Lenovo ThinkPad T420s
Fans
The thinkpad_acpi kernel module needs to be configured so user space programs can control the fan speed.
/etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf
options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1
The thinkfan configuration file also needs to know how to set the fan speed. Replace the default sensor settings with the following.
/etc/thinkfan.conf
sensor /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp1_input
Using multiple monitors with NVIDIA-Optimus
It seems that the digital video ports (DVI or DisplayPort) only connected to the NVIDIA-card (Only if you have one, of course, see ThinkWiki - Switchable Graphics and Docks). So you cannot use a monitor via DisplayPort/DVI with the integrated graphics card (Intel). You can solve this problem by switching completly to the NVIDIA card in the BIOS settings, but this uses more battery power. A better solution is to activate the NVIDIA-Card only when you connected to an external monitor.
First install and configure Bumblebee.
After that you can start a secound XServer on your NVIDIA-Card (replace the $path-to-nvidia-org-configuration-file !):
Xorg :9 -config $path-to-nvidia-org-configuration-file -nolisten tcp -noreset -verbose 3 -isolateDevice PCI:01:00:0 -modulepath /usr/lib/nvidia-bumblebee/xorg/,/usr/lib/xorg/modules
With a minimal xorg-configuration for your NVIDIA-Card, as example:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "NVS 4200M"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "UseEDID" "true"
EndSection
This minimal configuration should detected the connected monitor and use it automatically.
If Bumblebee is correctly configured, your NVIDIA-Card should wake-up when you start the secound X-Server and if you kill it, it should be going to sleep again.
Example X.org-Configuration using Intel and NVIDIA together
You can use your internal monitor (connected only to the intel card) and some external monitor (Connected to the NVIDIA card) together with Xinerama. The example configuration below shows how to use three screens with Xinerama, two external with the NVIDIA card and the internal with the intel card.
/etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.org Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
Screen 1 "Screen1" LeftOf "Screen0"
Screen 2 "Screen2" LeftOf "Screen1"
Option "Xinerama" "1"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "intelDevice"
Driver "intel"
Option "XvMC" "true"
Option "UseEvents" "true"
Option "AccelMethod" "UXA"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidiaDevice"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "NVS 4200M"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
#Option "UseEDID" "true"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 0
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidiaDevice2"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "NVS 4200M"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier "nvidiaMonitor"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "DELL U2412M"
HorizSync 30.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 61.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "nvidiaDevice"
Monitor "nvidiaMonitor"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-6"
Option "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "intelDevice"
Monitor "intelMonitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen2"
Device "nvidiaDevice2"
Monitor "nvidiaTVMonitor"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "metamodes" "DFP-2: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "intelMonitor"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "LVDS"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier "nvidiaTVMonitor"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "SONY TV"
HorizSync 14.0 - 70.0
VertRefresh 48.0 - 62.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Switching configurations when the device is docked at boot
The following rc-script detects at boot if your ThinkPad is connected to the dock. If the device is docked, it activates the NVIDIA card and copy a custom XOrg-Configuration (with an external monitor configured, as example) to /etc/X11/xorg.conf. If the device is not docked, the /etc/X11/xorg.conf is removed, so the default configuration is used and the NVIDIA card is disabled. (So it saves power on travel.)
Save this script to /etc/rc.d/dockscript or something and make it executable. Your custom XOrg-Configuration should at /etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia. Then add dockscript to DAEMONS in your rc.conf. bumblebeed should start before and your X-Server must start after.
You can detect the correct dock_usb_id by using lsusb.
/etc/rc.d/dockscript
#!/bin/bash
dock_usb_id="17ef:100a Lenovo ThinkPad Mini Dock Plus Series 3"
dock_xorg_file=/etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia
xorg_file=/etc/X11/xorg.conf
. /etc/rc.conf
. /etc/rc.d/functions
case "$1" in
start)
stat_busy "Starting Dock Detection"
lsusb | grep "$dock_usb_id" > /dev/null
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
tee /proc/acpi/bbswitch <<<ON
cp "$dock_xorg_file" "$xorg_file"
else
rm "$xorg_file"
fi
stat_done
;;
stop)
stat_busy "Stopping Dock Detection"
rm "$xorg_file"
tee /proc/acpi/bbswitch <<<OFF
stat_done
;;
restart)
$0 stop
sleep 3
$0 start
;;
*)
echo "usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"
esac
exit 0
Sound
To make sound work, make sure all channels are unmuted via alsamixer or similar, and configure the snd-hda-intel module to load specifically for a thinkpad.
/etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf
options snd-hda-intel model=thinkpad
TrackPoint
See TrackPoint.