ThinkPad:ArchLinux

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Customization

Keeping the Boot Log on TTY1

In order to stop Arch Linux from clearing the screen on boot we can add the i915 module to MODULES inside of /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and then regenerate our kernel images.

# sudo sed -i -r 's/^MODULES="([a-z0-9 _-]+)"/MODULES="\1 i915"/' /etc/mkinitcpio.conf # sudo mkinitcpio -p linux

Then create a directory for getty overrides and create one with the following.

# sudo mkdir /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d # sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/noclear.conf

[Service] TTYVTDisallocate=no

Traditional Device Node Names

To translate the predictable device node names back into traditional ones, can create the following. You can use the vim command :r !cat /sys/class/net/wlp3s0/address, replacing the device node respectively, in order to get the MAC Address of each device.

# vim /etc/udev/rules.d/10-network.rules

SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", ATTR{address}=="MAC_ADDRESS_FOR_NIC", NAME=="eth0" SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", ATTR{address}=="MAC_ADDRESS_FOR_WIFI", NAME=="wlan0"

Console Fonts

Everyone have their own opinion, you can pull up a list with ls /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts. To test out a font use setfont, issue the command by itself to return to the default. You can also issue showconsolefont to show a list of all available characters.

# setfont -m 8859-2 gr928-8x16-thin # showconsolefont

We can set this at boot by adding it to /etc/vconsole.conf.

# echo -e "FONT=gr928-8x16-thin\nMAP=8859-2" | sudo tee --append /etc/vconsole.conf

Hardware

Battery/CPU

Install TLP and related packages. Then enable it with systemd, don't forget to mask the required services (skip NetworkManager if you use this).

# yaourt -S tlp tp_smapi acpi_call # sudo systemctl enable tlp # sudo systemctl enable tlp-sleep

# sudo systemctl mask NetworkManager.service # sudo systemctl mask systemd-rfkill.service # sudo systemctl mask systemd-rfkill.socket

Then edit the tlp config file to setup your TLP profile. You can see a copy of mine here (TODO: Insert link to GitHub)

# sudo vim /etc/defaults/tlp

TLP status can be shown with the following:

# sudo tlp-stat

It is also a good idea to install PowerTOP in order to monitor power usage.

# yaort -S powertop

Fan Control

Install thinkfan, default configuration is installed into /usr/lib/modprobe.d/thinkpad_acpi.conf.

# yaourt -S acpi lm_sensors thinkfan

Then detect the hardware monitors chips that are available. Then re-enable the thinkpad_acpi kernel module to update with the new config.

# sudo sensors-detect # sudo modprobe thinkpad_acpi

To show the current thermal and cooling information use acpi.

# sudo acpi -V

To show the current fan speed and level.

# sudo cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

Make the changes to point it to the right temperature reading, you can use :r !sudo find /sys/devices -type f -name "temp*_input" in order to paste all the monitors into the file.

# sudo vim /etc/thinkfan.conf

When finished it should look something like this:

hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon2/temp1_input hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon2/temp2_input hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon2/temp3_input hwmon /sys/devices/virtual/hwmon/hwmon1/temp1_input tp_fan /proc/acpi/ibm/fan (0, 0, 35) (1, 33, 38) (2, 36, 45) (3, 39, 49) (4, 46, 58) (5, 50, 62) (7, 56, 32767)

You can verify the config is written correctly with the following command.

# sudo thinkfan -n

Finally enable and start thinkfan.

# sudo systemctl enable thinkfan # sudo systemctl start thinkfan

Kernel

For added power savings we can change a few kernel options. Enabling Intel i915 RC6 is a feature that allows the GPU to enter a lower power state during GPU idle. Enabling i915 framebuffer compression reduces the memory bandwidth on screen refreshes, reported to save ~0.6W on an X220. Finally the DRM vblank off delay reduces wakup events and theoretically saves power.

To enable all of these add the following to the options line in your /boot/EFI/BOOT/refind.conf file for Arch Linux.

moo

SSD

First if you want to enable TRIM on boot, create a systemd service. Also create a systemd service for adjusting the governor on system boot-up.

# sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/ssd-trim.service

[Unit] Description=Runs fstrim on the SSD Requires=multi-user.target After=multi-user.target [Service] Type=oneshot RemainAfterExit=no ExecStart=/usr/bin/fstrim -v / [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target

To monitor the HDD or SSD installed you need to install the smartmontools package.

# yaourt -S smartmontools

You can view an overall health assessment with the following:

# sudo smartctl -H /dev/sdX

Enable and start the smartd systemd service to enable SMART monitoring for all disks.

# sudo systemctl enable smartd

We can also have SMART email us and run a script for notifications on SMART errors.

# sudo sed -i 's/^DEVICESCAN/DEVICESCAN -m address\@domain.com -M exec \/usr\/bin\/smartdnotify/' /etc/smartd.conf

Then create the /usr/bin/smartdnotify script (replacing both instances of kyau with your username).

# sudo vim /usr/bin/smartdnotify

#!/bin/sh sudo -u kyau DISPLAY=:0 DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/kyau/bus notify-send "S.M.A.R.T Error ($SMARTD_FAILTYPE)" "$SMARTD_MESSAGE" --icon=dialog-warning

# sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/smartdnotify

Then you can start the service.

# sudo systemctl start smartd