Issues wirh Opensuse 11 + KDE 3.5.9 on Lenovo Thinkpad R61

English Hardware
#1

Hello all,

I am a newbie having started to try linux distributions as alternative OS to winXP. I wish to report the problems with the working of OpenSUSE 11 + KDE 3.5.9 (linux kernel 2.6.25.16-0.1)installed from dvd in my thinkpad R61 (model 7738-1GG) notebook with an intel GM965 graphics and Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network.

  1. On regular opensuse boot (from grub menu):
    The Fn keys for brightness (“home” for up and “end” for down) do not work;The command “lshal | grep laptop_panel” gives two sets of identical entries. Brightness could however be changed using kpowersave". Blacklisting video in the file “/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist” disables this possibility. The Fn+F5 does not toggle or cycle WiFi LED or wlan connectivity; it only toggles Bluetooth LED and connection. The wifi works though, I am able to connect to internet and control connection using knetworkmanager.

  2. On a “failsafe” opensuse boot (from grub menu):
    The brightness keys work perfect. The command “lshal | grep laptop_panel” gives no results. Volume up, down and mute keys do not work. the wifi LED is permenantly OFF, The Fn+F5 key combination produce no response -> it does not toggle wifi LED neither bluetooth LED. Wlan connection works though; I am able to connect to internet through it.

  3. on a boot with opensuse 10.3 live-cd, the wifi LED is permenantly on, occasionally blinks at high frequency. the Fn+F5 does not work, but the wlan connection works. Except thinklight and numberlock hotkeys, none of the other hotkeys work, no response.

Ubuntu 8.04 (hardy heron) installed in another partition has none of the above problems (the wifi LED got corrected after installing a backport module according to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...24/+bug/176090

Sound: The volume control is not smmoth (linear) as in winXP. Say at 20% or 40 % I get very feebleaudio not comparable to 20 or 40%, but near 90-100% it is appropriate to the setting. Is it related to some driver problem?

Fonts: Font size of desktop icons, all GUIs of applications such as firefox, audacious (playlist) and many other places are bigger, so space for text, and around text becomes too cramped. How to reduce these font sizes to a pleasant and clear look?

Can anybody help to solve the above? Thanks in advance.

Greetings,
badhrin

#2

Hello,

Any replies on the brightness issue and the wifi LEDs please …???
This topic is not new for opensuse, but I am still unable to find a solution…in spite of the R61 being a popular mdel…!!! Wo liegt das Problem?

Badhrin :-((

#3

Did you search here for any information related to your issues?
Category:R61 - ThinkWiki

#4

Yes, and much more, but of no good use…I have installed the latest madwifi driver to try some advice there, graphics driver is ok… what else? I am not expert enough to write shell scripts and edit config files. I can at best follow a clear step by step procedure…add a file to a directory, copy & paste some text in some file (using kate)… or install additional software/driver/patch in usual routes e.g., from yast… or run a set of commands in terminal exactly as advised.

Opensuse experts, developers… I look forward to your inputs. Please enable me to run opensuse like winxp. I want to run suse instead of escaping even for normal work, to windows…one has to get used to it right? … these problems are barriers to do that. Otherwise I like suse with kde 3… it looks great.

Greetings,
Badhrin

#5

Since you mention Ubuntu, I assume you have tried it. Did this same “linear” problem exist there?

My experience is this sort of behaviour can be application specific. In particular I have observed severe non-linearity and severe distortion in the volume control of “vlc”, but NOT in “smplayer” nor in “xine-ui”, nor in “amarok”.

Note that there is a volume control setting under YaST > Hardware > Sound > Other that one should ensure is not at 20%, but rather is around 60% to 70%. I also assume you have gone into your mixer and optimized the settings there?

#6

I have a R61e
All works perfectly from install, though I have the kde3 build service repo now.

I show you a desktop, hang on

#7

Here is a shot
http://files.opensuse.org/opensuse/en/9/94/R61e.png