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Lenovo to Certify ThinkPad and ThinkStation Workstation Portfolio for Linux

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Re: Lenovo to Certify ThinkPad and ThinkStation Workstation Portfolio for Linux

#151

Post by corty »

fluffything wrote: post #149
corty wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had mixed experiences in this regard. Thinkpads from the T and X series (don't know about Yoga, P or L) are really great, usually work out of the box and if there is broken hardware you are visited tomorrow by a nice guy from IBM (yes, really!) who fixes things without complaining about the weird OS you are running (of course you should be able to test that the new component works somehow). Non-Thinkpad laptops…

> by a nice guy from IBM (yes, really!) Why IBM? IBM sold Lenovo to China years ago, does IBM still handle support for Lenovo in your country?

Here in Germany, they seem to. Don't know if this has changed recently, but for the last personal visit 2 years ago, it was an IBM guy.

Re: Lenovo to Certify ThinkPad and ThinkStation Workstation Portfolio for Linux

#152

Post by fluffything »

darkwater wrote: post #84
fluffything wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I run Arch Linux on mine, with the latest kernel, and custom tools (think fan), and some things disabled (fast boot), and it becomes "usable". That's ok for any Laptop that isn't advertised as "Ubuntu certified". But I literally had to uninstall Ubuntu and install Arch to get audio and microphone back to work after the 19.04 update broke it, and some dev mentioning on the bug report that the fix wouldn't land on 20.0…

"btw, I run Arch" /s To add some more useful (anecdotal) data, I have a Thinkpad T15 with Ubuntu 20.04 and everything works smoothly (even secure boot) EXCEPT the fingerprints reader, although TBH I still haven't tried after updating to 20.04. So in my opinion Lenovo support for Ubuntu is really good.

If this were about somebody getting a 2k$ macbook whose fingerprint reader doesn't work, everyone would be outraged.

But since I paid 2k$ for a Lenovo Ubuntu laptop, I'm the one that's wrong for expecting the fingerprint reader to actually work.

Re: Lenovo to Certify ThinkPad and ThinkStation Workstation Portfolio for Linux

#153

Post by valarauko »

Lendal wrote: post #146
RMPR wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For new hardware Ubuntu isn't exactly the distribution I would recommend. You may have a better chance trying a distro like Fedora or Arch. Speaking from my personal experience I have a X1 Yoga 1st gen and installed then updated Fedora from 29 to 31 it's a pretty much hassle-free process (apart from the fingerprint, which never worked in the first place and I don't use it anyway), I postpone the update from 31 to 32…

This is my experience. I don't get the fascination with Ubuntu. Whenever I hear about something that doesn't work it's always Ubuntu. That could be confirmation bias though. From my perspective it's old & busted vs Fedora's hot & sexy, using more up to date software revs everywhere you look. It's low maintenance (unlike Manjaro/Arch) yet still fresh. You have a choice of desktops, or no desktop at all. There is Fedor…

In my domain (bioinformatics), if it's self managed, Ubuntu is the standard. I would attribute much of the popularity to the Biolinux project, which built upon Ubuntu LTS and bundled in many popular bioinformatics packages which are a pain to setup and configure on your own. Besides these, many popular packages provide deb bundles, which makes it easy for a PhD student to manage on their own.

Re: Lenovo to Certify ThinkPad and ThinkStation Workstation Portfolio for Linux

#154

Post by fluffything »

dahfizz wrote: post #85
fluffything wrote: post #61

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga that claims to be certified by both Lenovo and Canonical for Ubuntu. Finger print sensor doesn't work, the fans are super loud all the time, audio doesn't work (requires a newer Linux kernel than the one shipped in the latest Ubuntu), EFI problems, sleep, hibernate, fast-boot, restore from hibernate problems, battery life on Linux is horrible... So at least the certification for Ubuntu i…

I have a new X1 Carbon 7th gen, and it was definitely a lot of work to get it set up. But after tinkering and some kernel updates (Fedora >> Ubuntu for new hardware) I couldn't be happier. Incredible performance, all day battery life, etc. I have a friend who got their finger print sensor working but I never bothered to try. I also have had great experience with fwup. I've gotten tons of bios, firmware, microcode etc…

Maybe the X1 Carbon 7th gen has a bit better support than the Yoga I have, but that gives me hopes that everything will work one day (although some user below has your exact same Laptop and they complain below that Audio does not work for them, which is the same problem I used to have with Ubuntu, so maybe this is a Debian/Ubuntu issue that others distros do not have).

FWIW, I've also used fwup and it has worked perfectly, so that's something that Lenovo did get right.

> I think Linux support of new hardware is always going to be shaky unless we can get vendors to care and support it themselves.

This is what I actually expect from a Ubuntu-certified laptop. That the manufacturer makes sure that the Laptop actually works with Ubuntu.

