5 ms·

Has anyone installed Linux on this machine? If so, how has your experience been with respect to driver support, etc.? Thanks in advance.

by piker 10y ago

SallySwanSmith 10y ago
Given it's not even fully announced yet, yet alone released... that'd be a no.
- piker 10y ago
  Ah, that makes sense. I got really excited by the site and didn't read for content.
sparrish 10y ago
I've got a 2016 model and things work pretty well with Ubuntu 16.10. Only gripe I have is bluetooth audio isn't working out-of-the-box.
- ripberge 10y ago
  Same experience. Everything works great except for Bluetooth
- DrScump 10y ago
  What about inexpensive USB plug-in Bluetooth adapters?
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - jmiserez 10y ago
    There are some that just show up as an audio USB device, which is pretty nice. I have this one, been using it with Ubuntu 14.04 on my W520 Thinkpad: https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-BTD-500-Bluetooth-Dongle/dp/B007C4D6A8 https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-BTD-500-Bluetooth-Dongle/d... It does voice too, but looking at the reviews it seems that some other people have headphone compatibility issues. Definitely try before you buy.
alaithea 10y ago
I can't speak to this generation of the machine, but I've had a decent experience with Ubuntu on the 3rd gen Carbon X1. I have constant issues with the wifi, though... networkmanager needs to be restarted a couple times a day or else the OS will just lose connection and say wifi is disabled. There is also a general sluggishness, especially when web-browsing, that I have not yet tracked down. All in all, though, it is fine, and the hardware is very nice. I did have trouble getting any other distros besides Ubuntu to install and run properly, though, YMMV.
- piker 10y ago
  Interesting that your wifi experience sounds terrible, but you've given it a "decent" rating. For me, wifi concerns are among the most important. Thanks for the feedback.
  - alaithea 10y ago
    At this point, the fix is just a matter of popping open a terminal, hitting Ctrl+R and typing "restart" to find the command that fixes things, and hitting Enter. So yeah, it is annoying but not a dealbreaker by any means for a power user. I could probably cronjob the restart, too.
    - CaptSpify 10y ago
      could probably write a service or cron to check if it's working and restart?
      - hehheh 10y ago
        Makes me think of this: https://www.amazon.com/NetReset-NR-1000US-Automated-Cycler-Routers/dp/B00HUEU9H8 https://www.amazon.com/NetReset-NR-1000US-Automated-Cycler-R... heh
  - reitanqild 10y ago
    I do sudo networking restart and/or sudo network-manager restart a few times a week. Takes 30 seconds. Annoying. Totally acceptable IMO to have an OS I otherwise love (KDE Neon). (I like Windows 10 as well but it has a weird laggyness on my lenovo. I suspect the lenovo drivers but cannot do anything about it that I know.)
JJMalina 10y ago
I did it on the previous (4th) generation and wrote about it: https://gist.github.com/jjmalina/5e13b2269ec97895ea5fda9df6d26751 https://gist.github.com/jjmalina/5e13b2269ec97895ea5fda9df6d... Probably will be a similar experience having to install non-free wifi drivers and possibly some kernel graphics drivers not working well.
pyromine 10y ago
Don't have this machine, but have a Lenovo Yoga 14, I was amazed when even the touch drivers worked out of the box.
dnr 10y ago
I just got a 4th gen X1 and installed Ubuntu 16.10 on it. Everything's been great so far. Wifi has been working fine. The only weirdness I've noticed is a few background chrome tab crashes. Perhaps something with the gpu? I had to make one change in the bios, to disable secure boot so Ubuntu could use certain drivers. I've read that the fingerprint sensor on the newer X1's doesn't have linux support yet, and I've never tried the wwan stuff. That might not work either. I haven't tried bluetooth yet.
YeGoblynQueenne 10y ago
I'm dual-booting Fedora 17 (with the KDE desktop) on my second generation X1 Carbon. I don't remember having any serious trouble with any of the hardware, including the wifi (which can be a pain point). Connecting an external monitor also worked fine- I think that's another common pain point. I couldn't find a clickpad driver that would support gestures as well as the proprietary Synaptics driver on Windows (but I tend not to use gestures anyway), and the battery seemed to drain faster on Linux than on Windows, but that's about it. If memory serves (I've had this machine for a while) the only complain I had was that booting into grub2 was noticeably slower than booting into the Windows boot manager. I also got the fourth generation model a couple of months ago but haven't yet installed Linux on it, mostly because I can find so little to grumble about. Either Windows is getting better or I'm getting old :)
alanl 10y ago
Lenovo X1 usually has good support for Linux. https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Thinkpad/X1%20Carbon%204thGen%20PCIe_SSD/jessie?action=recall&rev=10 https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Thinkpad/X1%20Car...
alanl 10y ago
Lenovo X1 usually has good support for Linux. https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Thinkpad/X1%20Carbon%204thGen%20PCIe_SSD/jessie?action=recall&rev=10 https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Thinkpad/X1%20Car...
ericd 10y ago
Ubuntu 16.04 installed and runs without a hitch on a 4th gen (this announcement is of the 5th gen), with the exception of the LTE (needed to install a few libraries from 16.10), and the fingerprint scanner (which is apparently at the complete mercy of the hardware manufacturer Synaptics, no ETA there afaict). One thing to be aware of, though, is that support for Hidpi screens isn't quite as good as on OS X, so sometimes you're greeted by tiny text. Steam is a notable example of an app that doesn't scale properly. It looks like they included a different LTE chipset this time, though, so maybe compatibility is better there.
rifung 10y ago
I have a 4th gen X1 Carbon with Ubuntu and everything has worked fine. Even the functional buttons like screen brightness and volume work for me. On the other hand, the palm detection does not work or is just terrible because I find myself constantly randomly tapping or moving the cursor when typing. Indeed it's moving around as I type this. I ended up just disabling tap to click which I actually love using, but besides that it's great. I definitely long for the day when Linux touchpad support will match OS X's. Still, I really like the keyboard and the little nub thing is pretty awesome too, although I haven't really gotten used to using it.
- spodek 10y ago
  Here are my notes to fix the overly sensitive trackpad on my Lenovo Carbon X1 (they'll probably only make sense after reading the links) from https://major.io/2012/12/28/handy-settings-for-the-touchpadclickpad-in-the-lenovo-x1-carbon https://major.io/2012/12/28/handy-settings-for-the-touchpadc... synclient "PalmDetect=1" synclient "PalmMinWidth=5" synclient "PalmMinZ=40" Or soft link to a file from /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-synaptics.conf. To get middle-button scroll with trackpoint: From https://askubuntu.com/questions/578600/how-do-i-get-the-trackpoint-buttons-working-on-an-x1-carbon2015 https://askubuntu.com/questions/578600/how-do-i-get-the-trac... edited /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d\11-evdev-trackpoint.conf upated the line: MatchProduct "TrackPoint|DualPoint Stick" to MatchProduct "TrackPoint|DualPoint Stick|PS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" Sorry if they don't make sense, but the links are where I got my information, so they should help. The changes made a world of difference.
kozikow 10y ago
No problem with any drivers. My blog post about arch Linux on x1 carbon: https://kozikow.com/2016/06/03/installing-and-configuring-arch-linux-on-thinkpad-x1-carbon/ https://kozikow.com/2016/06/03/installing-and-configuring-ar...
jefffan241 10y ago
I run xubuntu 16.04 on a third generation with 0 issues. Works great.
pixelbeat 10y ago
This machine isn't available yet :) But since Lenovo is the Red Hat corp laptop vendor, support is generally excellent. I've used Fedora 23+ on the Third gen X1 carbon with zero issues.

