How To LibreBoot T60 (Easy/Simple Commands)

3 réponses [Dernière contribution]
JamesT400
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 03/03/2020

Libreboot's website is not very simple for a beginner, so I wanted to simplify it (because it is actually pretty easy when flashing an X60 and a T60).

Step One, Buy Thinkpad T60: These are very cheap, you can even find some for as low as $20 Bucks.

Step Two, Flash Trisquel 9 by usb: Do this prior to Libreboot, just hold Ctrl and F12 to bring up the USB boot options, and select the USB with Trisquel (assuming you have your USB plugged in that has been flashed with Trisquel). Install the OS, and all updates/upgrades and proceed to step three.

Step Three, plug in an Ethernet cable, and go to libreboot.org and download the util and grub: Select the mirror on the download page (any will do, if in U.S., just select the first U.S. mirror, if in U.K. select the U.K. mirror etc..). Then click "stable" and then "2016097" (or newest directory). Then download the "utils tar.xz." Now go into rom and select "grub" and choose the "T60.tar.xz," after downloading extract the files.

Step Four, Select the Rom: Go into the Grub folder and select the rom you want (U.S. for U.S. etc.., any will do) by moving it to the utils folder.

Step 5, First Flash: Now open up your terminal and type the following (make sure to insert the rom you moved from grub where implied below):

sudo ./flash i945lenovo_firstflash [your rom you chose from grub]

After you press enter you will see errors like the example below:

"(...) failed during command execution at address 0x1f0000
...
Your flash chip is in an unknown state
...
FAILED
...
DO NOT REBOOT OR POWEROFF"

That means you did it right! Now type "sudo shutdown now" and then when you start back up you should have libreboot!... but there is still one more step.

FINAL STEP, second flash: Open up the terminal and type the following:

sudo ./flash i945lenovo_secondflash [insert the same rom you added on first flash]

That is it! you now have a free (as in freedom) computer! You may want to switch out the wifi cards though (since Trisquel will not work with the proprietary WIFI chips). If you did mess up on any of the steps above, refer to this link on libreboot's website: https://libreboot.org/docs/install/#flashrom_lenovobios

aloniv

I am a translator!

Hors ligne
A rejoint: 01/11/2011

It is recommended to backup the proprietary BIOS (using flashrom) and upgrade the EC controller before flashing. Also, your method neglects to mention that most T60s aren't compatible with Libreboot due to incompatible monitors or ATI graphics.

JamesT400
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 03/03/2020

Good points to add, thanks.

nadebula.1984
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 05/01/2018

The most important thing is to avoid discrete graphics T60 models (e.g. Machine Type 2007).

Screen resolution is no big deal. Even if libreboot doesn't support high-resolution screens (e.g. 4:3 SXGA+, UXGA or 16:10 WSXGA+, WUXGA), those screens are perfectly supported by coreboot.

So this is what you need to do: pick an integrated graphics T60, buy one 1-GiB and one 2-GiB DDR2 memory modules (3 GiB is the maximum memory supported), and one Lenovo's original Atheros AR5424 card, which is usable with factory firmware.

Before flashing, you may optionally update the EC using official BIOS image.