HCL - Lenovo Thinkpad T520 (4243WM2)

[yaqu]

Hello,

I have been using this Thinkpad T520 for 1.5 years with Qubes R2, R3.0
and now R3.2 without major hardware issues (not tested with R3.1).
Well, I had a problem with Intel gfx and R3.2, but it's fixed now
(details somewhere below).

Long story short: it works.

CPU: i5-2520M 2.50GHz
VT-x: works
VT-d: works
SLAT/EPT: supported
TPM: present, not tested

RAM: it had only 4 GB in factory configuration, documentation says it
supports max 8 GB, but in fact it supports up to 16 GB of RAM (2*8).

GPU: integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000, works, but:
Under R3.2, i915.enable_rc6=0 needs to be added to kernel parameters to
prevent random reboots when external monitor is connected, as described
there:
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/qubes-users/DSFcUer3C7M/Rbno0VdfBQAJ

Suspend/resume: works.

Sound: works
Microphone: works
Ethernet: Intel 82579LM Gigabit, works
Wi-Fi: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300, works
Card reader: Ricoh PCIe SDXC/MMC Controller, works
Firewire: Ricoh R5C832 PCIe IEEE 1394 Controller, works
Display: TFT 15.6" 1600x900, anti-glare
Docking station: tested with Lenovo 4338, works
Bluetooth: BCM2045B, detected as USB device, but not tested
Camera: not present
Fingerprint reader: not present

Keyboard, trackpoint and touchpad: work
There are additional function keys, most of them work, at least
these used by me: volume control, mute, LCD dim and keyboard light.

ExpressCard/34 port: works, but without hotplugging, as it is not
supported by Qubes anymore:
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/qubes-users/JVOpOrOPvZk/5Xar5LS8BwAJ

USB: two USB 2.0 controllers. One with 2 ports and all internal devices
(bluetooth, docking station and its USB ports), and second with just 2
ports. Controllers have shared RMRRs, but they can be assigned to
different appVMs if these VMs have pci_strictreset=false.

Note: since upgrade to R3.2 I'm no longer able to assign USB controller
to Win7 HVM.

For USB 3.0 I use ExpressCard adapter (on Renesas uPD720202 chipset) and
it works well. AFAIR I had to disable power management for pccard in
BIOS.

All communication ports or devices can be disabled in BIOS: network
cards, bluetooth, modem, USB ports, firewire, ExpressCard slot, eSATA
port, ultrabay (CD/HDD), card reader, camera, microphone and
fingerprint reader. Some of these ports/devices are not present in this
model of T520.

There is also the physical switch for disabling bluetooth and Wi-Fi, it
also works.

--
yaqu