3 ms·

I can't stand this crap. Do you own a Thinkpad? I'm typing this on a T61 and items 2-6 on your list are complete garbage. I have never experienced any of those

by glesica 14y ago

I can't stand this crap. Do you own a Thinkpad? I'm typing this on a T61 and items 2-6 on your list are complete garbage. I have never experienced any of those things. It's not that I just don't care, I do care. If that much was wrong, I wouldn't own the thing any more (as an aside, what the hell does "hand patching" even mean?) As for item 1, this was dealt with in another thread a few days ago. Optimus can be made to work, but it isn't convenient (run a script then reboot to switch). But if you're planning to "build a Linux laptop", why would you buy one with Optimus? It actually causes problems on Windows too, speaking from personal experience. Linux is not for everyone. Let me repeat that. Linux is not for everyone. But if you want to use Linux, which I do, there are excellent options for doing so at very reasonable prices and Thinkpads are an example of that.

KirinDave 14y ago
I currently own a glitchy T520 that Lenovo has been increasingly reluctant to service as it periodically refuses to turn on. It's been in the shop 4 times. 2-6 on my list are not complete garbage, they're all problems I or other friends I've worked with have experienced with various Lenovo boxes over the last year or so. I actually got Bumblebee/Ironhide working on my T520 without issue, but I couldn't ever do what everyone else could do: get the DisplayPort out to drive an external display. So effectively I was limited to VGA-only for a second monitor (and running Ironhide in such a condition caused a system freeze). Not acceptable. And the one game I do enjoy, Minecraft? Renders unreliably without Ironhide. So... yeah. I had display problems. Not to mention despite the most assiduous reading of FAQs, consulting with powertop-savvy-friends, and appealing for help on twitter I never got more than four hours of light-use battery life from my T520 with the stock battery. This, of course, ignores the nightmare ordering process, the late delivery, the snippy service, and the inability to FIX my machine despite having sent it back a few times now. It's great you have managed to build a decent experience for your specific requirements. I'm glad, I don't wish my pain on anyone. And I really do wish it was better, I miss XMonad dearly. I miss a JVM with good performance dearly. I miss a sane linker dearly. But if your expectations are, "My laptop is fully supported and gets good battery life and does things a macbook would be good at doing" then you will be disappointed with Linux on the laptop, and Lenovo will not be an impressive vendor.
- glesica 14y ago
  I apologize for the curt reply. There have been a number of these "Linux" threads lately on HN and the disinformation (on both sides) bugs me to no end. Clearly you've had some troubles and you have a right to be annoyed. For reference, and perhaps for the use of others, Canonical maintains a list of hardware that works, along with information about what doesn't work. I have found it handy in the past. It can be found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/ http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/

by glesica 14y ago

KirinDave 14y ago

I currently own a glitchy T520 that Lenovo has been increasingly reluctant to service as it periodically refuses to turn on. It's been in the shop 4 times. 2-6 on my list are not complete garbage, they're all problems I or other friends I've worked with have experienced with various Lenovo boxes over the last year or so. I actually got Bumblebee/Ironhide working on my T520 without issue, but I couldn't ever do what everyone else could do: get the DisplayPort out to drive an external display. So effectively I was limited to VGA-only for a second monitor (and running Ironhide in such a condition caused a system freeze). Not acceptable. And the one game I do enjoy, Minecraft? Renders unreliably without Ironhide. So... yeah. I had display problems. Not to mention despite the most assiduous reading of FAQs, consulting with powertop-savvy-friends, and appealing for help on twitter I never got more than four hours of light-use battery life from my T520 with the stock battery. This, of course, ignores the nightmare ordering process, the late delivery, the snippy service, and the inability to FIX my machine despite having sent it back a few times now. It's great you have managed to build a decent experience for your specific requirements. I'm glad, I don't wish my pain on anyone. And I really do wish it was better, I miss XMonad dearly. I miss a JVM with good performance dearly. I miss a sane linker dearly. But if your expectations are, "My laptop is fully supported and gets good battery life and does things a macbook would be good at doing" then you will be disappointed with Linux on the laptop, and Lenovo will not be an impressive vendor.

glesica 14y ago
I apologize for the curt reply. There have been a number of these "Linux" threads lately on HN and the disinformation (on both sides) bugs me to no end. Clearly you've had some troubles and you have a right to be annoyed. For reference, and perhaps for the use of others, Canonical maintains a list of hardware that works, along with information about what doesn't work. I have found it handy in the past. It can be found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/ http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/