Ubuntu on Thinkpad X41 – Enabling Thinkpad specific components

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This is one of a number of posts detailing how to install Ubuntu 6.10 (codename Edgy) on a Thinkpad X41.

The Thinkpad X41 Tablet has some very cool features that unfortunately Ubuntu Edgy doesn’t support out of the box. This post details how to get them working.

To get the Tablet Pen working (source link):

1. You may need your Ubuntu CD, so connect your external CD/DVD drive and insert the CD.
2. Type: sudo apt-get install wacom-kernel-source xserver-xorg-input-wacom wacom-tools
3. Restart your computer and log back in.
4. Next check if /dev/wacom exists using
   ls -al /dev | grep wacom
5. If it does exist:
   1. type sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
   2. Check the file to see if InputDevice elements exist with the Identifiers stylus, eraser and cursor. If not, then add the following text to the bottom of the file. Note that pasting this text or editing it directly in gEdit may introduce invalid characters into your xorg.conf file, causing Ubuntu to fail on startup. So you’re better off typing in the text (I know, there’s a lot of it).

   Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom"
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection


   3. Find the “ServerLayout” section and add

   InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"


   4. Every suspend/resume cycle drops the wacom, so save the file http://www.skynet.ie/~sos/ubuntu/20-setserial.sh to /etc/acpi/resume.d/
   5. Run the following command:

   sudo chmod +x /etc/acpi/resume.d/20-setserial.sh

   6. If the stylus still does not work after suspending (even after applying the fix above) try replacing all the “/dev/wacom“‘s in your xorg to “/dev/ttyS0“, and restart Ubuntu.

To get the trackpoint scrolling working, type:

1. sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
2. Find the “Input Device” section whose “Identifier” is “Configured Mouse”, and add the following two lines to the section:
   Option “EmulateWheel” “true”
   Option “EmulateWheelButton” “2”

To get the auto-rotate of the screen working, where the screen switches to portrait mode when in tablet mode, do the following (this is copied more or less directly from here):

1. Open a terminal and type acpi_listen. This should give the following result:

ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00005009
ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 0000500a

2. If the results are different, make sure to substitute your values for the values I use here.
3. Save these two files to the /etc/acpi folder
   1. http://www.skynet.ie/~sos/ubuntu/x41tsdown.sh
   2. http://www.skynet.ie/~sos/ubuntu/x41tsup.sh
4. Execute the following code

sudo chown root.root /etc/acpi/x41tsdown.sh
sudo chmod 755 /etc/acpi/x41tsdown.sh
sudo chown root.root /etc/acpi/x41tsup.sh
sudo chmod 755 /etc/acpi/x41tsup.sh


5. The previous steps define what to do when the laptop screen being closed or opened fires a particular event. Now we must register these scripts to be fired when that event is triggered. Copy the following two files to /etc/acpi/events.
   1. http://www.skynet.ie/~sos/ubuntu/x41t-swivel-down
   2. http://www.skynet.ie/~sos/ubuntu/x41t-swivel-up
6. Now restart the daemon that listens for these events. Type:
   sudo /etc/init.d/acpid force-reload
   sudo /etc/init.d/acpid restart
7. If you would like a virtual keyboard to appear on the screen when you swivel down the screen, type:

sudo apt-get install xvkbd

8. Swivel your laptop screen to make sure it works, and you’re done!