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Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

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Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#211

Post by petepete »

gtk40 wrote: post #199
LeonM wrote: post #193

Based on all the comments on HN about how great Thinkpads are supposed to be with Linux, I bought an X1-Extreme some time ago. From my experience, Linux support for Lenovo devices is terrible. ACPI, power management, and UEFI are consistently causing problems. Grub has an issue with the 4K display, causing it to render at about 1 FPS. The dual-GPU (Intel and nVidia) situation is unworkable under Linux. Suspend on lid…

Last time I got a new laptop, I simply ordered a Lenovo Thinkpad (X1 Carbon, not Extreme) with Linux pre-installed. I am past where I want to tinker to get the hardware and software working together, but do prefer Linux as my daily driver. I haven't had any issues with it, but I also got a relatively simple setup. I've ordered a Linux pre-installed Dell in the past with similar fine results.

Same for me, both my X1 Carbon and Precision Pro (2013 with Ubuntu pre-installed) worked flawlessly.

ThinkPad battery life could be a bit better, but that's my fault for choosing the 4k one.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#212

Post by pooper »

belter wrote: post #175
pooper wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wonderful keyboard, good Linux support (even fingerprint reader works). I am on a T490s with Fedora now (this machine). Any tips on how you got the fingerprint sensor to work? $ cat /etc/os-release NAME="Fedora Linux" VERSION="35 (Workstation Edition)" ID=fedora VERSION_ID=35 VERSION_CODENAME="" PLATFORM_ID="platform:f35" PRETTY_NAME="Fedora Linux 35 (Workstation Edition)" ANSI_COLOR="0;38;2;60;110;180" LOGO=fedora…

Not the person you asked to, but heavy Fedora and Thinkpad user here. I know that already as of Fedora 33, for many users, the fingerprint reader worked out of the box with the T490. It seems the T490 can have different models of fingerprint reader and maybe not all are supported. You should start by identifying your model with something like this sudo lsusb or # lsusb then look for the details of the line correspond…

Is this how I do that?

    $ sudo lsusb -s 004 --verbose

    Bus 001 Device 004: ID 06cb:00bd Synaptics, Inc. Prometheus MIS Touch Fingerprint Reader
    Device Descriptor:
    bLength                18
    bDescriptorType         1
    bcdUSB               2.00
    bDeviceClass          255 Vendor Specific Class
    bDeviceSubClass        16 
    bDeviceProtocol       255 
    bMaxPacketSize0         8
    idVendor           0x06cb Synaptics, Inc.
    idProduct          0x00bd Prometheus MIS Touch Fingerprint Reader
    bcdDevice            0.00
    iManufacturer           0 
    iProduct                0 
    iSerial                 1 [redacted]
    bNumConfigurations      1
    Configuration Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType         2
        wTotalLength       0x0027
        bNumInterfaces          1
        bConfigurationValue     1
        iConfiguration          0 
        bmAttributes         0xa0
        (Bus Powered)
        Remote Wakeup
        MaxPower              100mA
        Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType         4
        bInterfaceNumber        0
        bAlternateSetting       0
        bNumEndpoints           3
        bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
        bInterfaceSubClass      0 
        bInterfaceProtocol      0 
        iInterface              0 
        Endpoint Descriptor:
            bLength                 7
            bDescriptorType         5
            bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
            bmAttributes            2
            Transfer Type            Bulk
            Synch Type               None
            Usage Type               Data
            wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
            bInterval               0
        Endpoint Descriptor:
            bLength                 7
            bDescriptorType         5
            bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
            bmAttributes            2
            Transfer Type            Bulk
            Synch Type               None
            Usage Type               Data
            wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
            bInterval               0
        Endpoint Descriptor:
            bLength                 7
            bDescriptorType         5
            bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
            bmAttributes            3
            Transfer Type            Interrupt
            Synch Type               None
            Usage Type               Data
            wMaxPacketSize     0x0008  1x 8 bytes
            bInterval               4
    Device Status:     0x0000
    (Bus Powered)

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#213

Post by [deleted] »

LeonM wrote: post #193

Based on all the comments on HN about how great Thinkpads are supposed to be with Linux, I bought an X1-Extreme some time ago. From my experience, Linux support for Lenovo devices is terrible. ACPI, power management, and UEFI are consistently causing problems. Grub has an issue with the 4K display, causing it to render at about 1 FPS. The dual-GPU (Intel and nVidia) situation is unworkable under Linux. Suspend on lid…

[deleted]

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#214

Post by cosmiccatnap »

Trackpad and screen are the only real things I wish they would improve. Remove the buttons, make it wider and go from the base up to the keys. Whatever nostalgia people get out of the Thinkpad it's not it's trackpad...it's the nub you had to use because of how bad the trackpad has always been. I think for a laptop where you are paying for dedicated GPUs you should get an option for a 4k ips screen. It makes text so clear and crisp and really doesn't drag down the performance on a modern chipset

Keyboard is excellent, not old school X or P good, but it's better than any other keyboard you are going to find on a laptop sold now.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#215

