Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

hexaust · 2010-07-20 13:35:11

What I am trying to find is something like an install guide for the Thinkpad Edge series, like the one http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Lenovo_Thinkpad_T61
Thank you.

Last edited by hexaust (2010-07-20 15:39:51)

Inxsible · 2010-07-20 14:55:39

hexaust wrote:

What I am trying to find is something like an install guide for the Thinkpad Edge series, like the one http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Lenovo_Thinkpad_T61.
Thank you.

Your link doesn't work because of the additional period at the end.

On topic : There were a couple of threads about Thinkpads in general recently and supposedly there are issues on anything but the T series. Its not a showstopper or anything, but you have to willing to keep at it and fix it.

Let me find you the links for the said threads :

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=101110

There are a couple more in Off topic sub forum, but I can't find them right now.

Last edited by Inxsible (2010-07-20 14:57:57)

pnutzh4x0r · 2010-07-20 16:28:26

I have the Thinkpad Edge 13 w/ AMD + ATI and I wrote a quick review here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo- … sions.html.

Overall, everything mostly works, but only after some work. For wireless, I made a AUR package for the Realtek wireless card. Unfortunately, it's still a bit flakely. For instance, there are certain spots at my school where I can't maintain a stable wireless connection. At home though, it works just fine. For video, I use the Catalyst drivers from AUR and those work great. I chose to use these instead of the xf86-video-ati because the proprietary drivers provide better power management. This is important on the Edge because the hottest spot on the laptop is at the bottom left where the video card is. Without the Catalyst drivers, this area would be uncomfortably warm.

I tested the webcam and it works. I haven't really used the touchpad (trackpoint ftw), so I can't really give any feedback on that other than it seems more sensitive than the trackpoint. The audio requires some special modprobing to get the auto-sensing to work (as mentioned in my review).

To get power management for the CPU, I had to modify the DSDT and compile my own kernel. I have a link in the review above that links to it.

For the most part, if you are looking into the Edge and don't want to deal with the issues above, I'd say get the Intel version. Generally, the Intel drivers, especially video and wireless will be better. You will get better battery life and better CPU performance. With the AMD version, you get less battery life, a little worse CPU, but a better GPU and it's cheaper. I was on a budget, so I went AMD, and I'm still happy with my decision because I managed to get things working... though it was frustrating at first. The AMD battery life is not that bad... I get around 4.5 hours with wireless and half-dim screen.

Anyway, good luck. If you decided to go ahead w/ the Edge and face some problems, I can try to help.

hexaust · 2010-07-20 20:27:26

Thanks for your reply pnutzh4x0r, it will help me go on. I already have a Thinkpad Edge the AMD powered one and it's a nice notebook. I will read your review and try to fix the things that are not working(wireless, video, sound, power management).

Thank you again for your reply. I will write to you if I face more problems.

ProfWho · 2010-08-02 22:41:58

I just bought the laptop, which pnutzh4x0r bought, a few days ago and will report my experience, as soon as it arrives. Just announcing so I really stick to it. ;-)

Howver, due to shipping problems by the seller the date of arrival will be 08.16+ :-(

Last edited by ProfWho (2010-08-02 22:43:03)

ProfWho · 2010-08-20 11:42:28

It just arrived last week. However, as I have only little sparetime and am ArchLinux-Newbie, this post will receive updates from time to time, depending if I have time to progress.

I am moving this post here to the wiki, as I intend to write a full installation guide. You find the entry here. The focus is on the Thinkpad Edge 13 w/ AMD and ATI Graphics.

Last edited by ProfWho (2010-08-21 08:35:23)

ngoonee · 2010-08-20 12:01:46

No real use posting such here, you should create a wiki page for the model if anything. All the best in your efforts .

ProfWho · 2010-08-20 12:15:09

ngoonee wrote:

No real use posting such here, you should create a wiki page for the model if anything. All the best in your efforts .

