Ubuntu

Scope:

Officially supported Ubuntu releases
Corresponding Linux Mint releases but not LMDE – refer to Debian instead

Package Repository

Add the TLP PPA to your package sources with the commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp
sudo apt update

Note

TLP and ThinkPad-related packages below are available via the official Ubuntu repository. Nevertheless it is recommended to use the TLP PPA to stay with the latest TLP version.

Package Installation

Install the packages

tlp (PPA or universe) – Power saving
tlp-rdw (PPA or universe) – optional – Radio Device Wizard

either with your favorite package manager or the command:

sudo apt install tlp tlp-rdw

Version 1.5 only: due to a bug in the Ubuntu packages (official and PPA) it is necessary to enable the service manually after installation:

sudo systemctl enable tlp.service

The problem is resolved for version 1.6.

ThinkPads only: External Kernel Modules

Important

As of version 5.17, the Linux kernel in combination with TLP 1.5 or later offers full battery care support (i.e. charge thresholds and recalibration) for ThinkPads from model year 2011 onwards.

Therefore no external kernel modules are required with kernel 5.17 or later and you do not need to proceed any further here.

Linux kernels 4.19 through 5.16 provide only charge threshold functionality but no recalibration. If this is sufficient for you, stop reading here. However, if you need the recalibration feature or your model and/or kernel is older, read on. You may find out your current kernel version with the command uname -a or when TLP is already installed with tlp-stat -s.

Depending on your model and kernel version external kernel module(s) are required to provide battery charge thresholds and recalibration.

The output of tlp-stat -b will guide you which package to install:

tp-smapi-dkms (universe) – optional – External kernel module providing battery charge thresholds and recalibration for ThinkPads before model year 2011 as well as specific tlp-stat -b output until model year 2011
acpi-call-dkms (PPA or universe) – optional (kernel 5.16 and older only) – External kernel module providing battery recalibration for ThinkPads since model year 2011 - e.g. T420/X220 and newer

Install the appropriate package either with your favorite package manager or the command

sudo apt install tp-smapi-dkms

Warning

In Ubuntu 23.10 the tp-smapi-dkms package from the official repositories is broken and does not build and install the kernel module. Solution: download a working package from Debian Sid and install manually.
In Ubuntu 20.04.4 the acpi-call-dkms package from the official repositories is incompatible with the provided kernels 5.13 or 5.15 and may cause TLP battery care malfunction, system freezes and reboots. Solution: use acpi-call-dkms version 1.2.2 from the TLP PPA or download from Ubuntu 22.04 and install manually.