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Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on the T25 - driver issues

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bigletits
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Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on the T25 - driver issues

#1 Post by bigletits » Sun Oct 15, 2017 3:52 pm

Has anyone done it yet? I have no drivers for anything. On my T530 it was ezpz. Is there a list of drivers I can download and install for the T470 or something?

Neil
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Re: Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on the T25 - driver issues

#2 Post by Neil » Sun Oct 15, 2017 3:59 pm

Have not done it myself, so take this advice with that in mind. Drivers, in Linux, are included in the kernel for most hardware, so with such new hardware you are likely going to have to have the very newest kernel available for your chosen OS. Even then it may take a while for developers to catch up with the latest hardware. While there may also be firmware packages that can be added, they still are not like Windows drivers that manufacturers provide for easy download and installation.
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

bigletits
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Re: Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on the T25 - driver issues

#3 Post by bigletits » Sun Oct 15, 2017 4:01 pm

That's the thing, I thought that since the T25 is based on the T470 it would be a simple matter of installing most, if not all of whatever the T470 used. I must be underestimating the complexity then.

Neil
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Re: Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on the T25 - driver issues

#4 Post by Neil » Sun Oct 15, 2017 4:05 pm

What drivers are you missing? Graphics is the usual suspect when problems arise. Does the T25 have a different graphics chip than the T470? I haven't the opportunity to experience either.
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

bigletits
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Re: Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on the T25 - driver issues

#5 Post by bigletits » Sun Oct 15, 2017 4:09 pm

Wireless, display and sound is what I've noticed. I fully suspect there are others.

jaspen-meyer
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Re: Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on the T25 - driver issues

#6 Post by jaspen-meyer » Sun Oct 15, 2017 4:31 pm

bigletits wrote:
Sun Oct 15, 2017 4:09 pm
Wireless, display and sound is what I've noticed. I fully suspect there are others.
Neil hit the nail on the head; which kernel are you running?

Code: Select all

uname -a
T420 i7 3612QM seabios; T420 i7 3630QM; T400 Q9100 seabios; T61 P9600; T60 libreboot; x62; x60s libreboot, led; x24 xiphmont led

bigletits
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Re: Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on the T25 - driver issues

#7 Post by bigletits » Sun Oct 15, 2017 4:42 pm

Code: Select all

Linux Bob-TP25 4.4.0-21-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 18 18:33:37 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux. 
That's the full print out

Neil
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Re: Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on the T25 - driver issues

#8 Post by Neil » Sun Oct 15, 2017 5:47 pm

This is all uncharted territory for me, but you may have to go with the 4.14 daily build kernel to get support for such new hardware. http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

marsman2020
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Re: Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on the T25 - driver issues

#9 Post by marsman2020 » Sun Oct 15, 2017 8:51 pm

My machine should be arriving tomorrow, I plan to resize the partitions and dual boot with Linux - I'll probably start with Ubuntu 16.04 since that's what I run on my desktop.

I plan to keep blow-by-blow notes on the install process including the Optimus graphics & will post for everyone else.

Will report back.
En Route: TP25
Current Daily Driver: Helix (1st Gen)
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akitaen
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Re: Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on the T25 - driver issues

#10 Post by akitaen » Wed Oct 18, 2017 2:51 am

Hello friends,
I am running Kubuntu 17.04 on a T460p without problems. IIRC my machine has same generation CPU, chipset, and nVidia GPU as your T25, so I suspect the linux compatibility is similar or same. I had poor luck with all linux distros that predated the hardware due primarily to missing drivers. I don't remember if this included Kubuntu 16.04 but for kubu that is not a lovely release due to old and rough KDE version. No problems with 16.10 and 17.04 is similar but better everywhere. I generally prefer LTS release (and still use 14.04 elsewhere, it was very mature) but with 17.10 days away that has to be your best bet for new hardware. Optimus works fine out of the box.

I suggest testing these with the live ubuntu ISOs before installing. If you have grub on a flash drive you don't need to do anything super fancy to boot ubuntu ISOs, just copy the iso to /boot/iso (or whatever) and edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg to add something like this:
menuentry 'kubuntu 16.04 ISO fresh' {
    set isofile='/boot/iso/kubuntu-16.04-desktop-amd64.iso'
    set bootpart='hd1,4'
    search --no-floppy --set bootpart --fs-uuid 123-your-partition-uuid-456
    loopback loop (${bootpart})${isofile}
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz.efi boot=casper iso-scan/filename=${isofile} noprompt ---
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

You can also point grub at a softlink if you don't want to edit grub.cfg to change the iso:
#ls -la /media/usb/boot/iso
kubuntu-14.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso
kubuntu-16.04-desktop-amd64.iso
kubuntu-17.04-desktop-amd64.iso
live.iso -> kubuntu-17.04-desktop-amd64.iso


If you're set on 16.04 but drivers are missing, I think there's a PPA to run modern kernels on an LTS, though I can't help with that. (edit: that's what Neil said too)

I will see replies here, but I might be slow.
Cheers!
Last edited by akitaen on Wed Oct 18, 2017 4:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

akitaen
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Re: Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on the T25 - driver issues

#11 Post by akitaen » Wed Oct 18, 2017 3:44 am

@marsman
In case this is useful to you, I will also recommend that before repartitioning you backup the disk. You can use clonezilla-live to do this, and like ubuntu you can do this without a special flash drive if you have a grub-booting usb. For this you extract the vmlinuz & initrd files from the clonezilla iso and add something like the following to grub.cfg, grabbing the options from clonezilla ISOs grub.cfg:
menuentry "Clonezilla live VGA" {
    insmod ext2
    search --no-floppy --set root --fs-uuid <your-drive-uuid>
    linux /boot/clonez/vmlinuz boot=live union=overlay username=user hostname=yakkety config quiet components noswap edd=on nomodeset noeject locales= keyboard-layouts= ocs_live_run="ocs-live-general" ocs_live_extra_param="" ocs_live_batch="no" vga=791 ip= net.ifnames=0  splash i915.blacklist=yes radeonhd.blacklist=yes nouveau.blacklist=yes vmwgfx.enable_fbdev=1 toram=filesystem.squashfs
    initrd /boot/clonez/initrd.img
}

If you hit the right key to select the USB as the one-time boot device before first boot, you can back up the virgin factory disk before it initializes and all that. (The key is different on the new machines than on legacy thinkpads, I think you do it with return or space). (Edit: The 'Enter' key selects boot and bios options at the moment the POST shows Lenovo logo on current machines, since function keys may not be easy).

This saved my behind a few times, then you can wipe windows or the restore partition if desired.

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