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Linux can’t be installed on a recent Lenovo laptop

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Re: Linux can’t be installed on a recent Lenovo laptop

#231
post #20

So they did lie when they said "Microsoft Loves Linux". https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/windowsserver/2015/05/06... Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

> So they did lie when they said "Microsoft Loves Linux". No, the title and "secret agreement" theory is just BS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor > Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. MS hasn't been the boss of anyone much ever since 2005 or so... http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.html

"of course Apple and Sun can sell computers, but not to the two most lucrative markets for computers, namely, the corporate desktop and the home computer." - Joel Spolsky, 2004

Re: Linux can’t be installed on a recent Lenovo laptop

#232

The worst part is the reaction from Lenovo in my opinion. They just locked the thread reporting the issue on their forum, not saying anything about the problem itself but instead threatened the community to turn the pre-approval option on. This really makes me angry and makes me want to boycott their products. I really hope this issue will spread so that Lenovo learn that they made a bad move on this one. It also mad…

The version of linux he used does not have the right drivers! simple.

Re: Linux can’t be installed on a recent Lenovo laptop

#234
post #65

Does anyone own novena or librem? I think they have became worth their prices. They're quite expensive, but you don't have to bother with crap like some day you won't be install Linux or BSD distro because someone loves your hardware too much and want to force you to being spied on.

Are you seriously equating the Novena with Librem? The former is a fully open hardware/software platform built from the ground up with openness and hackability in mind; some assembly required, configure it the way you want to. The latter is a rebranded x86 laptop with Intel's Management Engine firmly embedded and operational; it's a $600 midrange at best laptop being resold with Linux preinstalled for three times the…

Is there anything else?

Re: Linux can’t be installed on a recent Lenovo laptop

#235
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you read the original reddit thread, you would understand that this is not just a drivers issue. Lenovo intentionally programmed their BIOS so that it reverts any changes to RAID mode making it impossible to install Linux.

Is it meant as contra Linux though? Or just pro RAID?

RAID on a machine with a single SSD (and no provision to add another)? It'd make far more sense if the BIOS was setup so the RAID option was always disabled.

Edit: it'd be rather amusing and saddening if this whole controversy was caused merely by someone misunderstanding/misreading a perfectly sensible requirement to disable the RAID mode, and instead disabled the other options. Given the level of communication fluency among some programmers, I would not be surprised if this were the case; and the fact that the machine still boots into Windows because it has drivers might've let this slip past QA...

Re: Linux can’t be installed on a recent Lenovo laptop

#236
I have mixed feelings about this. If the company owned the ecosystem - e.g. a Microsoft Surface or an Apple MacBook, would we expect them to support a different operating system? Albeit, MacBooks do support Windows.

I think it's fair that a vendor support the operating system(s) they advertise. If Lenovo doesn't claim to support Linux (or any other OS), it's OK for them to do whatever they want to prevent users from installing a different operating system. I'd even go so far as saying that a different OS should void the warranty. There are programs out their that will brick the BIOS if ran incorrectly.

I know this is controversial, but it's a functional business model of a large company that needs to provide support. With that said, nobody should ever buy Lenovo after their SuperFish ordeal. They should've been sued out of business: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfish#Lenovo_security_inci...

Re: Linux can’t be installed on a recent Lenovo laptop

#237
post #86
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Linux doesn't care and lets them run. Unless you mean those on the Windows side. In which case - why does virtualbox honor bios settings of the host machine?

> But Linux doesn't care and lets them run. No, it doesn't, at least on Fedora[0]: “When Secure Boot is enabled, the EFI operating system boot loaders, the Fedora kernel, and all kernel modules must be signed with a private key and authenticated with the corresponding public key.” [0] https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/24/html/System_A...

Thanks, that's new to me.

Re: Linux can’t be installed on a recent Lenovo laptop

#239
post #227

I see lots of folks referencing the Dell XPS laptops. Just as a FWIW, here is another option: https://system76.com/ As per my opinion on this, I'd rather see people not have knee-jerk reactions to Lenovo screwing up Linux support and people rushing for "alternatives", but rather make a concerted effort to support companies focused on Linux-supported hardware (for the long-term). Also, this story combined with the HP…

Thanks for the link. Seeing such companies makes me confident that there will be always alternatives whatever the limitations put by so-said-brand manufacturers are.

It shouldn't make you confident. In the economy of scales involved, it takes very little for system76 to disappear and dell to stop selling linux laptops.

Re: Linux can’t be installed on a recent Lenovo laptop

#240

I see lots of folks referencing the Dell XPS laptops. Just as a FWIW, here is another option: https://system76.com/ As per my opinion on this, I'd rather see people not have knee-jerk reactions to Lenovo screwing up Linux support and people rushing for "alternatives", but rather make a concerted effort to support companies focused on Linux-supported hardware (for the long-term). Also, this story combined with the HP…

Have system76 laptops improved at all over the last few years? The last couple of laptop upgrade cycles I looked at them and the general consensus was that they were a overpriced for the hardware, and had really shoddy build quality and bad customer service.
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