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Lenovo Denies Claims It Plotted With Microsoft To Block Linux Installs (theregister.co.uk)
Reader kruug writes: Several users noted certain new Lenovo machines' SSDs are locked in a RAID mode, with AHCI removed from the BIOS. Windows is able to see the SSD while in RAID mode due to a proprietary driver, but the SSD is hidden from Linux installations -- for which such a driver is unavailable. Speaking to The Register today, a Lenovo spokesperson claimed the Chinese giant "does not intentionally block customers using other operating systems on its devices and is fully committed to providing Linux certifications and installation guidance on a wide range of products."
Complaints on Lenovo's forums suggest that users have been unable to install GNU/Linux operating systems on models from the Yoga 900S to the Ideapad 710S, with one 19-page thread going into detail about the BIOS issue and users' attempts to work around it.
Complaints on Lenovo's forums suggest that users have been unable to install GNU/Linux operating systems on models from the Yoga 900S to the Ideapad 710S, with one 19-page thread going into detail about the BIOS issue and users' attempts to work around it.
I'm in the market for a new laptop, so I'll skip all of the Lenovos, and will pass that along to all of my clients. Thanks!
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
I just can't understand why this pointless compelxity is being added to BIOS for "security".
Put in a physical switch hooked to the WE/ (write-enable) or equivalent line of the BIO flash chip. Unit comes with this shipped in the disabled position, with security tape over it to prove it's never been enabled since factory. User can choose to flip the switch in order to load a UEFI user cert or whatever crap is required to install a new OS boot or BIOS update. Flip the switch back when done, presto, "security".
I truly think Microsoft as one of the primary backers pushing UEFI have done it the way they have, precisely in order to have a future ability to pull sh*t like this. It fits totally in with the long-term plans to remove general-purpose computing from users' hands. Otherwise, why the hell wouldn't a simpler system be in place?
Rather ironically, the Thinkpad series of laptops from Lenovo have excellent (in my experience) Linux compatibility. Lenovo even publishes compatibility certifications for them. I use Mint on a T450s and it worked nearly-perfectly out of the box (only issue I has is with the touchpad, but I prefer the nub mouse anyways and leave the touchpad disabled most of the time).
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
So you're saying that despite technology changing and different things being tried, two companies that don't care at all about linux didn't go out of their way to ensure compatibility with your essentially niche desire to install an unsupported os on their machines is somehow a conspiracy against you?
And yet, as far as I understand this, they disabled the option to turn off fakeraid in BIOS, an option that is present in all PCs that support fakeraid, including the older laptops. Disabling the option does not make Windows run better, so there had to be another reason for doing it. If the reason is not to screw Linux users, then what was it?
From a UEFI/BIOS dev standpoint, it's the other way around: Windows' requirements are the minority compared to Linux's requirements. Linux is actually pretty much catered to by default without the software dev having to do anything special to get it to boot. Windows is the picky one, so I have a hard time believing that they didn't know what they were doing when they "accidentally" made it so Linux won't boot.