Lenovo ThinkPad T440s
This article covers the installation and configuration of Arch Linux on a Lenovo T440s laptop.
Contents
Installation
UEFI vs BIOS
The T440s has SecureBoot and UEFI enabled by default. Unless you know you want to use UEFI, it's simpler to get Arch installed if booting is switched to BIOS-only. In the BIOS/EFI menu, set booting to "Legacy only" (which uses BIOS emulation instead of EFI).
Driver Selection
Device | Driver Package | Free Software? |
---|---|---|
Video | Intel graphics | Yes |
ClickPad | Synaptics | Yes |
Wireless/Bluetooth | iwlwifi* | Yes |
Finger Print Reader | fingerprint-gui* | Uses proprietary driver blobs |
Note*: Depending on what you picked when ordering the laptop, you might have a stock ThinkPad wireless card. Check this page for more information.
Tp_smapi
See tp_smapi and a configuration for ThinkPad T420.
Tweaks
Backlight
Controlling the backlight can be a little tricky- on my T440s, KDE's default brightness controls would only do 0%, 50%, and 100% brightness. GNOME 3 worked out of the box, but it would never save the last-used brightness value on reboot. A workaround for both of these issues is to use [1]. An example script for setting the backlight on boot is:
~/.config/autostart/backlight-hack.desktop
[Desktop Entry] Comment=backlight Exec=xbacklight -set 40 GenericName=backlight hack Name=Backlight hack Terminal=false TerminalOptions= Type=Application
If you just want to set the current brightness level, run:
xbacklight -set <value>