Author Topic: Thinkpad X250 & eCS  (Read 25336 times)

Mike Kölling

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Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« on: February 05, 2016, 07:25:36 pm »
Dear All,

I just want to let you know about my effort to install OS/2 (eCS v.2.1) on a new Thinkpad X250. Goal was to transfer my existing system from Thinkpad X200 to new X250, dual boot Win & OS/2 via AirBoot. On X200 I have working installation with latest drivers from Arca Noae. Not working on the X200 are Bluetooth and built in camera. Everything else including Ethernet, WiFi and USB are working fine.

Installation on X250 from USB-CD/DVD-ROM failed. eCS v2.1 startet up to maintenance screen bot no HDD was found. eCS v2.2 BetaII even did not start up from CD/DVD-ROM.

By suggestion from Sigurd I tried to clone my existing system using DFSee. :) This finally worked after some trouble with partition alignment.

Status now on X250 is a working eCS v.2.1 with ACPI showing 4 cores, full support of native screen resolution via PANORAMA, working USB (mouse and thumb drive tested as well as USB keyboard in docking station) after disabling USB3.0 in BIOS. Not working at this time is network (neither Ethernet nor WiFi). It will need more investigation what might be possible there.

If there is any progress I will let you know.
Greeting from Potsdam / Germany,
Mike

Martin Iturbide

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2016, 08:47:27 pm »
Hi Mike.

Thanks for sharing. I will like to set up a wiki page about the Thinkpad X250 and eCS with your comments.

Can you share some more information about your Thinkpad X250, like the full model number of the laptop? Name of the internal devices (Video, Webcam, sd card reader, audio, etc)? or the hardwareID of the devices?

Here it is the page: http://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/ThinkPad_X250
If you want to edit it you can use your same forum UserID and Password for the Wiki.

Regards
« Last Edit: February 05, 2016, 08:56:18 pm by Martin Iturbide »
Martin Iturbide
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Mike Kölling

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2016, 02:03:16 pm »
Hi Martin,

I made some edits on the wiki page according to PCI.exe (with pcidev.txt 20140303 form Hobbes) and some data from Lenovo.

Best regards,
Mike

Neil Waldhauer

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2016, 04:32:34 pm »
On the X200, did you use GenMU to get WiFi support for the Intel 5100?

Pity about no network on the X250. Kind of makes it ornamental to me.
Expert consulting for ArcaOS, OS/2 and eComStation
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Mike Kölling

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2016, 05:24:17 pm »
On the X200 there was a 5300agn card installed. I exchanged it to 3945abg which was supported by GenMAC out of the box. I first tried to use the 5300 in unsupported mode but had bad luck. I had to use a patched BIOS (Zender BIOS) to enable the 3945 card. Otherwise it would have been black listed by the BIOS. Strange because it is an IBM/Lenovo approved card.
I guess I have to go same direction with the X250. Not sure if there is a patched BIOS already available. I will have to check.
Mike

Doug Bissett

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2016, 08:15:12 pm »
Quote
I had to use a patched BIOS (Zender BIOS) to enable the 3945 card.

It seems that Lenovo only enables two, or three current cards, that they want to support. Not very smart in some ways, but it does make supporting the device easier, for them.

Is there a reliable way to get back to the original BIOS? You do invalidate your warranty by using anything else, and when you do need warranty, you may not be able get back to the original BIOS. If you are really lucky, it may not be worth their time to try to find out, but if they do, repairs can cost a lot more than simply using an external WiFi device. I use a D-Link DIR-506L, which didn't cost much more than a 3945. It is also useful for other things (one is that it can act as a backup battery for my cell phone). The only down side, is that it is another piece of hardware to carry around (but it isn't any bigger than a package of cigarettes).

Mike Kölling

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2016, 11:03:35 pm »
Hi Doug,
Zender BIOS is based at the original ones. And of course you can update the BIOS back to official ones from Lenovo using the flashing tool. So no big risk. I use the ASUS W330n (https://www.asus.com/Networking/WL330N3G/) for cases I have only Ethernet available and need WiFi.
Greetings,
Mike

Mike Kölling

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #7 on: February 25, 2016, 07:35:31 pm »
Just to let you know that I got the built-in Ethernet of the X250 now running.
I tried my luck and just patched the Arca Noae driver "e1000b.os2" to accept the [8086:15A2] instead of [8086:5A15].
I write this now on my X250 using the built in Ethernet. :)
Greetings from Potsdam/Germany,
Mike

Martin Iturbide

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #8 on: February 25, 2016, 10:37:15 pm »
Thanks for updating the wiki Mike.

It would be very nice if you can also get some time to test the webcam with USBECD :)

Regards
Martin Iturbide
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Wim Brul

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #9 on: February 26, 2016, 07:22:08 pm »
It would be very nice if you can also get some time to test the webcam with USBECD :)

It is better to try and use my Webcam Support programs because these do not require any changes to your config.sys file.

Mike Kölling

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #10 on: February 26, 2016, 08:30:05 pm »
Hi Brul, webcam starts but crashes shortly after.
Regards,
Mike



Wim Brul

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #11 on: February 28, 2016, 03:37:24 pm »
Hi Brul, webcam starts but crashes shortly after.
Regards,
Mike

Hallo Mike,

The UvcView program is experiencing a timeout error. Try running it with one core enabled only.

Regards, Wim
« Last Edit: February 28, 2016, 06:13:21 pm by Wim Brul »

Mike Kölling

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #12 on: February 28, 2016, 07:12:05 pm »
Hallo Wim,

ACPI.PSD with MAXCPU=1 and MAXCPU=2 brings the error message camrea not found (see picture).
Running uvcview.exe as the only program it was now stable for about 3 minutes before crashing (with all4 kernels).


Greetings from Potsdam/Germany,
Mike
« Last Edit: February 28, 2016, 07:21:23 pm by Mike Kölling »

Wim Brul

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #13 on: February 28, 2016, 08:49:30 pm »
Hallo Mike,

Quote
ACPI.PSD with MAXCPU=1 and MAXCPU=2 brings the error message camrea not found (see picture).

May be you tried in the meantime some of my Webcam Test programs? That might be the cause of that error message.
When you define usbecd.sys in your config.sys to gain access to your webcam then ucvview.exe cannot find that webcam anymore.

Quote
Running uvcview.exe as the only program it was now stable for about 3 minutes before crashing (with all4 kernels).

You could try and use uvcscope.exe instead.

Groeten uit Uithoorn,
 Wim

Mike Kölling

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Re: Thinkpad X250 & eCS
« Reply #14 on: February 29, 2016, 04:45:00 pm »
Dear Wim,
I haven't used the usbecd.sys so far.
I will give uvcscope.exe a try and will report.
Greetings from Potsdam/Germany,
Mike