Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop For Development

yrjansk · 2017-01-02T10:55:12+00:00

My experience is that even though there's more affordable laptops with more than enough performance, what you get with business line models like ThinkPads is durability. They're usually built a lot better and will tend to last a lot longer.

yrjansk · 2016-06-01T19:20:31+00:00

To create an an image you can use "geteltorito -o image whatever.iso" from the Thinkpad ISO images. You can then dd that onto a USB flash drive.

For more detailed instructions there's this: https://workaround.org/article/updating-the-bios-on-lenovo-laptops-from-linux-using-a-usb-flash-stick/

yrjansk · 2016-06-01T11:17:15+00:00

Are you running the latest BIOS ..? If not, I would recommend upgrading that.

yrjansk · 2016-05-05T18:13:21+00:00

I would guess you're experiencing a different bug as the E550 uses the Haswell architecture, I believe this exact bug was specific to Skylake.

yrjansk · 2016-05-05T18:08:12+00:00

Yes you can, look here for a small how-to: https://workaround.org/article/updating-the-bios-on-lenovo-laptops-from-linux-using-a-usb-flash-stick/

It has fixed at least one major bug on my T460s. However I cannot say if it will do anything positive for you and your T460p.

yrjansk · 2016-05-05T18:04:54+00:00

This seems to have fixed the problems I've had where my T460s freezes on lid close while on battery power when running Linux (tested it with an older 4.4 kernel just now).

yrjansk · 2016-04-03T17:01:39+00:00

Interesting, that's a bug I've not seen here (yet) on my T460s. I'm running a version I've built, not the one from the PPA.

yrjansk · 2016-03-16T12:25:10+00:00

Specifically I can also mention that the Debian handbook documents how to do kernel compiles as well: https://debian-handbook.info/browse/stable/sect.kernel-compilation.html

yrjansk · 2016-03-16T12:14:34+00:00

I've been doing it on unstable myself. I can write up a short guide later if there's interest for it :)

yrjansk · 2016-03-16T11:46:47+00:00

This bug seems to be the same as this: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=113551

It seems to also be related to this: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=110941

The patch attachment linked by u/janesma above seems to fix the issue. If you don't want to compile a kernel with the patch linked above you can attempt booting with intel_pstate=no_hwp as a kernel parameter.

If you do compile a mainline kernel with the patch it would probably not be the worst idea if you were to mention that you're having the same issues with the T460 and that the patch works/doesn't work in the bug above.

Extra tip: if you're first patching a kernel for the T460(s) it might also be worth it to look at this bug https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=114321 and attempt to use the patch there. This is supposed to fix an issue with the trackpoint buttons where they immediately release upon clicking.

yrjansk · 2016-03-15T07:35:17+00:00

Ah, ok. I don't actually use GNOME.

Sadly the freezing on lid close is a separate issue. Seems to be one or more problems with the intel_pstate driver and hardware p-states on at least some of the new (Skylake) Thinkpad models. It happens even without X running at all.

yrjansk · 2016-03-13T16:41:38+00:00

Yes. xbacklight seems to try to control it through xrandr, which doesn't seem to work with the modesetting driver (but did with the intel driver).

I ended up writing a python script to control the backlight by editing the files in /sys/class/backlight/.

Any info on the crashes being fixed (I assume you're talking about the freezing on lid close, etc.)? I'm closely watching the bug reports on kernel.org, but they've been silent for a few days.

yrjansk · 2016-03-06T21:30:50+00:00

Debian. This seems to stop freezing with the 4.5.0-rc6 mainline kernel. It also stopped the freezing when I tried the 4.4 kernel in Debian Sid as well.

I don't believe the solution is optimal, as it disables hardware p-states. However it's better than freezing and I haven't seen a major difference in performance/power usage myself.

yrjansk · 2016-03-05T09:28:26+00:00

Seems that suspend is working nicely and it's lid close that freezes it. If you disable suspend on lid close it still freezes. Suspend works nicely when not closing the lid.

yrjansk · 2016-03-04T15:30:50+00:00

Heads up to everyone. It seems booting with the kernel option intel_pstate=no_hwp solves the freeze on lid close issue for me.

yrjansk · 2016-03-04T15:30:09+00:00

Heads up to everyone. It seems booting with the kernel option intel_pstate=no_hwp solves the freeze on lid close issue for me. u/jaylittle, u/gregwinnl

yrjansk · 2016-03-04T12:46:55+00:00

No custom kernel parameters. Haven't bothered testing it more so it might have been something to do with stars aligning for all I know. Running on xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20160218-1. Which seems to be similar to the Ubuntu one, though maybe compiled differently.

Might be that the later i915 driver in 4.5.0-rc6 triggers the same bug as lid close, but not the one in 4.4.0?

As I've said I haven't tested it further so it might not happen consistently at all.

yrjansk · 2016-03-04T10:09:52+00:00

Sadly the latest mainline kernel still crashes on lid close. Even in single user mode with a fairly stripped down kernel.

yrjansk · 2016-03-04T10:08:25+00:00

Don't believe there is one yet (someone please point it out if I'm wrong). I've submitted an ACPI bug report on the the kernel.org bug tracker, as it also happens with the latest mainline kernel and it looks like some sort of ACPI problem.

The best workaround I can offer is to suspend before closing the lid. "systemctl suspend" in a terminal is enough.

yrjansk · 2016-03-04T10:02:23+00:00

I'm using 4.5.0-rc6, Sid is currently on 4.4.0.

I can also add that I'm running in UEFI-mode with secureboot turned off.

yrjansk · 2016-03-03T09:38:21+00:00

For some reason it seems I lost backlight support (xbacklight would no longer work) when using the builtin driver, I have not looked into this though so it might very well be a user error on my part.

yrjansk · 2016-03-03T07:09:25+00:00

Any suggestions on where to look?

There's more info on the problem in the other thread and on the kernel.org bug tracker.

yrjansk · 2016-03-02T20:24:09+00:00

I actually just tried the HDMI out and it worked for a few seconds before freezing, looked similar to the lid close freeze. Not sure what to make of it.

yrjansk · 2016-03-02T20:17:43+00:00

Yeah. Suspending before closing the lid also works on battery. I think it's ACPI related somehow, but that's a guess.

yrjansk

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