Lenovo S10-3s + Ubuntu 10.10 Desktop = OK

[lukejanicke]

I have just installed Ubuntu 10.10 Desktop (don't like Unity) on a new Lenovo S10-3s ideapad.

Everything works perfectly.

Wireless network - worked after installing Broadcomm STA wireless drivers.

Vertical scroll - works.

Left/right click (bottom-left/right corners of trackpad) - works.

Middle mouse button (bottom-center of trackpad) - works.

Keyboard - works.

Function key - works.

Everything - works.

Well, just one thing. The physical network switch activates/de-activates Bluetooth, not the wireless network. I have to manually turn on the wireless network each time I startup the system.

I've noticed many posts about problems with Lenovo netbooks and Linux. Just letting the community know that this combinations works.

[lukejanicke]

This thread properly describes the wireless switch issue.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/577114

Summary. It's a Lenovo hardware bug. Only through Windows can the wireless switch turn ON wireless connectivity. There are two workarounds. The first involves taking apart the netbook and pulling out the CMOS battery, thus resetting the BIOS and defaulting the wireless to ON. The second involves restoring Windows and re-activating wireless via the connectivity troubleshooting wizard then re-installing Linux.

In both cases, if you turn OFF the wireless switch again, you will permanently de-activate wireless again. One user super-glued the switch ON to prevent such an accident.

Both workarounds seem like too much trouble compared to just right-clicking the network panel icon and selecting 'Enable Wireless' each time you startup.

Don't expect a fix because Lenovo's hardware is designed for Windows.

[lukejanicke]

Sorry, just one more fixable problem... The headphone output doesn't work. Here's the fix.

Edit alsa-base.conf.

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

Add the following line at the end.

options snd-hda-intel model=thinkpad

Reboot. Enjoy the sweet sweet sound!

[garfieldpbj]

Hi..

Does the screen also work? Also the high resolution (1280*720)?

Thank you..

Peter

[lukejanicke]

The screen works fine at the native (full) resolution.

However, I just updated to Ubuntu 11.04 (with Unity desktop) and now I've lost wireless. I'm looking for a solution.

[lukejanicke]

I couldn't find a solution for re-enabling wireless in Unity. So, I back-graded to Ubuntu 10.10 and am now looking into Arch Linux with Gnome 3.

[polintr]

I lost wireless at first when I loaded Ubuntu 11.04, but I was able to plug in to ethernet and update all the restricteed drivers. I'm not sure which package it was, but it eventually downloaded the Broadcom driver, which my Ideapad S10-2 uses for wireless. After that was downloaded and installed, I got wireless back. Ubuntu automatically downloaded it, so I'm not exactly sure of the source, but here's Broadcom's Linux driver page: http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php I would guess if you could download it onto a usb drive from another machine if you can't swing ethernet, then install it onto your Ideapad you should get your wireless back.

[lukejanicke]

Update for Ubuntu 11... still no joy.

I got the Broadcomm drivers installed. But I still can't activate the wireless network. I try to turn it on from the network dropdown menu, the menu flickers, the tick mark appears for a second, then it's off again.

Anyone know a trick for this?

Guess it's back to 10.10 or time to get another cheap Chinese netbook.

[augustuseb]

I'm not sure about Ubuntu, just because of these problems