Linux on an IBM Thinkpad 760XL

I had little trouble getting Linux to run on my Thinkpad.  Most of my griefs came from X.  My laptop is currently named Sbeta, though I'm considering changing the names of all my computers to those of characters and computers from Robert Anson Heinlein's multiverse.  NOTE:  I'm not responsible for any damages this website causes.  It's just a (I hope definitive) guide for getting Linux and X to run under the IBM Thinkpad 760XL. (For those of you who wouldn't sue me, sorry for wasting your time with this message.)  See my copyright, for additional info.

The Hardware

CPU	Pentium 166MMX CPU.
Video Chipset	Trident 9660
Display	LCD
IDE Chipset	Intell PIIXn
Button mouse	Standard PS/2 (/dev/psaux)
PCMCIA	Cardbus-compatible
Sound	100% Sound Blaster Compatible
Network	I use a PCMCIA NE2000 compatible card
InfraRed	IrDA, but I haven't played with it yet.

Video Chipset
The Trident 9660 has poor support under Linux.  As of kernel 2.4.19, there is a #error preprocessor directive in the Trident framebuffer driver.  Right now, I'm using XFree86 3.3.6 with the -SVGA server.  Here's my XF86Config file.

I plan on playing with (and describing my experience with) the kernel framebuffer, and XFree86 3.3.6's and XFree86 4.1.x's SVGA and VESA servers.  I'm also considering trying the kernel's SVGA and VESA framebuffer drivers.

Under XFree86 3.3.6-SVGA, the video is sloow.  Read my page on getting WindowMaker to run decently fast on it.  I expect most of the  problem lies with the fact that I'm not running any accelerated drivers, as I run a PCI Trident 9680 on Sparky, my old 200MHz home-grown machine, and it runs fine.  See below for more info on X on this laptop.

Display
The LCD Display I'm using was a real bear to set up under X.  Here's a working XF86Config file for XFree86 3.3.6 (Should work for 3.3.x in general, but I haven't had occasion to test it.  I should point out that I haven't yet managed to get XFree86 4.* to work.)

For those of you wondering why only part of your LCD is in use, it's because, normally, textmode only takes up 640x480 pixels of your display.  The configuration utilities for the Thinkpad (Available for Windows 3.1/9x and OS/2) allow you to change settings in your BIOS that control the brightness of your LCD and whether or not to stretch 640x480 to 800x600, filling your display.  For those of you wondering why text/graphics on your screen are funky and distorted, it's because your laptop is already set to perform such stretching.  The stretching is not uniform, and is, in my opion, very ugly.

IDE Chipset
The 760XL runs the Intel PIIXn IDE chipset.  Enable that and (if you want) tuning support if you compile your own kernels.  For added efficiency, you can remove the bugfixes for the other IDE chipsets, as the laptop doesn't have them.

Mouse
The eraser-button mouse on this laptop is a standard PS/2 mouse.  There's also a port for a PS/2 mouse on the back of the thinkpad.  For those of you new to Linux, PS/2 mice can be accessed at /dev/psaux.  Set X and/or GPM accordingly.

PCMCIA
This laptop has two Cardbus-compatible PC Card controllers.  Note that as of 08/21/02, the Woody install disks fail when trying to install the base system over a PCMCIA network device.  Use the Potato install disks, instead.  You'll still end up installing the Stable release of Debian.  Unless this page hasn't been updated in a long time, you can assume that that's the "Woody" release.

Sound
This laptop has an ESS chipset, but is 100% Sound Blaster compatible.  Use the "sb.o" kernel module for sound.  I haven't tried ALSA yet, but I'll update this page when I do.

A word of warning:  The ThinkPad was very poorly designed from an audio standpoint.  I'm not just talking about the audio quality.  The microphone for your laptop is located at the upper-right corner of your display.  When you close your lid, it comes within a few millimeters of your lower-right speaker.  This produces a high-pitched squeal which I suspect is capable of scaring bats awy.  The easiest solution to this is to mute your speaker volume using the volume control at the top of your keyboard.  Once you get Linux installed, you also have the options of either A) Not inserting the sb.o module into the kernel, or B) using a program like aumix to mute the microphone.

I also found that plugging an amplifier into the 1/8th inch jack on the left side of the laptop produced a 60Hz buzz in the system.  The only solution I've found to this is to disconnect the power supply to the laptop whenever I'm doing presentations that require the use of the jack.  Hard-drive access also causes a faint 'thump' for every flash of the LCD HD activity indicator.  I don't think there's any way to solve it.  Normal audio through the built-in speakers doesn't emit the buzz, however.

Network
I use an NE2000-compatible PCMCIA network device, whose interface is automatically configured to use my static IP.  (I suggest you run "dpkg -L pcmcia-cs|grep man" and read the manpages listed there, if you have means to install the pcmcia-cs package anywhere.)

Infrared support
The 760XL supports IrDA, but I haven't played with it yet.  Note that you have a choice between using your serial port and using the infrared ports.  I've got a second laptop harddrive with DOS and Windows 3.1 on it, with the Thinkpad 760XL configuration tools from IBM installed.

Operating System	GNU/Linux
Kernel	Linux 2.4.19
Distribution	Debian Woody
X Window	XFree86 3.3.6
Desktop Environment	GNOME 1.4
Window Manager	WindowMaker
Web Browser	Opera

Operating System
I ran DOS for a while, enjoying the shareware version of Descent.  Now I ru Linux, which lets me do a lot more with my computer.  I've Linux on various systems for five years now, so my only difficulties have been laptop-specific issues.

Kernel
I've run 2.2.19(link to source code) and 2.4.17-19(link to source code).  I've never run into any compatability problems.  Linux supports everything that's built in to this laptop, except maybe the docking station. (I've never had the oppertunity to try it.  If you do, let me know how it turns out.

Distribution
I run the Woody release of Debian.  It makes available GNOME 1.4 and 2.0, KDE 2(Haven't looked to see if 3 is available.), X Window 3.3.6.

X Window
I run XFree86 3.3.6.  I was unable to get XFree86 4.1.x to work. It doesn't look like a modeline issue, but I'm going to contact a few people involved with X's gizzards to see if I can't find out what's wrong.  As soon as I can, I want to try getting the more recent server running, since, on this laptop, graphics with the 3.3.6 SVGA server are terribly slow.  I look foward to trying the VESA and Trident drivers with the 4.1.x server.  (Should you try this, be warned:  I'm told the Trident drivers for XF86 4.x.x are dodgy.  However, I have never had X crash on me in any situation on any machine.)

You should use my XF86Config file as a base for yours.  Note that this is your configuration file.  It tells your X server how to deal with your hardware.  Also note that the mine is for version 3.3.6, and is incompatible with anything 4.x.

Desktop Environment
I don't know anyone else who runs either GNOME or KDE on this model laptop due to the laptop's speed.  I currently run GNOME 1.4, and I'm told it takes a long time to boot on slow machines.  However, I don't really notice, either because I'm accustomed to slow computers, or because I'm still half asleep when I boot up my laptop at work in the morning.

Window Manager
While I can tolerate a "slow" desktop environment, I don't like waiting for graphics to be redrawn, or for windows to be relocated as I move them.  That's why I run WindowMaker.  I've made several tweaks, disabling various bits of eyecandy so things go quicker.

Web Browser
I run Opera, because Opera runs a lot faster than Mozilla, Galeon, or Netscape 4.x.

This page Copyright (©) 2002 Mike Mol.  Feel free to link to this page, or to use or copy information from it.  If you do use this information on the web elsewhere, please let me know, so I can link to your site.  Feel free to contact me with questions or comments.