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Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

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Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#61

Post by tome »

Lio wrote: post #29
happymellon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes although that is the X series, I've been browsing after my comment and had noticed that there is a mix and some seem to be Ubuntu and some Fedora, which is great. I also appreciate that they are saying that everything should work, including the fingerprint reader which is one thing I'm a little bitter about the XPS series. They'll sell you a laptop that is Linux compatible, but not everything will work. Actually…

There are multiple versions of the XPS 13 and XPS 15. Most are Windows based. Only the “Developer Edition” of the XPS13 is sold as Linux compatible and everything on it works with Linux. Mine lacks a fingerprint reader because Dell couldn’t, at the time, get the OEM to provide decent Linux support. So they just left that out of the build. The other Windows builds are not sold as Linux compatible so if you go that rou…

I have recently written up my experience of installing Debian on a Dell XPS 13 7390, in case anyone is interested.

http://h2.jaguarpaw.co.uk/posts/how-i-use-debian-dell-xps-13...

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#62

Post by freemint »

rjzzleep wrote: post #37
young_unixer wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the only thing stopping me from buying an X1 Carbon. I had decided to buy a Dell Latitude instead, but apparently Dell did something similar [1], so now I don't know what to buy. Maybe a Huawei? AFAIK they haven't been caught in these shenanigans yet, but I still don't feel comfortable with them for some reason. God, the laptop market is awful. [1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/11/superfish-20-now-dell-.…

I actually have an X280 in my hand. The reason why wanted it was so I would get 5 years of international warranty on it. Turns out most countries don't actually accept the accidental damage coverage from another country(I paid about $600-$700 in coverage, so for the first 3 years it's no better than an AppleCare, which is international as well). Also when I wanted to switch it for an X1C because the new ones came out…

The same problem touchpad issue also exists on my Lenovo L380 Yoga. I don't think it is due to firmware issues as the problem existed with the original and the replacement motherboard.

I had two repairs done and a good experience. One time a fan and one time a motherboard replacement. Both times the Lenovo comes to you service promised dates were a day off. This was due to a regional holyday they could have scheduled for.

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#63

Post by dataflow »

winrid wrote: post #14
young_unixer wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the only thing stopping me from buying an X1 Carbon. I had decided to buy a Dell Latitude instead, but apparently Dell did something similar [1], so now I don't know what to buy. Maybe a Huawei? AFAIK they haven't been caught in these shenanigans yet, but I still don't feel comfortable with them for some reason. God, the laptop market is awful. [1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/11/superfish-20-now-dell-.…

I got an X1 Extreme, went to switch the graphics from Hybrid to Discreet in the BIOS to install Linux, and immediately bricked it. It was a bug. No reset can fix it. They have to replace the motherboard. They had it four months before I finally got them to just replace the machine.

Is there no way to reset the BIOS in a semi-dead mode? I seem to recall some Lenovo laptops had a mechanism where you detached both battery and AC, and then pressed the power button for like 20+ seconds or something like that, and it would reset some settings. Did you try anything like that?

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#64

Post by jopsen »

aorth wrote: post #39
gentleman11 wrote: post #10

Can’t trust them since the multiple spyware incidents. Fool me four times, shame on me Eg, > But it did more than that. It injected a self-signed root HTTPS certificate, which allowed them to hijack any and all encrypted traffic Different incident > This malware was hidden in the laptop's firmware, and abused the anti-theft feature in Windows 8 and 10. Whenever the laptop booted up, the executable would be extracted…

Honest question: how does this firmware spyware affect Linux? If I get a ThinkPad and overwrite the pre-installed OS with my own, would spyware like this be able to do anything on Linux? I guess they could do the same thing, extract some binary from the firmware pre-boot and inject it to /boot to mess with the boot process... but does that give them viable persistence and ability to do stuff in Linux once the OS is b…

Ideally it should if you format your laptop.

But the problem is working with a vendor that has a track record for compromising its customers.

How do you know they aren't inserting backdoors in the firmware?

The problem is the lack of trust.

To be fair, I'm still spotting an X1, but next time I might consider librem, or something else.

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#65

Post by rjzzleep »

jopsen wrote: post #58
winrid wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got an X1 Extreme, went to switch the graphics from Hybrid to Discreet in the BIOS to install Linux, and immediately bricked it. It was a bug. No reset can fix it. They have to replace the motherboard. They had it four months before I finally got them to just replace the machine.

