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Linux on the Fujitsu Lifebook U729

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Re: Linux on the Fujitsu Lifebook U729

#131

Post by ezst »

killerstorm wrote: post #110

~12 years ago I installed Linux on Fujitsu UH572. As an "ultrabook" it came with 16GB of fast SSD which could be used as a cache via some Windows-specific Intel feature, while main storage was a slower spinning disk. As Linux did not support cache feature, I thought I can just format it as ext4 and use as a storage for things which can benefit from more iops, e.g. running DB tests. And as SSD technology was still rat…

Similar-enough story on an Asus similarly branded "ultrabook", I figured I would put my whole fedora root partition on that cache, which worked wonders for a few months, until I started having random freezes and crashes that I later diagnosed thanks to `rpm -V` to be data corruptions. At that point the hinges were dead, pulling the screen away from the chassis during operations and dangerously exposing a mainboard PCB. That's when I replaced it with a ThinkPad T that's still going like new after 8 years :-)

Re: Linux on the Fujitsu Lifebook U729

#132

Post by rootsudo »

Avamander wrote: post #12
jjice wrote: post #4

Tossing Linux on used enterprise laptops is maybe the best bang for your buck machine you can get. They're often time a great value and within three years old. Used multiple Thinkpads and Dells over the years that were fantastic and gotten sub $400. Things I learned to look out for: - Locked BIOS - Look into the manufacturer's repairability reputation. I replaced the entire keyboard on my ThinkPad X1 Carbon and it wa…

> Things I learned to look out for: Don't buy any recent Intels. Some Intel ThinkPads have accelerometers built-in just to throttle your PC to oblivion when it moves. Basically unusable in any moving vehicle such as a train. It's basically anti-portability baked-in. When it doesn't throttle, it just has abysmal battery life compared to AMD Ryzen ThinkPads of the same generation. Both lose horribly to Apple's ARM chip…

Accelerometers aren’t new, they were a feature 20yrs ago to suspend platter hard disks.

Re: Linux on the Fujitsu Lifebook U729

#133

Post by madduci »

jjice wrote: post #4

Tossing Linux on used enterprise laptops is maybe the best bang for your buck machine you can get. They're often time a great value and within three years old. Used multiple Thinkpads and Dells over the years that were fantastic and gotten sub $400. Things I learned to look out for: - Locked BIOS - Look into the manufacturer's repairability reputation. I replaced the entire keyboard on my ThinkPad X1 Carbon and it wa…

Indeed. My last 2 laptops have been Thinkpads and they have great Linux Support, for stable and edge OSes with latest kernel versions.

Rock solid, expandable and stable

Re: Linux on the Fujitsu Lifebook U729

#135

Post by microtonal »

skydhash wrote: post #117
mendigou wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep hearing this thing about apps and I'm confused. I write code on my MBA M1, run orbital simulations, run a media server... All like I would on Linux. What am I missing on userland? I understand there is low level system stuff I can't control, but I've made my peace with that. When using Linux I hadn't touched its internals for years.

I have made my peace with that as well, but the ground keep sifting under. There was the Music.app stuff, the System settings, Apple Intelligence, and now the whole UI of the OS. Those are the things that you would interact with daily. It could be fine. I'm also OK with GNOME's strict approach to design. But with Apple, you wait the next release with dread because you never know what they will pull next.

To be honest, I have used macOS since OS X 10.4 and most of it is still very similar UI-wise? Finder, Spotlight, basic window management, etc. are still pretty much the same. If you had a time machine and took someone from 2006, they would still feel pretty much at home on macOS 26. For me the only larger breaking change was when they axed Spaces in 10.7 for Mission Control (Spaces was so much better).

GNOME from 2006? Quite a different story.

I agree on lower-level stuff. Nowadays you have to partially disable SIP to use DTrace, which is meh... (and it seems largely unmaintained) Instruments is quite great though.

Re: Linux on the Fujitsu Lifebook U729

#136

Post by microtonal »

kristianp wrote: post #127
kombine wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I run T14s Gen 3 AMD, it's a perfect laptop and it got an update this year.

Is that the ones with the Ryzen AI chips? How do you find them?

Gen 3 is way before that. I have a T14 Gen 5 and it's not a Ryzen AI chip. I think only T14(s) Gen 6 has a Ryzen AI option.

Re: Linux on the Fujitsu Lifebook U729

#138

Post by justsomehnguy »

mystifyingpoi wrote: post #20
marcodiego wrote: post #14

> install Windows 11. This came with the laptop. And the installation makes installing Linux feel easy: I had to do so many weird tricks to avoid having to create an account with Microsoft during the installation. The way secure boot evolved is disgusting. Specially because, at the time it was becoming popular, people we're warned that was more a tool of control than for security. Having to install a proprietary OS t…

But what happened doesn't make sense even. Why would upgrading the BIOS suddenly restore the option to toggle Secure Boot? If the previous owner (assuming, some company) disabled this, why would it be so trivial (comparatively) to work around it?

> why would it be so trivial

The trivial way would be just going into the UEFI (it's not the BIOS for 15 years but anyway) config and just disable Secure Boot (and proceed to do the Evil Maid attack or whatever).

99% Secure Boot was forced to a locked state by the laptop firmware through some management utils to support the enterprise configuration.

It's just happens what someone with a full administrative access on the machine ie no boot password, no UEFI password, ability to run any (secure boot enabled) OS - can run firmware updates and one such update for whatever reason - reset the ability to change Secure Boot.

Or maybe author wasn't attentive enough and missed something, who knows.

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