Has anyone installed Linux on this machine? If so, how has your experience been with respect to driver support, etc.? Thanks in advance.

by piker 10y ago

Has anyone installed Linux on this machine? If so, how has your experience been with respect to driver support, etc.? Thanks in advance.

SallySwanSmith 10y ago

Given it's not even fully announced yet, yet alone released... that'd be a no.

piker 10y ago
Ah, that makes sense. I got really excited by the site and didn't read for content.

sparrish 10y ago

I've got a 2016 model and things work pretty well with Ubuntu 16.10. Only gripe I have is bluetooth audio isn't working out-of-the-box.

ripberge 10y ago
Same experience. Everything works great except for Bluetooth
DrScump 10y ago
What about inexpensive USB plug-in Bluetooth adapters?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- jmiserez 10y ago
  There are some that just show up as an audio USB device, which is pretty nice. I have this one, been using it with Ubuntu 14.04 on my W520 Thinkpad: https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-BTD-500-Bluetooth-Dongle/dp/B007C4D6A8 https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-BTD-500-Bluetooth-Dongle/d... It does voice too, but looking at the reviews it seems that some other people have headphone compatibility issues. Definitely try before you buy.

alaithea 10y ago

I can't speak to this generation of the machine, but I've had a decent experience with Ubuntu on the 3rd gen Carbon X1. I have constant issues with the wifi, though... networkmanager needs to be restarted a couple times a day or else the OS will just lose connection and say wifi is disabled. There is also a general sluggishness, especially when web-browsing, that I have not yet tracked down. All in all, though, it is fine, and the hardware is very nice. I did have trouble getting any other distros besides Ubuntu to install and run properly, though, YMMV.

piker 10y ago
Interesting that your wifi experience sounds terrible, but you've given it a "decent" rating. For me, wifi concerns are among the most important. Thanks for the feedback.
- alaithea 10y ago
  At this point, the fix is just a matter of popping open a terminal, hitting Ctrl+R and typing "restart" to find the command that fixes things, and hitting Enter. So yeah, it is annoying but not a dealbreaker by any means for a power user. I could probably cronjob the restart, too.
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    could probably write a service or cron to check if it's working and restart?
    - hehheh 10y ago
      Makes me think of this: https://www.amazon.com/NetReset-NR-1000US-Automated-Cycler-Routers/dp/B00HUEU9H8 https://www.amazon.com/NetReset-NR-1000US-Automated-Cycler-R... heh
- reitanqild 10y ago
  I do sudo networking restart and/or sudo network-manager restart a few times a week. Takes 30 seconds. Annoying. Totally acceptable IMO to have an OS I otherwise love (KDE Neon). (I like Windows 10 as well but it has a weird laggyness on my lenovo. I suspect the lenovo drivers but cannot do anything about it that I know.)

