Debian on Lenovo X201
I have bought a new laptop/netbook, a Lenovo X201. My initial reactions are positive. It runs Debian better than my old Dell laptop does (see my Debian on Dell Precision M65 writeup). The rest of this article will be devoted to notes and information about running a GNU/Linux system on the Lenovo X201.
First the hardware configuration and quick status summary of how well each piece is working:
| CPU | Intel Core i7 620M 2.67GHz | OK |
| RAM | Samsung 4GB RAM DDR3 1333 MHz PC3-10600 | OK |
| BIOS | Lenovo v1.22 dated 2010-08-23 | OK |
| Disk | Seagate Momentus 320GB ST9320423AS | OK |
| Graphics | Intel GMA HD integrated | OK |
| Screen (internal) | 1200×800 12.1″ WXGA TFT | OK |
| Screen (external) | DisplayPort support for at least 1920×1200 | OK |
| Webcam | Lenovo/Chicony Camera | OK |
| Mouse | UltraNav TrackPoint/TouchPad | OK |
| Ethernet | Intel PRO/1000 (e1000) 82577LM | OK |
| CD/DVD burner | Matshita DVD-RAM (in Lenovo X200 UltraBase) | OK |
| Card reader | Generic USB2.0-CRW ID 0bda:0159 | OK |
| Bluetooth | Broadcom USB ID 0a5c:217f | OK |
| Fingerprint | Upek USB ID 147e:2016 | ? |
| Modem | ? | ? |
| Audio | Intel 5 Series/3400 HD-Audio | FAIL |
| Wireless | Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 | FAIL |
| 3G | Qualcomm Gobi 2000 | FAIL |
| GPS | Qualcomm Gobi 2000 | FAIL |
I’m also using a Omnikey 4321 ExpressCard smart card reader, but it was not included in the laptop.
For reference, this laptop was labeled “3323″ and “NUSRCMS” from the reseller. It included the UltraBase X200 as a combo.
Installation
The installation was unexciting except for software bugs that were easy to work around and that I expect will be resolved eventually. For more information, see my installation report. It also contains “lsusb” and “lspci” output if you are curious about hardware details.
Hdparm testing of the hard drive:
Timing cached reads: 9188 MB in 2.00 seconds = 4596.31 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 280 MB in 3.02 seconds = 92.78 MB/sec
The Intel graphics is working fine, both the internal TFT and the external DisplayPort. I’m driving my Dell 2405FPW (DVI) to 1920×1200 without issues. Cycling through monitors with Fn-F7 works out of the box.
Wired ethernet via X200 UltraBase works. The UltraBase do not appear to contain another ethernet card, it is just another ethernet socket for the internal ethernet port.
I have tested bluetooth for file browsing and connecting to the Internet via my Nokia N900.
The card reader handled a SD card fine, haven’t tested other formats.
The ExpressCard54 slot handles my OmniKey 4321 smart card reader without issues, together with pcscd and GnuPG. However, the mecanical button used to eject cards is poorly made and does not handle the force required to eject the card.
Suspend to RAM+Disk is working fine, and the special keys Fn+F4 to suspend works.
I’m able to hotplug connect to the UltraBase docking station.
Fingerprint reader is not yet tested.
Audio does not work
Not working out of the box. I’ll update this section when I know how to fix it.
Wireless does not work
The built-in Intel Centrino 6300 does not work without non-free software installed.
Workaround: I downloaded the 9.221.4.1 firmware from Intel Linux Wireless and unpacked it into /lib/firmware. An older version of the firmware is available from the firmware-iwlwifi Debian package in non-free. With this installed, it is working reliable and handles suspend fine.
Gobi 2000 3G/GPS does not work
It appears to require non-free drivers. It works under Ubuntu 10.10 so it should be possible to get it to work under Debian as well. I’ll add more details here later once I figure things out.