Ubuntu Karmic Koala on the Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet

Ubuntu Karmic Koala on a Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet

Last updated: 2009.11.12

Now even easier to install!
(Thanks to the proprieter of http://luke.no-ip.org/x60tablet/ for letting me use his page design. It's good.)

My Hardware

6363-2AU (1.6 GHz) with 3 GB ram, 320 GB disk, and SXGA+ screen (1400x1050).

At a glance

Display	X.org
	External VGA
	Brightness Control
	Automatic Screen Rotation
Input	Trackpoint
	Pen
	Special keys
	Fingerprint Reader
Networking	Ethernet
	Wireless (3945ABG)
	Others
External Connections	USB
	Firewire
	Secure Digital
	PCMCIA
ACPI	CPU Frequency Scaling
	Suspend
	Hibernate
Extra Features	Reducing Power Consumption
	Connecting to iPhone
	Detect tablet orientation
	Active hard drive protection

Works out of the box

Needs tweaking, but works

Hacking required

Only partly works

Does not work

Unchecked

Details

External VGA

X freezes when attempting to run two displays with a combined resolution of more than 2048 in either dimension, see here and here for more. The workaround is to turn off Compiz (System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Visual Effects).

Brightness control

Out of the box I only get four brightness levels when using Fn+Home/Fn+End. However, when dragging the slider in the Power Management application, it's clear that there are 7 possible levels.

Automatic Screen Rotation

There are (at least) three things that need to be performed when rotating the screen: the screen rotation itself, plus changing the stylus orientation and remapping the tablet buttons to match. Here's how to get all of it working.

Ensure the package wacom-tools is installed.
Download my rotate script (it's based on http://liken.otsoa.net/pub/x41t/rotatetablet), save it as /usr/local/bin/rotate, and make it executable. Try the commands "rotate right" and then "rotate normal"; the orientation of the screen should change and then return to normal.
Download wacom.fdi to /etc/hal/fdi/policy/; this ensures the stylus rotates with the screen.
Add the following line to the /etc/sudoers file (with visudo); this ensures the keypad rotates with the screen.
%admin ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/setkeycodes
Download x60t-swivel-down and x60t-swivel-up to /etc/acpi/events/; this makes screen rotation automatic. I prefer to use the tablet with the buttons on the left; change "left" to "right" in x60t-swivel-down if needed.
Reboot

The screen should now rotate on its own. If it's not working automatically, check that the acpi events defined in the swivel files are correct with acpi_listen. I haven't attempted to set up automatic orientation since I invariably use the tablet in the default mode.

Useful Tablet Software

Xournal Journal software with the ability to annotate PDFs.
CellWriter Trainable, multilanguage handwriting recognition and onscreen keyboard.
Dasher Predictive text input using the mouse or stylus.

Ubuntu Karmic Koala on a Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet

My Hardware

At a glance

Details

External VGA

Brightness control

Automatic Screen Rotation

Special Keys

Reducing Power Consumption

Connecting to iPhone

Useful Tablet Software

Other Resources