This page describes the installation and configuration of the RedHat 7.1 Linux distribution on an IBM ThinkPad A22p notebook. Only the usual key laptop issues are mentioned. Some general RH7.1 differences are described here.
I have been using the laptop exclusively since the beginning of May 2001 and am extremely happy with it.
The A21p page at http://www.physiology.wisc.edu/~cai/linux/a21p/, A20p page at http://www.zhlive.ch/zhl_contents_linux.html. and Linuxcare's A22p Certification page at http://www.linuxcare.com/labs/certs/ibm/thinkpad/a22p/pada22p.epl were used as references.
For more information about Linux on laptops you should check out http://www.linux-laptop.net/.
Removed the existing 128MB module and plonked in the the 2x256MB modules.
I made a Red Hat 7.1 boot floppy and put it in the floppy drive and then kicked off the RedHat 7.1 Installation. I always use TEXT mode. Selected the Laptop install.
I deleted the existing partitions and partitioned the disk.
The probe for the video card when it came to the X setup detected the card but not the correct details and I fixed it after.
The installed version of XFree86-4.0.3 was fine. I ran Xconfigurator to get a basic setup. I couldn't find the video timings in any online documentation. I got the settings from Linuxcare's A22p certifcation site. Here is my /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file.
I had been experiencing the occasional hang. I would be missing focus events. This would get more frequent and then the keyboard would not work. Then the machine would hang. Other times this would happen soon after a resume. I thought it was a Gnome or window manager bug. I often could still ping or ssh into the machine. Anyway, the culprit was gpm. So I would advise that you turn it off when running X. I didn't suspect it for a while because previously when I've experienced these sort of problems with GPM it would freeze from the beginning.
Sound worked out of the box. Note that you will need to turn up the levels using a mixer.
Works fine.
Fine. I tweaked /etc/sysconfig/apmd to unload the sound modules on suspend. Sleeps by closing the lid or using Fn-F4. You may want to adjust the sound level in apmcontinue after the resume.
I had experienced some hangs but adjusted my settings to include:
PCMCIARESTART="yes"
PCMCIABIOSBUG="yes"
These hangs may have been due to GPM.
Occasionally I need to type 'apm -s' because the laptop won't suspend when I use Fn-F4 or shut the case. I always need to eject the AWP-100 wireless card for it to suspend.
If it does appear that the machine has not resumed try to go through a couple of suspend/resume cycles using Fn-F4. Also try pulling the power cable in and out or inserting/removing a PCMCIA card. I have had it get into a state like that a couple of times and it has recovered. This will probably be fixed by a kernel upgrade. I am still on 2.4.2-2.
The Lucent winmodem works with ltmodem 5.99b available at http://www.heby.de/ltmodem. No special instructions required. This works with the default interrupts settings in the BIOS.
Using '/sbin/lspci -v' to identify the modem
00:03.1 Serial controller: Lucent Microelectronics: Unknown device 045c (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [8250])
Subsystem: Intel Corporation: Unknown device 2205
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 11
I/O ports at 1840 [size=8]
Memory at f0121000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
Note that this modem comes with some of the A22p models (and at least some X21 models) that ship with the Intel Ethernet Pro 100 NIC.
Other A22p models that ship with an Intel Ethernet Pro 100 card might have a Xircom modem which apparently works with ltmodem 5.78f. The details for that particular model are:
00:03.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 09)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation: Unknown device 2408
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 66, IRQ 11
Memory at f0120000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
I/O ports at 1800 [size=64]
Memory at f0100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=1M]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
00:03.1 Serial controller: Xircom: Unknown device 000c (prog-if 02 [16550])
Subsystem: Intel Corporation: Unknown device 2408
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 11
I/O ports at 1840 [size=8]
Memory at f0121000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
I have also tried a conventional PCMCIA modem and it worked fine without any tweaking. See Other Cards..
Many thanks to Christop Hebeisen and the contributors to the ltmodem project for this work.
00:03.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 0c)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation: Unknown device 2205
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 66, IRQ 11
Memory at f0120000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
I/O ports at 1800 [size=64]
Memory at f0100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=64K]
No Problems. Detected as expected.
Fine. I have burned several data CD-Rs and a couple of audio CDs. The original test I did was an audio CD. The CD was fine, but cdrecord did hang on exit. I have not had a problem since that one. I do go to the extreme of exiting X (Gnome has so many now) and shutting down unneccessary processes which might heavily access the hard disk.
I managed to list the files on my Palm IIIx using pilot-xfer but didn't record the steps and need to work it out again.
It has also recognized my Motorola TimePort 7089. I did manage to run some AT commands in minicom. couldn't dial though. I'm sure it just needs some work!