X1 Carbon (X1C) 6th gen - Linux cheat sheet?

[MountainMan]

I have a 6th gen Thinkpad X1 Carbon on order, and I plan to run Ubuntu 18.04 on it.

I've done a little bit of web research and am aware of some issues, but there are hundreds of pages of information, reporting a variety experiences, at different points in time and with different configurations. Is there any up-to-date summary of problems and fixes for this particular combination of hardware and OS?

So far, I'm aware of:

(1) problem waking from S3, at least partially fixed in BIOS 1.30 - I will make sure I'm running at least that version of the BIOS.
(2) problems with the touchpad under some circumstances - I don't use the touchpad, and I always disable it.
(3) problems with some WWAN hardware - My system won't have any WWAN hardware.
(4) fingerprint reader doesn't work - I guess I'll just have to keep typing a password.

[MountainMan]

I just came across this old thread of mine, which never got any answers.

I installed Ubuntu 18.04 on my X1C6 a couple of months ago, and it's working very well. The only significant hardware-related issue I had was trackpoint acceleration - it's nearly unusable in the default installation. Sleeping works fine by default - close the lid and it goes to sleep; open it and it wakes up. I don't use WWAN or the fingerprint reader or the camera/microphone, so I don't have any information about them.

There is a lot of discussion of linux trackpoint problems on the web, much of it contradictory. Here is how I fixed mine:

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sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-evdev
xinput -list  # look for the trackpoint. on my system, it's id=12 "TPPS/2 Elan TrackPoint".
xinput -list-props 12
# to experiment with individual parameters, try commands like this:
xinput set-prop "TPPS/2 Elan Trackpoint" "Device Accel Constant Deceleration" 1.75

I experimented with various settings and, when I was satisifed, I made /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/52-trackpoint-tweaks.conf containing:

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Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Trackpoint tweaks"
MatchProduct "TPPS/2 Elan TrackPoint"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Driver "evdev"
Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
Option "EmulateWheelTimeout" "200"
Option "EmulateWheelInertia" "2"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "AccelerationProfile" "2"
Option "AccelerationNumerator" "12"
Option "AccelerationDenominator" "5"
Option "ConstantDeceleration" "3"
Option "AdaptiveDeceleration" "2"
EndSection

[MountainMan]

Here are a couple of other changes I made, based on my personal preferences.

Disable the touchpad - create /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/53-disable-touchpad.conf (and reboot):

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Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Touchpad DISABLE"
MatchProduct "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Option "Ignore" "true"
EndSection

Replace Gnome Desktop with Unity:

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apt install ubuntu-unity-desktop
# when asked, choose lightdm as default display manager
# reboot

Fix clumsy scrollbar behavior. Add the following to ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini (create if doesn't exist):

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[Settings]
gtk-primary-button-warps-slider = false

Add the following to ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css (create if doesn't exist):

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scrollbar {
	-GtkScrollbar-has-backward-stepper: true;
	-GtkScrollbar-has-forward-stepper: true;
}

Log out and log back in.


Replace the default file manager, Nautilus, with Caja:

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sudo apt install caja caja-open-terminal
gsettings set org.mate.applications-terminal exec gnome-terminal
# mouse-over the nautilus icon (a file drawer) in the launcher, right-click, choose "unlock from launcher"
# first invocation - open a terminal window and type caja
# reboot, which sets the correct file-drawer icon
# invoke caja from terminal, mouse-over icon in launcher, right-click, choose "lock to launcher"

[w0qj]

Since yours is an OS-specific question, perhaps it may be better if you ask this in the Linux forum.

I do not have Linux experience, but here's my 2 cents:

Did your X1C6 come with the Microsoft Signature Edition of Win10?
Think I've heard something about Microsoft and Lenovo did something to the BIOS to try hider Linux,
courtesy the brainchild of MS.

Like I said, I don't know Linux...

[MountainMan]

Did your X1C6 come with the Microsoft Signature Edition of Win10?

I'm not sure. I chose the least expensive option, "Windows 10 Home 64". I immediately replaced the original drive with a brand new one and installed Ubuntu on it.

Nothing hindered my installing or running Ubuntu. The sole hardware problem, trackpoint acceleration, described above, was not caused by Microsoft. One of the libinput developers called the default implementation "simply broken:"
https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/ ... 39029.html

[dr_st]

Did your X1C6 come with the Microsoft Signature Edition of Win10?
Think I've heard something about Microsoft and Lenovo did something to the BIOS to try hider Linux,
courtesy the brainchild of MS.

Yes, that was a well-known piece of misinformation. Which I think you were the one spreading here last time.
viewtopic.php?p=807251#p807251

[w0qj]

OK, I stand corrected!

Please disregard my 29th-Jan-2019 posting regarding Windows 10 Signature Edition... the info in my posting is incorrect!

[Comment to Forum Moderators: You may delete my 29th-Jan-2019 posting in this thread if you wish!]