I just left for lunch, had the same thought and saw your post, after I created an account at the wiki ;-)

Nichollan · 2010-08-20 13:27:54

I have a ThinkPad Edge 15" with an Intel Core i3 processor, which according to one review sucks tremendously when it comes to physical design in comparison to the smaller ones. I haven't had much problems with the installation though. The folks had mixed it up with a 13" that I ordered and I had accepted it because I didn't want to wait any longer with my largely unusable old laptop, and I hadn't read that review yet.

Last edited by Nichollan (2010-08-20 13:31:53)

Nichollan · 2010-08-20 15:03:33

One problem I just had was that some special keys for volume and screen brightness stopped working. The problem got fixed after I logged into my Windows partition and allowed the ThinkVantage tools to do some maintenance. They didn't work in Windows either before that.

Last edited by Nichollan (2010-08-20 15:06:28)

moose jaw · 2010-08-20 18:49:55

A bit late to the party here... but I have been running Arch on a Thinkpad Edge 13" for a few months now, and it works like a charm. I've got the Intel model (SU7300 CPU w/Intel graphics), and with the Intel 1000 wireless, which works fine with the iwlagn driver in the kernel.

One thing that bothered me for a while was the incessant beeping; even after disabling all system beeps in the BIOS, it still beeped at me when shutting down, hitting bad keystroke combos, etc. I finally fixed it by blacklisting the pcspkr module in /etc/rc.conf: no more beeps!

Don't really have time to do a full write-up, but happy to try to answer any specific configuration questions. As I said, everything is working just great on my machine: trackpad (w/two-finger scrolling), trackpoint, wireless, cpufreq, suspend/resume (I don't use hibernate, so can't comment), ACPI events on lid close/open, backlight function keys; don't use Bluetooth so can't comment on that. All in all, very happy, and a great machine for Arch!

BimoZX · 2010-10-31 09:26:41

If anyone wants to know, the bluetooth works with the latest kernel, been with this laptop for one year and it never disappoint me.

@moose jaw: btw, what suspend method do you use is it the usual pm-suspend?

Thinkpol · 2010-11-05 16:33:20

moose jaw wrote:

One thing that bothered me for a while was the incessant beeping; even after disabling all system beeps in the BIOS, it still beeped at me when shutting down, hitting bad keystroke combos, etc. I finally fixed it by blacklisting the pcspkr module in /etc/rc.conf: no more beeps!

That's the best solution, but I wanted to note that many of the most annoying beeps can be shut down via bios too. I have been playing around with a descending/ascending beep series on sleep/wake on my x100e (in ACPI's handler.sh) and so wanted to reload the pcspkr module, but I turned off the default bios sourced beeps first.

Of course this means going through every application that throws beeps and turning them off where possible, but I kind of like the audible confirm of sleep... not that I don't trust my own acpi scripts, but it's nice to know I'm not throwing a live laptop into my bag to overheat

alexmj · 2012-03-01 18:19:12

I have a Thinkpad Edge E420.Arch linux works fine now.I referred arch wiki(for both general and thinkpad specific instructions) and thinkwiki for extra infos.My earlier problems were a suspend issue which i solved with the aid of https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=127925 and network-manager-wifi issue which solved by referring to https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=134377.
Still i have an issue relating to thinkpad_ec and tp_smapi is also not working https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=127878.
But i am pleased with current performance of archlinux.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-07-20 13:35:11

Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#2 2010-07-20 14:55:39

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#3 2010-07-20 16:28:26

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#4 2010-07-20 20:27:26

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#5 2010-08-02 22:41:58

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#6 2010-08-20 11:42:28

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#7 2010-08-20 12:01:46

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#8 2010-08-20 12:15:09

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#9 2010-08-20 13:27:54

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#10 2010-08-20 15:03:33

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#11 2010-08-20 18:49:55

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#12 2010-10-31 09:26:41

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#13 2010-11-05 16:33:20

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

#14 2012-03-01 18:19:12

Re: Has anyone installed Archlinux on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge with success?

Board footer