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Can the ThinkPad T14 ARM Snapdragon variant function without pain as a daily Linux/BSD driver?

by __patchbit__ 3mo ago

shevy-java 3mo ago
Without pain? I mean, there is pain when using Linux. It just works better than, say, Windows.
- hparadiz 3mo ago
  I just setup Gentoo on a Lenovo laptop last week. It was the least painful process for a Linux laptop of my entire career. Everything just works. Even sleep and the fingerprint sensor for sudo. LLM tuis replaced Google entirely. I can't even say there was any pain whatsoever. The experience is now more akin to MacOS circa 10.6.x years.
  - izacus 3mo ago
    Was it a Snapdragon laptop? Because if it wasn't, then it has nothing to do with the OPs question.
    - hparadiz 3mo ago
      Driver support for that particular Lenovo is 100%. You just recompile. The issue is more to do with the CPU not being as good as say an AMD AI Max or an M4.
sedatk 3mo ago
Snapdragon has excellent single-thread performance (unlike Ampere) if that’s what you’re asking.
izacus 3mo ago
No. The driver support is very poor and won't run at all well. Even. Setting it up is a pain: https://github.com/Jeremiah-Hawley/Linux-on-Snapdragon https://github.com/Jeremiah-Hawley/Linux-on-Snapdragon It can run Windows well though.
bpye 3mo ago
When I looked at this before I found https://github.com/kuruczgy/x1e-nixos-config https://github.com/kuruczgy/x1e-nixos-config - reasonable though not 100% support. I believe Ubuntu also has semi official X1 elite support, no idea if they're working on the latest generation.
neobrain 3mo ago
Unlikely. I've been daily-driving the predecessor (X13s). While it's usable and technically all drivers are there, it's far from "without pain" due to endless number of small but annoying quirks. Just to give you an idea: boot fails 4 out of 5 times, external displays aren't recognized unless plugged in/out several times, sporadic resets during overnight sleep, etc. On top of that speakers will sound prohibitively tinny due unimplemented software-side speaker protection. I haven't tried T14s, but at least the audio issues will still apply there. Apple devices supported by Asahi are a far more polished experience.
- M95D 3mo ago
  > software-side speaker protection What's that?
  - neobrain 3mo ago
    See https://asahilinux.org/2024/01/fedora-asahi-new/#speakers https://asahilinux.org/2024/01/fedora-asahi-new/#speakers The effect is understated there, perhaps because Apple speakers are actually somewhat usable without this feature. For the X13s, the speakers might as well not exist in the current state on Linux.
    - M95D 3mo ago
      Complexity in the name of cost cutting. A hardware power limiter based on temperature would cost... $1? A thermal pipe from speakers to case acting as a radiator would be... $5?
jordand 3mo ago
Qualcomm are slowly but steadily improving Linux support for the X1/X2 Snapdragon CPUs (such as the qcom-hamoa-ec driver in 7.2), so it's still a wait. I think there's some challenges with Secure Boot and the firmware with these Lenovo devices though.

Can the ThinkPad T14 ARM Snapdragon variant function without pain as a daily Linux/BSD driver?

shevy-java 3mo ago

Without pain? I mean, there is pain when using Linux. It just works better than, say, Windows.

hparadiz 3mo ago
I just setup Gentoo on a Lenovo laptop last week. It was the least painful process for a Linux laptop of my entire career. Everything just works. Even sleep and the fingerprint sensor for sudo. LLM tuis replaced Google entirely. I can't even say there was any pain whatsoever. The experience is now more akin to MacOS circa 10.6.x years.
- izacus 3mo ago
  Was it a Snapdragon laptop? Because if it wasn't, then it has nothing to do with the OPs question.
  - hparadiz 3mo ago
    Driver support for that particular Lenovo is 100%. You just recompile. The issue is more to do with the CPU not being as good as say an AMD AI Max or an M4.

sedatk 3mo ago

Snapdragon has excellent single-thread performance (unlike Ampere) if that’s what you’re asking.

izacus 3mo ago

No. The driver support is very poor and won't run at all well. Even. Setting it up is a pain: https://github.com/Jeremiah-Hawley/Linux-on-Snapdragon https://github.com/Jeremiah-Hawley/Linux-on-Snapdragon It can run Windows well though.

bpye 3mo ago

When I looked at this before I found https://github.com/kuruczgy/x1e-nixos-config https://github.com/kuruczgy/x1e-nixos-config - reasonable though not 100% support. I believe Ubuntu also has semi official X1 elite support, no idea if they're working on the latest generation.

neobrain 3mo ago

Unlikely. I've been daily-driving the predecessor (X13s). While it's usable and technically all drivers are there, it's far from "without pain" due to endless number of small but annoying quirks. Just to give you an idea: boot fails 4 out of 5 times, external displays aren't recognized unless plugged in/out several times, sporadic resets during overnight sleep, etc. On top of that speakers will sound prohibitively tinny due unimplemented software-side speaker protection. I haven't tried T14s, but at least the audio issues will still apply there. Apple devices supported by Asahi are a far more polished experience.

M95D 3mo ago
> software-side speaker protection What's that?
- neobrain 3mo ago
  See https://asahilinux.org/2024/01/fedora-asahi-new/#speakers https://asahilinux.org/2024/01/fedora-asahi-new/#speakers The effect is understated there, perhaps because Apple speakers are actually somewhat usable without this feature. For the X13s, the speakers might as well not exist in the current state on Linux.
  - M95D 3mo ago
    Complexity in the name of cost cutting. A hardware power limiter based on temperature would cost... $1? A thermal pipe from speakers to case acting as a radiator would be... $5?

jordand 3mo ago

Qualcomm are slowly but steadily improving Linux support for the X1/X2 Snapdragon CPUs (such as the qcom-hamoa-ec driver in 7.2), so it's still a wait. I think there's some challenges with Secure Boot and the firmware with these Lenovo devices though.