Linux 5.10 To Bring Some Improvements For Newer Lenovo Laptops

[starshipeleven]

Would be nice if they finally add support for their 3G modem included in the Gen8... The 7560 modem isn't of much use for now...
Hopefully that will change someday.

They can't make miracles, that's an Intel modem and Intel does not provide Linux drivers for the whole family of modems use by that card and older ones as well.

That said, I thought they removed the BIOS whitelist years ago, if that is correct you can swap the modem with a Sierra Wireless modem (known-good brand, there are others).

[Thaodan]

Got one of these "new" models and my smartcarder is not working. Lenovo has no idea..

[mitcoes]

edwaleni

Because there is no margin in that price class to fund ongoing Linux support. That is why most of the Linux work is happening in the ThinkPad line, where the average margin is higher.

starshipeleven

because Chromebooks actually sell better?

Thanks, good arguments, but

- Is not already Linux + wayland the Chrome OS - very small work to add -? Are not small budget buyers a bigger market overseas ? and adding bigger M2 devices margin can be higher and still a cheap offer

and
- Is it because of Chrome OS or their cheap hardware?, also only good sells in the USA market, because of Google's choice not marketing it as well overseas.

So even with your good points, I still do not understand why they do not make that offer, even if it is as a test.

PS: I read there is a shortage in Chromebooks and Chromebooks parts - It seems cheap is good for sells - perhaps if you sell 100% of a product line, you cannot make more of them even if with another OS you would be able to sell even more, as I think - and I can be misled or mistaken -.

[starshipeleven]

Is not already Linux + wayland the Chrome OS - very small work to add -?

Each OS they pre-install must be validated because they offer official support for it. It's not just flashing a disk image

Are not small budget buyers a bigger market overseas ?

They don't want Linux, many don't want Chromebooks either.

and adding bigger M2 devices margin can be higher and still a cheap offer

This does not matter if none buys them.
But the gist of your reasoning isn't wrong, and they already did something like that.
On some specific markets like India https://www.amazon.in/Laptops-DOS-Co...n%3A1464493031 and EU https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=laptop+...f=nb_sb_noss_2 they sell laptops with "freeDOS" preinstalled, fully knowing that anyone buying the laptop will install their own OS (usually a pirated Windows), I don't know if they do the same with US market too.
With FreeDOS they skip license costs, and the laptop is usually a bit cheaper for the consumer.

- Is it because of Chrome OS or their cheap hardware?,

Afaik chromebooks aren't unique hardware lines, but just rebranded clones of their other other laptop lines, using a shell that has the Chrome logo. If you find the ones they sell with FreeDOS it should cost more or less the same.
Also, converting a Chromebook to run Windows or Linux is indeed possible and easy for the average Linux user, but the average consumer is really not able to do the same.

PS: I read there is a shortage in Chromebooks and Chromebooks parts - It seems cheap is good for sells - perhaps if you sell 100% of a product line, you cannot make more of them even if with another OS you would be able to sell even more, as I think - and I can be misled or mistaken -.

The shortage is caused by Covid and the fact that many schools in the US are doing remote lessons now so even very young students will need a PC. And of course Google has taken over the US education market years ago, so they will require chromebooks.

And of course manufacturing laptops or any complex device isn't something you do on demand but based on future predictions. Because it takes many months to design, then many months to actually source or manufacture and then assemble all the parts.
They didn't account for massive global pandemic nor for the fact that US government is in absolute shambles and couldn't deal with the situation one bit, so they manufactured a normal amount of laptops for a normal "back to school" event, maybe with some margin.

[Rob72]

I know this is hopeless since it is an "older" machine (2016)...

I have a ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen1), and for the most part it works great, except for 2 issues

• Fingerprint reader (Validity 138a:0090) does not work under Linux, as there is no real driver (there is a reversed-engineered "driver", but is out of tree, has lots of limitations and apparently no longer maintained).
• Docking station Ethernet is very flaky. This is a power issue, and they partially fixed it on Windows with a special "dock" driver. But it was never fixed on Linux.

[imaskar]

Well, the current Linux on Lenovo experience is pretty bad, so any improvement is appreciated. So far with Ubuntu on IdeaPad 5 15 (AMD) I'm having the following:
- fingerprint scanner doesn't work (no driver)
- brightness can't be controlled from OS, only by a special program
- can see, but can't connect to my BT mouse, only works in RF mode with a dongle
- sound occasionally stops, only fixed by restart
- WiFi occasionally stops, only fixed by restart (no, restarting network service doesn't help)
- performance is way worse when working on battery, there is no setting to disable it (maybe recompiling the kernel could help)

So, if you are considering Lenovo for Linux right now, think twice.

[Xtigyro]

Very good news!

[Neuro-Chef]

being a loyal ThinkPad user that sounds great, altough I'm already almost 100% satistfied with current hw support.
they only thing I can see improved is the T480S docking station support, which sometimes is a bit buggy.

Yes, the devices themselves are mostly well supported, but the newer USB docks are still a mess, especially the ones with crappy DisplayLink chips.

never had a problem with the docking station of the T420 and X220.

Yeah, IMHO those old port replicators were more reliable, I still use one for T420 & X230.

[LaMaladdress]

Meanwhile over in the sound land for Linux 5.10 is a more pressing change by SUSE's Takasi Iwai who oversees the kernel's sound subsystem. That patch provides improved routing for the ThinkPad X1 Gen8 and Gen7 laptops.

Actually, this patch made it to Linux 5.9 \o/