Libreboot/ThinkPad X60

Note: This guide will be merged with the official Libreboot documentation. Please update your links. thumb|alt=ThinkPad X60 Series.|The ThinkPad X60, X60T, and X60s. The ThinkPad X60 is the first Libreboot laptop, and the only laptop series where every motherboard is guaranteed to work with Libreboot (no ATI GPUs, all LCDs work out of the box, etc.). Briefing All ThinkPad X60/X60s/X60 Tablet motherboards support Libreboot, since none of them have an ATI GPU. The ThinkPad X60 series supports software BIOS flashing. No hardware flashing is necessary, unless you accidentally brick the BIOS. You must install GNU/Linux before installing Libreboot. Here's a list of FSF-approved distros. In order to use an FSF-approved GNU/Linux distro, you must replace the Intel 3945abg Wifi Card; since it uses proprietary drivers. We recommend an Atheros ath9k Wireless-N miniPCI card. Other wifi cards with open source drivers are listed at h-node. You will need to remove the keyboard and palmrest in order to replace the miniPCI card. If you're not brave enough to do this, just buy a USB dongle. Don't plug in the new miniPCI card until Libreboot is installed, or your laptop will not boot (due to pesky miniPCI whitelisting). Until Libreboot is installed, you must use an Ethernet cable to connect to the internet, or transfer data via a USB drive. Find the Right ROM Under the bin/ folder in libreboot_bin/, there are a multitude of Libreboot ROMs sorted by motherboard. Choose the ROM with your laptop's keyboard layout (US or UK, QWERTY or DVORAK). For ThinkPads, choose a serial ROM if dock and serial port support is needed. bin/x60/ - ThinkPad X60/X60s bin/x60t/ - ThinkPad X60 Tablet Once you know which ROM to use, remember it's directory path for the next step (ex. bin/x60/libreboot_serial_usqwerty.rom ) Check the ROMs section from the official Libreboot Documentation for the latest list. Remove High Pitched Whining Noise There might be a high pitched whining noise coming from the CPU at times, so if it bothers you, follow this procedure to get rid of it: Installing PowerTop On Trisquel 6, you will need to use a later powertop version from git. The one in the repositories is too old. Check the next section. First, install powertop from the repositories: sudo apt-get install powertop Now you can use this command to kill that noise: sudo powertop --auto-tune You can also run it without parameters and then go into 'Tunables' and set everything to 'Good' Powertop - Start automatically at boot time (Trisquel 6) This script is meant for Trisquel 6, since it's version of powertop is too old. But it works on other Ubuntu/Debian systems. Included with the libreboot release is a script called powertop.trisquel6. Run this and it will setup powertop to run with --auto-tune at boot time. Load the file in your text editor to see how it does that. ./powertop.trisquel6 Source: Libreboot Docs - Remove High Pitched Whining Noise on Ubuntu/Debian/Trisquel Powertop for Arch Linux/Parabola Become root: su - Install powertop: pacman -S powertop Add the following to /etc/systemd/system/powertop.service : [Unit] Description=Powertop tunings [Service] Type=oneshot RemainAfterExit=no ExecStart=/usr/bin/powertop --auto-tune # "powertop --auto-tune" still needs a terminal for some reason. Possibly a bug? Environment="TERM=xterm" [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target Finally, enable powertop in systemd: systemctl enable powertop systemctl start powertop The next time you boot the machine, the buzz will be gone. Powertop Cannot Load from File Powertop will not work immediately, it has to collect measurement data before implementing it's features, which will be stored in /var/cache/powertop/saved_parameters.powertop Leave the laptop running on battery for a while, and Powertop will figure something out sooner or later. Source: Arch Linux Wiki - Powertop Sources Libreboot Documentation - How to flash Libreboot on a Lenovo BIOS