Post by green7ea »

tazjin wrote: post #159
intsunny wrote: post #97

I've been holding off on purchasing a new Lenovo laptop. Shortly Lenovo will start shipping latops with the new generation AMD Ryzen mobile chips that have RDNA 2 GPUs. [0][1] This is a real game changer. The amount of power and open source VULKAN friendliness is going to be incredible. I look forward to being able to do container work, and emulate Gamecube games all on a single Linux machine. [0] https://www.aroged.…

I have an AMD Thinkpad (X13 AMD 2nd gen) and it's one of the most frustrating devices I've had in years. Linux support is superficially fine, but in continuous use lots of tiny, annoying incompatibilities (and sometimes pretty significant impairments) show up. There's a set of known hardware issues (e.g. unable to resume from suspend, USB ports stop working until hardware reset is performed through the pinhole, ...)…

That's funny. I have a Thinkpad P14s for work and an HP x360 for personal use which are both running Linux with AMD. They have the best Linux support I've ever seen. The graphics drivers are especially nice, fast and bug free. I can't image ever going back to Intel.

The only thing that bothers me is that lack of S3 sleep on the HP but that was a choice by HP and can the ACPI tables can be patched in the BIOS.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#217

Post by hef19898 »

halotrope wrote: post #201
hef19898 wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If have one those, without the 4k screen. No complaints so far, even GPU heavy games like the early versions of Battletech worked fine, battery life under gaming conditions is somewhere between 2 and 4 hours. Non-gaming around 4 to 6 hours. With the Intel GPU deactivated, getting external screens working while the machine was in hybrid mode was too much of a pain. After all I wanted it for the nVidia GPU. Ubuntu is w…

Yes, I suspect it should be fine with dGPU and 1080p screen. I think in addition to the greater power draw, the compute needed to drive the 4k is just greater. In fairness I keep the dGPU active all the time as the Intel GPU produces significant UI lag under Linux at least.

I hate non-dedicated GPUs with a vengeance. As a gamer, they never are up to par anyway, and never were. Even way back, Windows struggled balancing both. So you had to switch one of them off. I get that they are useful for non-GPU heavy use cases, in a gaming machine I can perfectly live with dGPUs. As a result, I never tried the Intel GPU under Ubuntu.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#218

Post by jbverschoor »

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #127
ainiriand wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aluminum for me is a big no-no considering that I always get static discharge from them.

I also distinctly remember the unnerving feeling of getting a tingling sensation on my wrists when having a macboook pro charging connecting to mains. I have only used them when clients specifically request it, but otherwise connect them to a workstation of my choice.

Yeah I had that with MacBooks which are brand new.

Feels like a static electrical layer. But after some time it’s gone

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#219

Post by JustFinishedBSG »

pooper wrote: post #137
halotrope wrote: post #110

Generally great machines for Linux. Just a PSA from a X1E gen2 owner: Do NOT get the NVidia GPU, do NOT get the fastest CPU and most importantly: do NOT opt for the 4k screen. With 1080p and Intel GPU it is a good, even great laptop with ok battery life (if you can look over the touchpad). Wonderful keyboard, good Linux support (even fingerprint reader works). But just as with the last Intel macbook, the GPU, 10th ge…

> Wonderful keyboard, good Linux support (even fingerprint reader works). I am on a T490s with Fedora now (this machine). Any tips on how you got the fingerprint sensor to work? $ cat /etc/os-release NAME="Fedora Linux" VERSION="35 (Workstation Edition)" ID=fedora VERSION_ID=35 VERSION_CODENAME="" PLATFORM_ID="platform:f35" PRETTY_NAME="Fedora Linux 35 (Workstation Edition)" ANSI_COLOR="0;38;2;60;110;180" LOGO=fedora…

You need to do a `fwupdmgr update` to get a Linux friendly firmware of the fingerprint reader.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#220

Post by leeoniya »

BeefWellington wrote: post #205
tazjin wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an AMD Thinkpad (X13 AMD 2nd gen) and it's one of the most frustrating devices I've had in years. Linux support is superficially fine, but in continuous use lots of tiny, annoying incompatibilities (and sometimes pretty significant impairments) show up. There's a set of known hardware issues (e.g. unable to resume from suspend, USB ports stop working until hardware reset is performed through the pinhole, ...)…

Anecdotally, I'm running a T14 as my personal system and I've never encountered any of these issues, so I suspect some of this is model-dependent.

same. i just set up a P14s Gen 2 AMD (with 4k display, ryzen 7 pro 5850u, 48GB ram) and after swapping out the garbage wifi/bluetooth module for an Intel 210 and the NVME for a 980 Pro this machine is excellent with EndeavourOS/KDE (5.17 kernel with AMD p-state support).

the only tweaks i've had to make are

1. enabling bluetooth service to autostart (disabled by default by distro for security)

2. installing the amdgpu vaapi drivers to get hardware video decoding in MPV and tweak some Chromium flags to get hardware video decode on Youtube, etc.

the only "issue" i've run into is getting TRIM to be re-detected properly for UASP-capable USB storage devices [0], but it's so minor that no one except me will notice :). it's not a ThinkPad problem, but likely something in linux's udev.

i dont use the fingerprint sensor, TPM or secure boot, so cant say anything about those.

(supposedly switching suspend mode to linux in bios helps, too)

[0] https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/700672/udev-rules-o...

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