ThinkPad X120e/AMD fusion?

[walt.smith1960]

Any thoughts about this new entry? I just find Thinkpad ergonomics fit my style nicely. I'm thinking about this little guy in a couple months. Has anyone had any experience with this or similar hardware under Ubuntu? Conventional wisdom is to beware of new hardware with Ubuntu. How different is AMD fusion over the Athlon Neo in the X100e? People seem to have gotten the X100e to work without too much tearing of hair. Most problems I seen on the X100e seem to be BroadCom related (Imagine that)
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/leno...;1#reviewPage1

[link141]

I just ordered one of these last week (friday) -- which was about as soon as one could order it. The reviews of this model were superb and I was in the market for a new laptop. Additionally, a quick search around the web seemed to indicate that lenovos have a reputation for having high compatibility with Linux.

I did a somewhat extensive google search on the compatibility of Zacate with Linux, and what I saw seemed to confirm it will work well as the AMD Linux drivers already support the GPU core.

It's funny, I was about to order the Asus eee pc 1215n, but found out there were major issues where the Ion 2 gpu won't function under linux at all (and NVidia has no plans to support it 'currently'). I then found out Asus was going to release a new model that uses Zacate, but they haven't even officially announced it yet. This, in addition to an issue with eee pc's where the PSU connector could snap off eventually dissuaded me from waiting for the new model. I then stumbled across this thinkpad and decided to buy it.

My new x120e should arrive the week of the 14th, and I expect to be one of the first customers to receive my unit. I'll let you know how well it works with Ubuntu then.

Happy Laptop hunting
Link141

[walt.smith1960]

Great, thank you. The "classic" thinkpads have excellent Linux compatibility. I've had an R51 & R61i and everything "just worked" on both. The problem I saw with the predecessor X100e is that it was prone to running pretty warm. Heat kills.

[link141]

As many reviewers have stated, one of the biggest improvements from the x100e is that the x120e runs much, much cooler and has vastly better battery life. I'm really looking forward to getting my unit.

[ilembitov]

It's funny, I was about to order the Asus eee pc 1215n, but found out there were major issues where the Ion 2 gpu won't function under linux at all (and NVidia has no plans to support it 'currently').

Even with Zacate 1215 series are not the best choice. The build quality is simply too bad. I have used 1215n for a week and found many things annoying. The keyboard flexes and bounces badly (and is actually loud), the touchpad buttons are hard to press. The hard drive is surprisingly loud, too. Furthermore, you can't easily access the internals of 1215n - you'll have to disassemble the whole thing if you want to install SSD or a miniPCI-e card. With HP Pavilion dm1z, for instance, you can easily remove the whole bottom and access the whole motherboard. However, it worries me, that there are no screws in the bottom, just clips.

However, there are some good things about 1215n. The touchpad is big, and so is the screen.

Still, I have not tried dm1z so far (they're not in Russia yet), but x100e really had a better build quality.

[mr_raider]

Just ordered mine this week. Looking forward to reading other experiences of Ubuntu on x120e.

[mysho]

i want to buy x120e too, but at first i have to know if it's compatible with ubuntu, so post your experiences asap

[linuxhobox]

Just finished setting this up.

• Realtek wifi works stock w/ Natty / Maverick needs compile of rtl8192ce driver from realtek site. (http://www.realtek.com/Downloads/dow...e&SortByDesc=1)(make,make install, reboot)
• Bluetooth works stock w/ Natty / Maverick needs work
• Fglrx ati graphics did not compile w/ Natty (is x server compatible?) / works with Maverick see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI (hdmi sound works)
• Suspend works w/ Maverick (wifi works after suspend) / not tested with natty
• UEFI install worked w/ Natty / Kernel panic with Maverick
• UEFI install will not work from usb stick unless it emulates a cd/dvd rom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U3)
• Legacy Bios Install worked w/ both
• Microphone input does not work on install but I haven't done any troubleshooting yet.
• Battery life seems good so far.
• Hibernate not tested Natty / Maverick hibernate locks up (no solution yet)
• wireless function key has no effect
• 8Gb ram installed w/ out a problem

Wireless hasn't dropped in hours of use.

I don't even see the bluetooth device w/ lspci under maverick. Bios vs Uefi issue?\

Maintenance manual linke --> http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub...63y0640_02.pdf

[mr_raider]

Just finished setting this up.

• Realtek wifi works stock w/ Natty / Maverick needs compile of rtl8192ce driver from realtek site. (make,make install, reboot)
  
• Bluetooth works stock w/ Natty / Maverick needs work
  
• Fglrx ati graphics did not compile w/ Natty (is x server compatible?) / works with Maverick see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI (hdmi sound works)
  
• Suspend works w/ Maverick (wifi works after suspend) / not tested with natty
  
• UEFI install worked w/ Natty / Kernel panic with Maverick
  
• UEFI install will not work from usb stick unless it emulates a cd/dvd rom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U3)
  
• Legacy Bios Install worked w/ both
  
• Microphone input does not work on install but I haven't done any troubleshooting yet.
  
• Battery life seems good so far.
  
• Hibernate not tested Natty / Maverick hibernate locks up (no solution yet)
  
• wireless function key has no effect
  
• 8Gb ram installed w/ out a problem
  

Wireless hasn't dropped in hours of use.

I don't even see the bluetooth device w/ lspci under maverick. Bios vs Uefi issue?

So essentially I have a choice:

Run kernel 2.6.38 with built in wireless support, but use the open source ATI driver, or run an older kernel like 2.6.35 and install the realtek driver manually, but I still get fglrx.

How do you choose to do a BIOs vs uefi install?

[linuxhobox]

So essentially I have a choice:

Run kernel 2.6.38 with built in wireless support, but use the open source ATI driver, or run an older kernel like 2.6.35 and install the realtek driver manually, but I still get fglrx.

How do you choose to do a BIOs vs uefi install?

The cmos/bios/lenovo setup (press enter on startup) util has options for uefi only, legacy (bios) only, and both. Selecting uefi only gives a uefi install.
You'll know if you did it correctly since the installer CD falls into a uefi grub menu.
The default windows install used a bios MBR. So, to keep it you would want to not do a uefi install.

I might pick up another hard drive and try another distro next weekend. Natty uses xserver 1.10 which fglrx doesn't yet yet. I could always go back once fglrx support hits. It would be nice to have working bluetooth.

Hibernate: I'm thinking fglrx may be causing hibernate to lock up. Will test this once I do another install.
I tested w/ wireless module blacklisted. So, wireless should be fine.