest are frequency "governors"
We'll test that everything went as expected:

Code:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors

You should see output similar to

Code:

powersave conservative ondemand performance userspace

You can change the current scheme by something like

Code:

echo powersave > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor

And view the current cpu frequency by

Code:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq

Now we need to load them at boot time.
Add the following lines to the end of /etc/modules

Code:

speedstep-centrino
cpufreq_conservative
cpufreq_ondemand
cpufreq_powersave
cpufreq_stats
cpufreq_userspace

Add the following lines to /etc/sysfs.conf

Code:

devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor=userspace

Where userspace can be changed to another governor type (i.e. conservative, powersave, etc.). You can also add other configuration options that are specific to the governor selected.

Then I added a cpu frequency changing applet as described here: http://www.ubuntugeek.com/howto-change-cpu-frequency-scaling-in-ubuntu.html

This applet can also change governors.
Tip: Whenever I plug out of AC power and plug in again, I would find myself on "performance" governor, I would then change to powersave to change the cpu frequency.


Compiz:
/etc/X11/xorg.conf had to be modified first.
Make a backup:

Code:

cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf  /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak

Then edit xorg.conf to have the following lines:
Under the section "Device"

Code:

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]"
        Driver          "ati"
        BusID           "PCI:1:0:0"
        VideoRam        32768
        Option          "AGPMode" "4"
        Option          "AGPSize" "32"
        Option          "DRI" "true"
        Option          "AGPFastWrite" "true"
        Option          "EnablePageFlip" "true"
        Option          "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps" "true"
        Option          "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
        Option          "RenderAccel"   "true"
EndSection

Then in the section "Screen, make sure these lines are there just after "monitor"

Code:

        Monitor         "Generic Monitor"
        DefaultDepth    16
        Option "AddRGBGLXVisuals" "true"
        Option "DisableGLXRootClipping" "true"
        Option  "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps" "true"

In Section "Module", make sure you have

Code:

Load   "dbe"

in first position.


Finally, at the end of xorg.conf, you should have

Code:

Section "DRI"
        Mode    0666
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
        Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

I assume that you have direct rendering enabled. In other words, the output of

Code:

glxinfo | grep direct

should say (if glxinfo doesn't work, make sure you have the package mesa-utils installed) :

Code:

direct rendering: Yes

Starting with xorg 7.1, AIGLX is integrated in the X server. Also, it should get loaded automatically. Ensure that it does :

Code:

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep -i aiglx

which should say (==) AIGLX enabled. If it doesn't get loaded, you can force it by adding :

Code:

   Option   "AIGLX"   "true"

to Section "ServerLayout" of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.


Log out, restart X (CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE), and verify things still work

Log in.
Now we install compiz:

Code:

aptitude install compiz

Start compiz:

Code:

compiz --replace --fast-filter

3d-cube etc should now be working.
This can be started automatically in gnome upon login:
Go in Desktop -> Preferences -> Sessions. Then choose the Startup Programs tab and add an entry for Compiz :

Code:

compiz --replace --fast-filter

Unfortunately, I dont know how to change the compiz setings yet


ToDo:
Wireless, undervolting, HDD shock protection.

References:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?f=26
http://lunapark6.com/debian-40-etch.html
http://www.debiantutorials.org/content/view/161/211/
http://people.debian.org/~dburrows/aptitude-doc/en/ch02s02s02.html
http://www.debian-multimedia.org/
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=248867
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/howto-change-cpu-frequency-scaling-in-ubuntu.html
http://www.student.tue.nl/Q/j.f.berndsen/debian/
http://technowizah.com/2006/10/debian-how-to-aiglx-compiz.html
http://aparateys.blogspot.com/2007/06/installing-ubuntu-704-feisty-fawn-on.html
https://www.dedigentoo.org/trac/linux-phc/#Documentation
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=146366
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Pentium_M_undervolting_and_underclocking

 

This post is a placeholder.

 

While I haven't looked at it very in depth (I don't run a Debian-based distro, nor have a Thinkpad of any kind), it looks like a pretty good guide so for wearetheborg, good job.

One comment though, when you go through the step to install the kernel header package, instead of using two steps, you can just make it this one:

Code:

aptitude install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

The "$( command)" syntax is for command substitution. So that section gets replaced with the output of the command inside it. Besides turning two steps into one, it also eliminates the hassle and potential human error (typos) when copying the preceding line.