Here is what I did to tune up my lovely Lenovo x200.
UPDATE for Ubuntu 13.04. The fan seems pretty quiet anyway and I have already done some compiling.
The modification of the linux command line is still needed.
Install some thinkpad stuff
sudo apt-get install tp-smapi-dkms thinkfan
tp-smapi-dkms enables enhanced battery stats and charging control.
thinkfan allows software fan control. Mine would spend hours pumping out cold air.
To make sure relevant modules will be loaded add the following lines to /etc/modules
tp_smapi
thinkpad_acpi
Hard drive shock protection
I just installed hdapsd and it works.
Get it to actually turn off when you shutdown
Edit /etc/default/grub changing the line that reads
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
to read
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux"
That also fixes the mute button.
