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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

#341

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…

[deleted]

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

#342
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…

More likely, it's a conspiracy against Win7/Win8 users, which hurts Linux users as collateral damage. What likely happened was the ms/lenovo deal was "And Lenovo will make sure win7 and win8 are not supported on laptop", which lenovo solved by switching the hard drive to a mode not even win10 supports, locking it that way (that's the evil part), and putting drivers for it on the lenovo install media, which are win10…

Except windows 10s drivers are compatible with windows 8 and 7, since the driver model haven't changed since then.

So using that install media you can extract the drivers and install older windows versions anyway.

So it's a pretty crappy conspiracy :)

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

#343
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?

If it was meant contra Linux, it obviously failed as the Linux installer booted just fine.

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

#344
The community's reaction seems absurd to me.

For whatever reason, the device only exposes some sort of RAID controller to the OS, and for whatever reason, there's no working option for exposing a more standard AHCI interface instead. The problem is that Linux doesn't (yet) have a driver for that RAID controller.

Okay, great. Linux doesn't yet support particular piece of hardware. News at 11.

Just like usual, if you want odd hardware to work on Linux, you'll have to write some drivers. That's just how it is. This is nothing new or scandalous. The reasons why Lenovo doesn't support AHCI don't matter. They don't, so now somebody must write a driver for what they do support. Once that happens, nobody will complain anymore. It's that simple. Nothing is being locked with Secure Boot; nothing is being locked with crypto; there is no DRM at play. If you want hardware support, write a driver.

As for all the Lenovo-bashing going on here... My personal experience with my new Thinkpad P50 has been overwhelmingly positive. It's working on Gentoo Linux entirely: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Lenovo_ThinkPad_P50

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

#345
post #201
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a nitpick - Spectrum was pretty open (at least if we are talking about 48/128). My father bought us Spectrum specifically because it was more open than alternatives (Atari or Commodore), and he later bought the PC for the same reason (and I would never buy a Mac for the same reason). Unlike its competitors, Spectrum had standard phone jack connectors for sound and magnetic tape recorder (so you could use any rec…

Not if we are talking about installing alternative OS into it.

Actually, that was pretty doable too. Later, my father bought D40, which was a 5.25 inch disk unit produced by Czech company. The D40 had its own 16kB ROM which got mapped instead of the standard Spectrum ROM when NMI was invoked (the D40 ROM contained code to handle the disks). So it was totally possible for an external device to remap original ROM with something else, even RAM.

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

#346
post #250

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.

True - but as the other HN thread (that I can't seem to find anymore > will write one. On the other hand, Microsoft could have easily gotten a much more "robust" lockdown - by simply demanding mandatory, unchangeable Secure Boot like on the ARM tablets. But they didn't do that.

> - but as the other HN thread (that I can't seem to find anymore >Flagged as a dupe. It's here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12545966

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

#347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Companies shouldn't run their support forums. Instead, companies should offer a better level of support by default. To clarify, by "run" do you mean "have one" (that they therefore by definition operate) or do you mean exercise moderator power over?

They shouldn't operate the servers, and they shouldn't have moderator power over them. It's fine to have reps answer questions on unaffiliated third-party sites, as long as it doesn't turn into sponsorship or some other COI.

So if there is no forum then no company employee should create one? (because then it wouldn't be unaffiliated.)

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

#348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More likely, it's a conspiracy against Win7/Win8 users, which hurts Linux users as collateral damage. What likely happened was the ms/lenovo deal was "And Lenovo will make sure win7 and win8 are not supported on laptop", which lenovo solved by switching the hard drive to a mode not even win10 supports, locking it that way (that's the evil part), and putting drivers for it on the lenovo install media, which are win10…

Except windows 10s drivers are compatible with windows 8 and 7, since the driver model haven't changed since then. So using that install media you can extract the drivers and install older windows versions anyway. So it's a pretty crappy conspiracy :)

To clarify, the extracted drivers will load for 7/8/8.1 without editing an inf file?

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

#349

Why was the title changed to "a recent Lenovo laptop" when at least four models are affected: Yoga 900 ISK2, Yoga 900S,Yoga 710S and Ideapad 710S.

Also, it seems only "Signature Edition" laptops are affected, i.e. those from the MS store. I think that makes a big difference.

It does not make a much difference as all new Lenovo ultrabooks are "Signature Edition".

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

#350

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.

afaik, there are no divers for this yet. anyways, the problem is not the drivers, its the fact that lenovo blocks BIOS options to allow discs to be accessible from non windows10 system.
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