[ltp] ThinkPad X1 Extreme

[Axel Braun]

Hello John,

Am Freitag, 28. Februar 2020, 12:00:02 CET schrieben Sie:

> >I'm currently considering to buy a X1 Extreme, to run with openSUSE
> >Tumbleweed. As it has Nvidia Graphic on board one can assume some
> >trouble.
> >
> >Has anyone experience with this Laptop?
>
> I have no experience with the X1 Extreme, but a couple months ago I did
> buy a Thinkpad P73 with Nvidia graphics. After installing Xubuntu on it
> I found that it was using just the Intel graphics on the motherboard,
> but after installing the Nvidia driver from the repositories and
> rebooting it started using both, with optimus. The Intel graphic chip
> is easier on the battery, and optimus allows it to use the Intel
> graphics unless it needs the additional speed and features of the
> Nvidia chip. Optimus is completely seamless - I never know which chip
> the computer is using.

Yes, I heard about that - does it work with sleep mode (S2RAM formerly) and
hibernation?

> Before installing the Nvidia driver I had to go to nvidia.com to find
> out which driver I needed for the Quadro T2000 in the computer. I could
> have downloaded their proprietary driver, either stable or bleeding
> edge, but I decided to just use the one from the repositories. The
> drivers in the repositories don't usually list which cards they work
> with, so I had to guess based on the number that Nvidia gave to their
> Linux driver for the T2000. Fortunately, I guessed right the first
> time. You can actually install more than one driver, but it will
> significantly slow down boot time while waiting for Linux to figure out
> which one it needs. Assuming that the X1 has an Intel CPU I'm guessing
> that you could probably install OpenSUSE on the computer without
> dealing with the Nvidia driver, and it will just use the Intel graphics
> until you get around to installing the Nvidia driver.

That may be an option, yes. As I'm not a gamer I hardly need heavy graphic
power.

Nvidias proprietary driver tend to be a bit slow when new kernels come up - on
the factory mailing we see regulary issues with new kernels and Nvidia not
building against these kernels. It usually needs some time (days? I did not
follow these discussions...) until they have fixed their API.
With Intel graphics one is usually on the safe side.

> In my experience Intel, AMD and Nvidia have always supported Linux,
> even with their latest chips. And as long as the computer has an Intel
> CPU it probably has Intel graphics as well.

Yes, as said, Intel graphics usually works fine. Probably the Linux drivers
for Nividia (nouveau?) will do the job in most cases

Thanks
Axel