Ibm X30

On this page, I discuss how to install Debian GNU/Linux on an IBM Thinkpad X30. I am not the owner of this computer, my boss is the owner. But I have to install Linux on it, and make some experiments to see what is working (WiFi, Bluetooth, etc...).

I got a mail from Seth Golub, telling me about his page on the same topic, check it out here: Debian/GNU Linux on X30, by Seth.

  • 21.02.2003,

    I just like to mention that bluetooth works great on this computer. I have installed the bluez-patch and the bluez debian-packages from bluez.sourceforge.net. As mentioned on holtmann.org, the hci_usb module should work well on the Ibm. I can confirm that!

  • 27.11.2002,

    Until today, I was struggling with the Wireless LAN on the X30. It turns out that the linux-wlan path mentioned below, was a dead end. I could get the card recognized, and you can even set the essid, but I still can't figure out how to set the wep-keys correctly to talk to our AP2000 base.

    But today, my worries come to and end. I discoverd that a driver for the Prism2.5 cards are included in the 2.4.19 linux kernel. So today, I have compiled a new kernel, marked that I want a module for this card in the config, and thats it. This compile Prism2.5 support into the "orinoco_pci" module, and all I need to do was "modprobe orinoco_pci", and then use the iwconfig tool as one would do with other wlan cards. Now I just need to figure out a clever way of starting the wlan service when needed.

  • 18.11.2002,

    Some more info on the internal wireless lan in X30. lspci shows that there is something called "Harris Semiconductor: Unknown device 3873 (rev 01)" in the computer. Since lspci also say that this is a Network interface, I guess that this is the wireless card. Some minutes with google reveal that the Thinkpad R30 also have this card, and i find a pointer to this page for R30. Using the information on this page, which points to the linux-wlan project, I get a working driver for the card. This require compilation of a kernel module, but is fairly easy to do. The only problem left is to connect to the Orinoco basestation we have. This require wep-encryption, and it is not obvious how to set the right security key,

  • 12.11.2002,

    Although the 'airo' driver installed just fine in the kernel, iwconfig can not find any wireless card, so maybe it is another card in the computer. I have to do more research on this.

  • 12.11.2002

    Today, I changed the apt.source line for the debian-system to use the unstable distribution, and then did the usual upgrade-sequence. Just for fun, I did a startx after that, and guess what. It just worked! During the configuration, I chosed the i810 driver, although I know that this computer have i830, but i810 seem to be just fine. This is great. Even suspen/resume during X-session works!

  • 08.11.2002, kl. 15:55

    I just guess it's intel eepro100 card, and install this driver. It seem to work fine.

  • 08.11.2002, kl. 15:50

    Even when I have installed the module for the WiFi card, the "Configure network" dialog tells me there is no network interface. So the built-in ethernetcard is not discovered. I have to look for more device drivers.

  • 08.11.2002, kl. 15:45

    This computer have a wireless lan card buit-in. I look up the IBM web-page to see what kind of card this is, and it turns out to be a Cisco/Aironet card. I find this module in the Device-driver installation dialog in the Debian installer, and it installs just fine.

  • 08.11.2002, kl. 15:10

    I just started the Debian installation from cd-rom. The screen is very strange (blue, noisy signals), so I turn to google. I know that this computer have to not very good intel830 chipset, so I make a search for "linux intel 830 vga". On the first page I find some good information. Boot with "vga=791". I try this, and now the screen is ok.

The most recent update of this page was done: 19.01.2011 by Åsmund Ødegård.