Ubuntu 24.10 ARM64 Installer Supports The Snapdragon-Powered Lenovo ThinkPad X13s
With prior Ubuntu releases it's been possible to install on the ThinkPad X13s ARM laptop but it's not been a streamlined and simple experience. But with Ubuntu 24.10 due for its official release in Ocober, the generic ARM64 Ubuntu images can now be used for installing on this popular Lenovo ARM notebook.
It's now as simple as downloading the Ubuntu 24.10 ARM64 desktop image, booting it from USB, and installing as you normally would do on Intel/AMD x86_64 laptops. You must opt for the "install third-party software for graphics and WiFi" option though to get X13s specific configuration packages enabled during the installation. Ubuntu 24.10 with the Linux 6.11 kernel will be able to drive the web camera as well as hardware GPU acceleration when having the necessary firmware binaries.
Ahead of the official Ubuntu 24.10 release, the daily Ubuntu 24.10 ARM64 builds are available from cdimage.ubuntu.com for those wanting to test out the current state right now.
It's great seeing the Ubuntu 24.10 ARM64 images now able to accommodate the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s, but this Snapdragon powered laptop launched back in May 2022... Lenovo no longer even sells this ThinkPad X13s laptop model. Two years later finally a streamlined / out-of-the-box experience for this laptop but with some feature exceptions persisting. For ARM64 Linux laptops to really succeed, the support must materialize sooner and be less of a chore than it is today with most not nicely supporting ACPI and UEFI standards, etc. Just as most of the newer Snapdragon X1 laptops are slowly seeing upstream Linux support but months later running with reduced/limited functionality.
More details on running Ubuntu Linux on the ThinkPad X13s Snapdragon laptop can be found via Ubuntu Discourse.
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