This is a guide to running Linux with the Lenovo ThinkPad T500 laptop.
This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which modules you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required modules have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.
This page is just for discussing using Linux on the Lenovo Thinkpad T500. For a general discussion about this laptop you can visit the Lenovo Thinkpad T500 page on LapWik.
If you would like to edit this page please first view our Editing Guidelines.
For full specifications see the Lenovo ThinkPad T500 specifications page.
| Name | Lenovo ThinkPad T500 |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo |
| Screen | 15.4” WXGA or WSXGA+ Widescreen |
| RAM | 2GB to 8GB |
| HDD | 80GB to 320GB to 64GB SSD |
| Optical Drive | CDRW/DVD-ROM combo, DVD+-RW or Blu-ray |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD and ATI Technologies Inc Mobility Radeon HD 3650 |
| Network | Ethernet, Thinkpad 802.11bg or Intel 5100 802.11abgn or Intel 5300 802.11abgn, Bluetooth |
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Works with 2.6 | |
| Screen | Works with kernel 2.6 | |
| HDD | Works correctly | |
| Optical Drive | Works correctly | |
| Graphics | Mostly works in Ubuntu 8.10, suspend does not | prorietary driver ati/amd fglrx version 10.1 works perfectly, even under dual-head mode, all suspend modes in ubuntu 9.10, version 10.2 of fglrx does not work (hangs at X startup), Ubuntu 9.10 radeon driver works, no 3d support, does not work properly in dual head mode, proprietary ati/amd fglrx version 10.4 works perfectly, even under dual-head mode |
| Sound | Works correctly | |
| Ethernet | Yes | A user has reported that it does work, but it appears that in general it does. |
| Wireless | Works | Works with very recent ath5k or ndiswrapper for Thinkpad wireless controller. Requires kernel 2.6.27 or higher for the Intel 5100 controller to function. |
| Bluetooth | Works | file transfer with obexftp |
| USB | Works | Can cause suspend issues |
| Modem | Works | Needs hsfmodem driver from linuxant |
| Firewire | Works | |
| Card Reader | Works | |
| ExpressCard Slot | Works | |
| Fingerprint Reader | No | None of the fingerprint reader projects is yet talking about adding support for this one, as far as i know. (AES2810) |
| Camera | Works Correctly | |
| UMTS | Works | Works with wvdial, after resume from suspend “echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/thinkpad_acpi/wwan_enable” has to be executed (kernel 2.6.31) in order to wake up the card, GPS function is not working correctly |
You can enter any specific notes with running Linux on the Lenovo Thinkpad T500 here.
As long as you use a Linux distributions with at least kernel 2.6.27 you shouldn't have any major issues with the Lenovo Thinkpad T500.