DebianOn is an effort to document how to install, configure and use Debian on some specific hardware. Therefore potential buyers would know if that hardware is supported and owners would know how get the best out of that hardware.

The purpose is not to duplicate the Debian Official Documentation, but to document how to install Debian on some specific hardware.

If you need help to get Debian running on your hardware, please have a look at our user support channels where you may find specific channels (mailing list, IRC channel) dedicated to certain types of hardware.

Translation(s): none

Models covered
Lenovo ThinkPad T420

Overall Status

Core Components

[ATTACH]

Boot Standard Kernel:

{OK}

LAN network card (Generic Ethernet):

{OK}

Detect CD/DVD (Generic DVD+RW) :

{OK}

Sound:

{OK}

Detect hard drives:

{OK}

Extra Features

CPU Frequency Scaling

{OK}

Hibernation

[?]

Sleep / Suspend

{OK}

Xorg

{OK}

- OpenGL

{OK}

- Resize-and-Rotate(randr)

{OK}

Switch to External Screen

{OK}

Mouse

- Built-in (Trackpoint)

{OK}

- Built-in (Touchpad)

{OK}

Bluetooth

[?]

Webcam

{OK}

Wireless/Wifi

X-(

Keyboard's Hotkeys

{OK}

Modem

[?]

Express card reader

[?]

SD card reader

[?]

External dock

{OK}

Legend :
{OK} = OK ; {X} Unsupported(No Driver) ; /!\ = Error (Couldn't get it working); [?] Unknown, Not Test ; [-] Not-applicable
{i} = Configuration Required; X-( = Only works with a non-free driver and or firmware

Configuration

Audio

The snd_hda_intel driver included in alsa-base works out of the box.

Dock audio

TODO

Power Management

Suspend-to-RAM works out of the box.

To prevent the laptop from suspending when the lid is closed, set the following in /etc/systemd/logind.conf:

HandleLidSwitch=lock

Putting the following kernel module options in /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf has been suggested to reduce the power consumption of the GPU at rest:

options i915 i915_enable_rc6=7 i915_enable_fbc=1 lvds_downclock=1

laptop-mode-tools

If you use laptop-mode-tools, you will need the following in /etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/lcd-brightness.conf to configure the brightness of the screen:

BATT_BRIGHTNESS_COMMAND="echo 3000"
LM_AC_BRIGHTNESS_COMMAND="cat /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/max_brightness"
NOLM_AC_BRIGHTNESS_COMMAND="cat /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/max_brightness"
BRIGHTNESS_OUTPUT="/sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness"

and the following in /etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/cpufreq.conf to use the correct CPU governors:

BATT_CPU_GOVERNOR=powersave
LM_AC_CPU_GOVERNOR=performance
NOLM_AC_CPU_GOVERNOR=performance

WiFi

Wireless did not work out-of-the box, but required installation of the non-free Debian package firmware-iwlwifi.

System Summary

lspci

lsusb

TODO

Resources

Attachments

Some configuration files and sample outputs.

  • [get | view] (2014-06-09 12:47:30, 10.4 KB) [[attachment:dmidecode.Jessie_Thinkpad_T420.txt]]
  • [get | view] (2014-06-09 12:48:21, 5.2 KB) [[attachment:lsmod.Jessie_Thinkpad_T420.txt]]
  • [get | view] (2014-06-09 12:41:40, 7.8 KB) [[attachment:lspci.Jessie_Thinkpad_T420.txt]]
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