That's the same bar I have for Apple and windows laptops.

Otherwise they should just call them "Linux tinkerer friendly" or similar.

Re: Lenovo to Certify ThinkPad and ThinkStation Workstation Portfolio for Linux

#155

Post by wmf »

WalterGR wrote: post #140
calvinmorrison wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest take away is make sure your hardware supports the software you want before you make expensive purchases.

Is that information that Lenovo publishes? In the following page it shows some model numbers. Is there a guaranteed 1:1 mapping from model number to chipset? https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd100264

Based on this thread you don't want to trust what Lenovo or Canonical say. You need to find first-hand reports about particular models.

Re: Lenovo to Certify ThinkPad and ThinkStation Workstation Portfolio for Linux

#156

Post by fluffything »

jhoechtl wrote: post #87
dahfizz wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a new X1 Carbon 7th gen, and it was definitely a lot of work to get it set up. But after tinkering and some kernel updates (Fedora >> Ubuntu for new hardware) I couldn't be happier. Incredible performance, all day battery life, etc. I have a friend who got their finger print sensor working but I never bothered to try. I also have had great experience with fwup. I've gotten tons of bios, firmware, microcode etc…

I have a Lenovo Yoga 720-13ikb. Firmware updates are distributed as Windows Executables only. It's the first time that I have heard of fwup. Will fwup help me to install Firmware (Bios/UEFI) Updates? It's the only reason I have not yet wiped Windows. All hardware worked except the fingerprint reader I do not care for anyway.

I don't have your Yoga, but fwup has worked perfectly for me. That's something Lenovo should be proud of.

Re: Lenovo to Certify ThinkPad and ThinkStation Workstation Portfolio for Linux

#157

Post by fluffything »

corty wrote: post #115
fluffything wrote: post #61

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga that claims to be certified by both Lenovo and Canonical for Ubuntu. Finger print sensor doesn't work, the fans are super loud all the time, audio doesn't work (requires a newer Linux kernel than the one shipped in the latest Ubuntu), EFI problems, sleep, hibernate, fast-boot, restore from hibernate problems, battery life on Linux is horrible... So at least the certification for Ubuntu i…

Generally, certification is useless except for "compliance" and "get support for something". If you are running a supported combination of hardware and software, the hardware vendor can't officially close your case just because "you are running unsupported software and we are sure your OpenBSD damaged your mouse" or similar BS. However, as long as there is a hardware problem you are able to clearly identify, support…

I've only used Apple laptops for the past 15 years. So when I buy a Laptop for OS Z, I actually expect Z to work.

Maybe its my fault for having unreasonable expectations. No idea what the story is on Windows.

Re: Lenovo to Certify ThinkPad and ThinkStation Workstation Portfolio for Linux

#158

Post by fluffything »

corty wrote: post #151
fluffything wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> by a nice guy from IBM (yes, really!) Why IBM? IBM sold Lenovo to China years ago, does IBM still handle support for Lenovo in your country?

Here in Germany, they seem to. Don't know if this has changed recently, but for the last personal visit 2 years ago, it was an IBM guy.

Cool to know!

Re: Lenovo to Certify ThinkPad and ThinkStation Workstation Portfolio for Linux

#159

Post by fovc »

fluffything wrote: post #61

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga that claims to be certified by both Lenovo and Canonical for Ubuntu. Finger print sensor doesn't work, the fans are super loud all the time, audio doesn't work (requires a newer Linux kernel than the one shipped in the latest Ubuntu), EFI problems, sleep, hibernate, fast-boot, restore from hibernate problems, battery life on Linux is horrible... So at least the certification for Ubuntu i…

I've had a couple of X1s and T series throughout the years, and ran Ubuntu and Arch wonderfully. Save for the fingerprint sensor (where I think the issue is not drivers but rather that fingerprints don't have enough entropy for a keyring), they actually ran way better than my current Windows X1 which BSODs every 3 days.

I think the yoga subbrand is a lower end model, so maybe they're sloppier there?

Re: Lenovo to Certify ThinkPad and ThinkStation Workstation Portfolio for Linux

#160

Post by danans »

I think what's cool is that there now at least 3 different supported ways to run Linux on laptops today:

1. Directly run your traditional Linux distro (i.e. on these Lenovos, System76 laptops, etc).

2. Run WSL using Windows on a Windows laptop.

3. Run Crostini Linux VM on a Chromebook.

In the past, the Linux laptop options were largely limited to those who wanted to install it unsupported on devices (remember the campaigns to get refunds for the default Windows installations on laptops?).

And sure, the above listed supported commercial solutions don't embody the hacker ethos of the old Linux-on-laptop communities, but they do represent the growth of Linux as a broadly usable software development environment.

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