Hmm, about two years ago I bought an X1 5 gen, it had horrible Linux support.. as in it just didn't work properly. So I sent it back for refund, that was no problem. I'll say this: I respect Lenovo customer service.

No 15% restocking fee? Lucky you. Every one of my Lenovo customer service interactions made me regret my purchase.

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#66

Post by jcelerier »

rolleiflex wrote: post #9
happymellon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes although that is the X series, I've been browsing after my comment and had noticed that there is a mix and some seem to be Ubuntu and some Fedora, which is great. I also appreciate that they are saying that everything should work, including the fingerprint reader which is one thing I'm a little bitter about the XPS series. They'll sell you a laptop that is Linux compatible, but not everything will work. Actually…

> They'll sell you a laptop that is Linux compatible, but not everything will work. That is despicable on Dell’s part. The definition of ‘compatible’ is that everything will work.

then I have never bought a single "compatible" appliance ; all my windows-preinstalled laptops always came with a few issues

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#67

Post by MagnumOpus »

young_unixer wrote: post #12
gentleman11 wrote: post #10

Can’t trust them since the multiple spyware incidents. Fool me four times, shame on me Eg, > But it did more than that. It injected a self-signed root HTTPS certificate, which allowed them to hijack any and all encrypted traffic Different incident > This malware was hidden in the laptop's firmware, and abused the anti-theft feature in Windows 8 and 10. Whenever the laptop booted up, the executable would be extracted…

This is the only thing stopping me from buying an X1 Carbon. I had decided to buy a Dell Latitude instead, but apparently Dell did something similar [1], so now I don't know what to buy. Maybe a Huawei? AFAIK they haven't been caught in these shenanigans yet, but I still don't feel comfortable with them for some reason. God, the laptop market is awful. [1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/11/superfish-20-now-dell-.…

Taiwanese laptops? Asus is a contender in every weight class. Acer maybe too.

Or Japanese. I personally don’t like Sony, but they and Fujitsu are alternatives to crapware from the PRC too.

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#68

Post by neverminder »

Freak_NL wrote: post #54
liveranga wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm happy with my System76 Lemur Pro. It's refreshing to buy a nice laptop from a linux vendor who are maintaing their own (ubuntu based) distro and actually shipping a very polished gnome experience. Edit: Forgot to mention they ship with coreboot too.

After two System76 laptops I have now switched to Dell. System76 is good, but it's just too much of a hassle when buying from the EU; particularly when dealing with hardware defects under warranty. After all those years I had hoped System76 would have partnered up with a representative in the EU internal market, but alas. Dell is also acting corporately weird by the way. The XPS 13 (9310) is available with Ubuntu 20.…

Calling them may be a drag, but when I did so last year, the rep pulled the specs that I've chosen on their webshop and gave me a 5% discount, which is quite a bit considering a £4500 laptop.

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#69

Post by pletnes »

dataflow wrote: post #63
winrid wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got an X1 Extreme, went to switch the graphics from Hybrid to Discreet in the BIOS to install Linux, and immediately bricked it. It was a bug. No reset can fix it. They have to replace the motherboard. They had it four months before I finally got them to just replace the machine.

Is there no way to reset the BIOS in a semi-dead mode? I seem to recall some Lenovo laptops had a mechanism where you detached both battery and AC, and then pressed the power button for like 20+ seconds or something like that, and it would reset some settings. Did you try anything like that?

Others have a «router-like» reset button which you shove a paperclip into. I’ve seen it on at least one X1 yoga.

Re: Lenovo Selling Linux Laptops Directly in the US

#70

Post by neverminder »

rolleiflex wrote: post #9
happymellon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes although that is the X series, I've been browsing after my comment and had noticed that there is a mix and some seem to be Ubuntu and some Fedora, which is great. I also appreciate that they are saying that everything should work, including the fingerprint reader which is one thing I'm a little bitter about the XPS series. They'll sell you a laptop that is Linux compatible, but not everything will work. Actually…

> They'll sell you a laptop that is Linux compatible, but not everything will work. That is despicable on Dell’s part. The definition of ‘compatible’ is that everything will work.

I have the Precision 7750 with power fingerprint button, but I'm not losing sleep over it. I will suffer a lot more than that before I go to Windows or worse, Apple. Besides, usually it's just a matter of time before the driver gets into a kernel.
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