IBM Thinkpad 570 - Notes on Installing and Maintaining Linux

It has been several years since I updated my documentation on running Linux on the IBM Thinkpad 570. Most of this documentation relates to Redhat version 6.x. Instead of updating the old documentation, I am rewriting from scratch.

Installation

I use Debian GNU/Linux on most machines I administer, so this documentation relates to my experience installing Debian 3.1 on the IBM Thinkpad 570.

CDROM Install

The Thinkpad 570 has no CDRom drive by default, and is only available as an addon for the Ultrabase docking station. If you don't have the Ultrabase, you will need to use a network install. I had very few problems with this method. On the first boot attempt, the Laptop was not seated correctly on the Ultrabase which meant the CDRom didn't boot. It had power so I was able to eject and insert the media, but it didn't boot. If you have this problem make sure the boot screen is showing that it is detecting a ATAPI CDROM drive after where it does the memory check. If you have the boot flash screen on, you will need to hit escape to see this info, or turn it off in the bios settings.

Network Install (Floppy Boot)

For the network install boot the laptop from floppy. All 4 Boot floppies are needed. These can be found on the cd or from: ftp.debian.org. The contents of the boot cd will need to be available from a web server on the network, or you could do it from the internet if you had bandwith to burn. Boot using boot.img, insert the root.img, and then the two driver disks once the installer starts. The installer only loads one disk by default. I used the network driver disk first. At the "Select a keyboard layout" config screen, choose "Back" and then reselect "Load drivers from a floppy" to load the cdrom driver disk.
An error message will pop up regarding being unable to find the installer cd. This is ok as there is no installer cd present. Skip down to "Detect Network Hardware"

Issues

• (CD) CDRom did not boot initially, see the CDROM Install section for notes.
• Using the default debian kernel, a kernel panic occurs on a soft reboot. This occurs in the middle of the install when the installer reboots the machine. The easy work around is to do a hard reboot, by powering off the machine, then powering it back on when a reboot is required

TBA

TBA