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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

#251

Post by ensiferum »

vegabook wrote: post #170
ensiferum wrote: post #120

I have been a long time ThinkPad user and recently purchased my latest ThinkPad T460p. Sadly it has some issues, the latest NVidia drivers don't work on the device but I'm forced to use the 1 year old driver that Lenovo provides in their packages. Figuring this out took my several days of trouble shooting (only dx9 was affected). Also the system fan is constantly running. I went to their support site and the online s…

Honestly Dell does Ubuntu pre-installed and therefore its XPS and Precision models never give this kind of bullshit uphill, even if you don't buy the Ubuntu version. It's now my go-to vendor, simply because I consider any vendor which does not do full testing on Linux, and sells any hardware that doesn't fully support it, as suspect and not worth bothering with. I'm sad to see that Lenovo is now in that camp.

Just wondering, does Dell support non-US keyboard layouts? I only saw that XPS available on some Dell-US site..

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

#252

Post by eth0up »

unexistance wrote: post #198
eth0up wrote: post #111

Lenovo... I instantly think of SuperFish. I remember years ago determining to never own a Lenovo after attempting to change the wireless chip to one of identical size/compatibility only to find that it would not boot - the BIOS had a whitelist for one chip. HP has also done this. No Lenovo and no HP for me.

so what are you using now?

Acer, with Debian Testing.

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

#253

Post by vlehto »

kelnos wrote: post #107
mverwijs wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With closed source software, such as the firmwares and MacOSes of the world, it is impossible to have 'checks and balances'. Yet without computers to run and develop open software on, it is that much harder to create alternatives to those closed systems. I think this is very much a sliding scale. And that therefor the quote very much applies.

I'm still a bit flabbergasted: you really truly believe that disallowing installing Linux on a particular brand/model of laptop is directly comparable to the forced labor and extermination of millions of Jewish people during WW2?

Come on. Do you really wan't to demonize people from using allegories?

User languagewars is in good company. Orwell compared early dissidents in USSR to chickens in his Animal farm. Jesus compared Kindom of Heaven to mustard seed, himself to wine and bread, redemption to finding a coin and true faith to freaking oil lamp. Plato compared whole human existence to group of dudes sitting in a cave. Socrates compared himself to gadfly.

This is one of the most used literary vehicle. By the best and most famous thinkers of all times.

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

#254

Post by pjmlp »

blihp wrote: post #143
pjmlp wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IBM PC was made open by Compaq in 1981 not late 70's, IBM would rather had it closed as the Commodore, Spectrum, Atari, Amiga, Acorn, Mac were.

You're both wrong. The IBM PC was made by IBM in 1981 and it was absolutely not open. (Just hurriedly implemented using commodity parts so, other than the BIOS, it was pretty easy and legal to copy most of it) Then Compaq came along in 1982 and sold a clone of it... and in some ways it was even less open than the IBM. Neither one of those companies had any interest in the PC being 'open'. It was the 3rd party supplie…

Would it have happened if Compaq hadn't done a clean room reverse engineering?

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

#255

Post by eloisant »

marcell wrote: post #242

As much as I'd love to (hate to) see vintage 1990's Microsoft back in evil empire mode, this doesn't make sense. What is their motive here? The Windows vs. Linux battle is long settled, and Windows is not under thread from Linux. Why would they intentionally block Linux on one vendors laptops, gaining basically no profit/market share, and risking lawsuits and online outrage? Hanlon's razor applies; I assume this is a…

To keep control on what users do with the hardware? Same reason most Android devices have locked bootloaders.

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

#256

Post by b2m9 »

StreamBright wrote: post #219

I like these catchy titles. How long is this going to last? We have hackers who can crack iPhone pin codes designed to be secure and make hacking impossible. I guess we see a new BIOS that can enable Linux installations within a month.

I think that's not really the point here. If the story turns out to be true, then Microsoft is abusing its market power to lock down devices from vendors like Lenovo and friends.

Since Microsoft got into trouble with the EU before, they should know that this could potentially cause another investigation. Hands down, a big company is actively trying to make devices unusable with anything but their software. This is not in the interest of consumers, therefore probably illegal in some regions.

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

#257

Post by vegabook »

ensiferum wrote: post #251
vegabook wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly Dell does Ubuntu pre-installed and therefore its XPS and Precision models never give this kind of bullshit uphill, even if you don't buy the Ubuntu version. It's now my go-to vendor, simply because I consider any vendor which does not do full testing on Linux, and sells any hardware that doesn't fully support it, as suspect and not worth bothering with. I'm sad to see that Lenovo is now in that camp.

Just wondering, does Dell support non-US keyboard layouts? I only saw that XPS available on some Dell-US site..

I'm running an ISO keyboard on a Dell Precision as we "speak". Recall you don't have to buy the Ubuntu pre-installed version because it's the same hardware. I retro-installed mine on a UK-keyboard Windows Precision M3800 (now superseded by the 5510). And it works perfectly. If I were to buy one now I'd just go for the 13-XPS as the infinity display is big enough, although a fully kitted out Precision 5510 with Xeon, 32GB RAM and Nvidia quadro is mighty tempting but we're talking 3000 USD (2150 GBP) with 1TB SSD.

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

#258

Post by plgs »

mikkom wrote: post #207
xg15 wrote: post #47

The other HN thread suggests this not actually a dark conspiracy by Microsoft but simply a case of missing linux drivers for the storage devices. This sounds believable to me. But I'll put my tinfoil hat on just for fun and pretend it was an intentional move. Could this make sense as a new twist on the old strategy, making it "Embrace, Extinguish, Extend"? With the WSL, they made it theoretically possible to run Linu…

I think it was confirmed that the computer is locked to windows due to ms/lenovo contract http://imgur.com/a/niewu

I would refrain from calling that a confirmation. It's a statement expressed by customer support, without any context.

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

#259

Post by 0x0 »

coldtea wrote: post #187
0x0 wrote: 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

Isn't the Microsoft key the only mandatory key in UEFI Secure Boot? So I guess they are still the boss of the (non-Apple) modern x86 PC architecture.

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

#260

Post by DanBC »

rndgermandude wrote: post #199
coldtea wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

Then why did a Lenovo employee say there is an agreement? http://imgur.com/a/niewu

Because some support people don't have a clue what they're talking about?
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