[ltp] Re: T61p with nVIDIA Quadro FX 570M / WUXGA on 15.4" ?

[linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org]

i'm running 2.6.22-gentoo-r7 on my t61p.

- sound
  i had to compile the alsa-driver-1.0.15_rc2 drivers to get sound to
  work, but i suspect that the next version of the kernel or soon
  thereafter it will have a working set of drivers.

- gfx
  i've tried vesa drivers and nvidia drivers. both work and both have
  their weaknesses. nvidia won't let you adjust brightness - this can be
  overcome by switching to the terminal using <alt-ctrl-F1> and setting
  the brightness there and then switching back again using
  <alt-ctrl-F7>. there is a slight sluggish behaviour with some 2D
  applications such as opera and OOfice, but my experiences aren't nearly
  as bad as the ones described by peter.
  for the vesa drivers you will have to set your modeline for the
  appropriate resolution (recently discussed elsewhere on this list).

- wireless
  i'm using the net-wireless/iwlwifi-1.1.17 wireless drivers with the
  net-wireless/iwl4965-ucode-4.44.1.18 ucode which works well for me.

- suspend
  haven't spent much time on this yet, but the few tests i've done
  haven't been successful (insights into this would be appreciated).

- other stuff
  firewire, mmc card reader work for me. haven't tested bluetooth or
  pcmcia yet.

- power
  when on battery and i'm too fussed about power usage, discharge rate
  is about 21W. when i turn off stuff i don't need and try to conserve
  power, i get down to about 17W. haven't managed to get any lower than
  that for any length of time.

x


On Mon, 01 Oct 2007, Peter Teuben wrote:

> gneeki@gmail.com wrote:
>> Quick scan of the archives and nothing definitive - briefly, can anyone
>> tell me if the T61p with nVIDIA Quadro FX 570M works well under linux?
>> Very general question I know!  I'm after the best build/graphics
>> Thinkpad available - dual-boot - only need tip-top graphics power in
>> Windows - but it has to be functional in Linux!
>> Any gotchas with the T61p with this card?
>
> I have the 1680x1050 version (15.4" WSXGA+  NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M w/ 
> 256MB), and have the following to add, mostly mirroring what others said 
> with one big exception but screen I/O:
>
> 0) installed Fedora 7
> 1) didn't try the vesa drive, went straight to the nvidia ddriver.
>    I don't know if  it's that driver, but for a lot of programs my
>    screen updates/draws are VERY slow. Mostly notably OpenOffice, and
>    also for example a scroll in emacs is very slow and jerky.
>    OO is probably the best (worst) example: making a presentation is
>    now a MAJOR pain, and reminds me to working on a slow 200 MHz
>    machine  with 16MB memory.
> 2) I had no problems with suspending to memory though, unlike some
>    others. But suspending to disk (hibernate) didn't come back well.
> 3) I have the 3945 wireless, and it only sort of sometimes works.
>    also tried installing drivers from scratch, but it's simply not
>    working well. hardcoding the channel # works sometimes better.
> 4) haven't dealt with sound yet, but i hear that's just a matter
>    of recompiling.
>
> The rest seems to work fine, I've only had the laptop for a week,
> so not tested out things like firewire and pcmcia cards. But the basics
> work. Just that wireless and screen I/O problem.
>
> peter
>
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