JJMalina 10y ago

I did it on the previous (4th) generation and wrote about it: https://gist.github.com/jjmalina/5e13b2269ec97895ea5fda9df6d26751 https://gist.github.com/jjmalina/5e13b2269ec97895ea5fda9df6d... Probably will be a similar experience having to install non-free wifi drivers and possibly some kernel graphics drivers not working well.

pyromine 10y ago

Don't have this machine, but have a Lenovo Yoga 14, I was amazed when even the touch drivers worked out of the box.

dnr 10y ago

I just got a 4th gen X1 and installed Ubuntu 16.10 on it. Everything's been great so far. Wifi has been working fine. The only weirdness I've noticed is a few background chrome tab crashes. Perhaps something with the gpu? I had to make one change in the bios, to disable secure boot so Ubuntu could use certain drivers. I've read that the fingerprint sensor on the newer X1's doesn't have linux support yet, and I've never tried the wwan stuff. That might not work either. I haven't tried bluetooth yet.

YeGoblynQueenne 10y ago

I'm dual-booting Fedora 17 (with the KDE desktop) on my second generation X1 Carbon. I don't remember having any serious trouble with any of the hardware, including the wifi (which can be a pain point). Connecting an external monitor also worked fine- I think that's another common pain point. I couldn't find a clickpad driver that would support gestures as well as the proprietary Synaptics driver on Windows (but I tend not to use gestures anyway), and the battery seemed to drain faster on Linux than on Windows, but that's about it. If memory serves (I've had this machine for a while) the only complain I had was that booting into grub2 was noticeably slower than booting into the Windows boot manager. I also got the fourth generation model a couple of months ago but haven't yet installed Linux on it, mostly because I can find so little to grumble about. Either Windows is getting better or I'm getting old :)

alanl 10y ago

Lenovo X1 usually has good support for Linux. https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Thinkpad/X1%20Carbon%204thGen%20PCIe_SSD/jessie?action=recall&rev=10 https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Thinkpad/X1%20Car...

alanl 10y ago

ericd 10y ago

Ubuntu 16.04 installed and runs without a hitch on a 4th gen (this announcement is of the 5th gen), with the exception of the LTE (needed to install a few libraries from 16.10), and the fingerprint scanner (which is apparently at the complete mercy of the hardware manufacturer Synaptics, no ETA there afaict). One thing to be aware of, though, is that support for Hidpi screens isn't quite as good as on OS X, so sometimes you're greeted by tiny text. Steam is a notable example of an app that doesn't scale properly. It looks like they included a different LTE chipset this time, though, so maybe compatibility is better there.

rifung 10y ago

I have a 4th gen X1 Carbon with Ubuntu and everything has worked fine. Even the functional buttons like screen brightness and volume work for me. On the other hand, the palm detection does not work or is just terrible because I find myself constantly randomly tapping or moving the cursor when typing. Indeed it's moving around as I type this. I ended up just disabling tap to click which I actually love using, but besides that it's great. I definitely long for the day when Linux touchpad support will match OS X's. Still, I really like the keyboard and the little nub thing is pretty awesome too, although I haven't really gotten used to using it.

spodek 10y ago
Here are my notes to fix the overly sensitive trackpad on my Lenovo Carbon X1 (they'll probably only make sense after reading the links) from https://major.io/2012/12/28/handy-settings-for-the-touchpadclickpad-in-the-lenovo-x1-carbon https://major.io/2012/12/28/handy-settings-for-the-touchpadc... synclient "PalmDetect=1" synclient "PalmMinWidth=5" synclient "PalmMinZ=40" Or soft link to a file from /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-synaptics.conf. To get middle-button scroll with trackpoint: From https://askubuntu.com/questions/578600/how-do-i-get-the-trackpoint-buttons-working-on-an-x1-carbon2015 https://askubuntu.com/questions/578600/how-do-i-get-the-trac... edited /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d\11-evdev-trackpoint.conf upated the line: MatchProduct "TrackPoint|DualPoint Stick" to MatchProduct "TrackPoint|DualPoint Stick|PS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" Sorry if they don't make sense, but the links are where I got my information, so they should help. The changes made a world of difference.

kozikow 10y ago

No problem with any drivers. My blog post about arch Linux on x1 carbon: https://kozikow.com/2016/06/03/installing-and-configuring-arch-linux-on-thinkpad-x1-carbon/ https://kozikow.com/2016/06/03/installing-and-configuring-ar...

jefffan241 10y ago

I run xubuntu 16.04 on a third generation with 0 issues. Works great.

pixelbeat 10y ago

This machine isn't available yet :) But since Lenovo is the Red Hat corp laptop vendor, support is generally excellent. I've used Fedora 23+ on the Third gen X1 carbon with zero issues.