This is a review, of sorts, though it will grow as I need/test features.
I received my T410s and recorded a video of myself rejecting the Microsoft EULA, and erasing the harddrive. Good riddance, Windows 7.
The keyboard feels really nice/fast. I don’t find the trackpoint thing especially useful, but maybe I’ll learn to use it.
The hardware does not include:
- a dial-adjustment for volume
- extra buttons for one-touch launches of browser, email, etc
The light in the mute button is nice, as is the large delete key. Having a keyboard light is a nice step up from my last laptop.
Installing Ubuntu was flawless and the basics all work nicely. They ought to; Lenovo may not sell this (or any) computer without an operating system, but they certify it as fully Ubuntu-ready.
Why, then, does it look like
- the finger-print reader does not work (UPDATE: Feb 2011: The instructions at https://launchpad.net/~fingerprint/+archive/fingerprint-gui work flawlessly. My laptop now uses the fingerprint swipe to log in, unlock the screen and even authenticate when I invoke a command-line “sudo”! Wow. T410s uses an UPEK device.)
- not certain that hibernate works? (sleep does)
- the fan runs continuously at high speed when the machine is plugged in, regardless of CPU load. As of Feb 2011, this is the biggest remaining glitch.
- two-finger / multitouch scrolling does not work on the touchpad. (UPDATE: See the comments for this post; there’s a reasonable software workaround so I now have multifinger horizontal and vertical scrolling on, and have turned all edge scrolling off.)
Sad update: The next version of Ubuntu, 11.04, has been a complete disaster for me on my Thinkpad, despite it being a mainstream, popular piece of hardware. I’ve never had such a frustrating experience in two decades of Unix and GNU/Linux of things that used to work being broken by, first, a new version, and subsequently, the automated updates that I accept from Ubuntu. I am overwhelmed with the number of bugs and retrograded features that I cannot submit bug reports for or tabulate them all. There are now three choices of interface to choose from to try to get a working two-monitor system: Unity, Ubuntu Classic, and Ubuntu Classic with no effects. And all have horrid problems, which have gotten better and then much worse with subsequent updates. I’m at a loss (July 2011). I would downgrade to 10.10 but I suspect if I want the updated versions of 10.10, they may now be corrupted by backports as well…
The Red Pen 
Thanks for the hints. I got the same the multitouch feature on the trackpad working in Ubuntu 10.10 as well. Here’s a more “permanent” solution:
make a file twofinger.sh with the following lines:
”
#!/bin/bash
sleep 6
xinput set-prop “SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad” “Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling” 1 1
xinput set-prop “SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad” “Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure” 20
”
I don’t know why you need that second line, but without it, the following solution wouldn’t work.
Then make the file executable:
$ chmod +x twofinger.sh
Then, add twofinger.sh as one of the start-up files:
System -> Preferences -> Sessions -> Startup Programs -> Add!
And you’re done!
Every time I put my computer to sleep and wake it up, I need to rerun my script, so I don’t think I’d count putting it in “Startup Programs” as permanent….
ahh, you’re right. damn it.
My T410s comes with a touchscreen, and the multitouch feature on the screen wouldn’t work with ubuntu 10.10 either. That one seems a lot harder to fix. Any clues?
Also, even single touch recognition on the screen vanishes after the computer wakes up from sleep…
A better solution for me is to use System->Preferences->keyboard-shortcuts to set up a key sequence to run those two shell lines. I have ctrl-alt-f (for finger) turn on the two finger scrolling. Doing this each time the OS wakes up or etc is not too onerous.
Some progress has been made on the fingerprint reader. See the updated note in the original post.
Also, here’s my latest two-finger script, which runs whenever I type Ctrl-Alt-f. It turns on multi-finger scrolling, both horizontal and vertical. I haven’t investigated the circular gestures, but xinput list-props (see below) lists it…:
#!/bin/bash
#
# list of synaptics device properties http://www.x.org/archive/X11R7.5/doc/man/man4/synaptics.4.html#sect4
#
# Some useful commands :
# xinput list
# xinput list-props “SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad”
# xinput test “SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad”
# xinput test-xi2 “SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad”
#
# Try these, from an ubuntu forum:. CPBL: Feb 2011. Seems that with width below, three fingers is better. using it now for vert and horiz 3-finger scrolling…
xinput –set-prop –type=int –format=32 “SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad” “Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure” 4
xinput –set-prop –type=int –format=32 “SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad” “Synaptics Two-Finger Width” 8 # Below width 1 finger touch, above width simulate 2 finger touch. – value=pad-pixels
# Aha! Horizontal does seem to work, though better with three fingers (width is 8, above)…
xinput –set-prop –type=int –format=8 “SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad” “Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling” 1 1 # vertical scrolling, horizontal scrolling – values: 0=disable 1=enable
# Can turn on horiz scrolling here; seems to work. But I’m turning it off; let’s use multifinger for all.
xinput –set-prop –type=int –format=8 “SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad” “Synaptics Edge Scrolling” 0 0 0 # vertical, horizontal, corner – values: 0=disable 1=enable
# CPBL: not sure whether I want this:
xinput –set-prop –type=int –format=32 “SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad” “Synaptics Jumpy Cursor Threshold” 250 # stabilize 2 finger actions – value=pad-pixels
I use thinkfan to control the fan. It works well out of the box.
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/thinkfan
I cannot find any authoritative documentation for thinkfan. Can you explain how to use it on the T410s?
I have tried:
sudo apt-get install thinkfan
creating or editing the file /etc/modprobe.d/options to include the line “https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/thinkfan”
rebooting
sudo thinkfan
which turns the fan down but the warnings are frightening. What are the appropriate “correction values” for the T410s?
Thanks!
check here
http://thinkpad-wiki.org/Thinkfan
it is in German, but the commands are self explanatory, or use Google translate 🙂