Installing fresh hot Debian 7.0 on a shiny new ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop turns out to be easy as cake. You just need to make sure to grab the wifi firmware from unstable instead of the all-in-one firmware tarballs, which contain a version that is missing a couple required files.
wget http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/7.0.0/multi-arch/iso-cd/debian-7.0.0-amd64-i386-netinst.iso
dd if=debian-7.0.0-amd64-i386-netinst.iso of=/dev/sdb
(Make sure /dev/sdb is really the usb stick you want to overwrite with the installer!)
wget http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/non-free/f/firmware-nonfree/firmware-iwlwifi_0.38_all.deb
And put that on a second usb stick for the installer to load the firmware off of.
As far as I can tell, everything works. (Did not mess around with the fingerprint reader, don't care.)
From the October 18th, 2010 Debian Project News:
Joey Hess blogged about a hybrid debian-installer for USB and optical discs. While it has been possible to boot debian-installer from USB sticks for quite some time, the procedure to make such a bootable USB stick has been quite difficult. The new hybrid ISO image can be burned to CDs as well as simply copied raw (with cat) to USB devices. It is also very easy to add additional firmware. Joey also mentions that due to problems with the jigdo templates, currently only a minimal hybrid image is created, but he points out that it is very easy to make the existing ISO images suitable for USB sticks by using the isohybrid command from the syslinux package.
I can confirm that most things work out of the box. Here is my resume of broken stuff I discovered so far. I am running debian 7.1
I had to install the 3.9 Kernel from Backports because the USB ethernet adapter was giving weird errors. Initial install went fine though.
The mic mute button does not work at all. The LED does not work and it doesn't generate any acpi events when using
acpi_listen. Would be good if someone could check theirs withacpi_listenand report back, since it might be my hardware.The USB 3.0 dock is pretty bust. It uses a DL-3000 display link chip which will not have any Linux support soon, according to the manufacturer:
http://displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1748
The only thing I tried was Video, but to no avail. USB Hub and Network might work, will try soon. Anyway, no dual monitor with that brick. Pretty disappointed.
Haven't tried the fingerprint reader yet. Also, I have disabled the touchpad so I have no idea if multitouch works.
Someone here claims they do not have their mic-mute button either:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/199199/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon-support
Also, I just checked, and the mic mute button light doesn't light up, even when in the BIOS. So it might be my hardware.
Here is another person who claims the mic mute is not working:
http://blog.jr0cket.co.uk/2013/03/ubuntu-on-lenovo-x1-carbon-first.html
I can confirm that USB and network do work for the USB 3.0 dock.
The sound card does not appear in the pulase audio
pavucontrolprogram. So I am not sure if audio works.FYI: here is the dmesg output:
[ 7612.818247] usb 4-2: new SuperSpeed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd [ 7612.836026] usb 4-2: New USB device found, idVendor=2109, idProduct=0811 [ 7612.836039] usb 4-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0 [ 7612.836045] usb 4-2: Product: Lenovo USB 3.0 dock [ 7612.836050] usb 4-2: Manufacturer: VIA Labs, Inc. [ 7612.838416] hub 4-2:1.0: USB hub found [ 7612.838613] hub 4-2:1.0: 4 ports detected [ 7613.082395] usb 3-2: new high-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd [ 7613.099698] usb 3-2: New USB device found, idVendor=2109, idProduct=3431 [ 7613.099710] usb 3-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0 [ 7613.099716] usb 3-2: Product: USB2.0 Hub [ 7613.100473] hub 3-2:1.0: USB hub found [ 7613.100690] hub 3-2:1.0: 4 ports detected [ 7613.181307] usb 4-2.4: new SuperSpeed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd [ 7613.196195] usb 4-2.4: New USB device found, idVendor=2109, idProduct=0811 [ 7613.196206] usb 4-2.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0 [ 7613.196212] usb 4-2.4: Product: Lenovo USB 3.0 dock [ 7613.196218] usb 4-2.4: Manufacturer: VIA Labs, Inc. [ 7613.199683] hub 4-2.4:1.0: USB hub found [ 7613.199876] hub 4-2.4:1.0: 4 ports detected [ 7613.378883] usb 3-2.2: new low-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd [ 7613.401871] usb 3-2.2: New USB device found, idVendor=046d, idProduct=c050 [ 7613.401883] usb 3-2.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0 [ 7613.401889] usb 3-2.2: Product: USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse [ 7613.401894] usb 3-2.2: Manufacturer: Logitech [ 7613.402188] usb 3-2.2: ep 0x81 - rounding interval to 64 microframes, ep desc says 80 microframes [ 7613.423184] hidraw: raw HID events driver (C) Jiri Kosina [ 7613.430356] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid [ 7613.430363] usbhid: USB HID core driver [ 7613.438826] input: Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-2/3-2.2/3-2.2:1.0/input/input14 [ 7613.439325] hid-generic 0003:046D:C050.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse] on usb-0000:00:14.0-2.2/input0 [ 7613.474845] usb 3-2.3: new low-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd [ 7613.494840] usb 3-2.3: New USB device found, idVendor=046a, idProduct=0011 [ 7613.494855] usb 3-2.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0 [ 7613.495138] usb 3-2.3: ep 0x81 - rounding interval to 64 microframes, ep desc says 80 microframes [ 7613.498774] input: HID 046a:0011 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-2/3-2.3/3-2.3:1.0/input/input15 [ 7613.499308] hid-generic 0003:046A:0011.0002: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [HID 046a:0011] on usb-0000:00:14.0-2.3/input0 [ 7613.570995] usb 3-2.4: new high-speed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd [ 7613.587804] usb 3-2.4: New USB device found, idVendor=2109, idProduct=3431 [ 7613.587819] usb 3-2.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0 [ 7613.587828] usb 3-2.4: Product: USB2.0 Hub [ 7613.588512] hub 3-2.4:1.0: USB hub found [ 7613.588690] hub 3-2.4:1.0: 4 ports detected [ 7613.668700] usb 4-2.4.1: new SuperSpeed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd [ 7613.683781] usb 4-2.4.1: New USB device found, idVendor=17e9, idProduct=4302 [ 7613.683792] usb 4-2.4.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 [ 7613.683798] usb 4-2.4.1: Product: ThinkPad USB 3.0 Dock [ 7613.683803] usb 4-2.4.1: Manufacturer: DisplayLink [ 7613.683808] usb 4-2.4.1: SerialNumber: 10193330 [ 7613.718328] cdc_ether 4-2.4.1:1.5 eth0: register 'cdc_ether' at usb-0000:00:14.0-2.4.1, CDC Ethernet Device, 00:50:b6:63:a4:ac [ 7613.719172] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ether [ 7613.776445] parse_audio_format_rates_v2(): unable to retrieve number of sample rates (clock 10) [ 7613.777344] parse_audio_format_rates_v2(): unable to retrieve number of sample rates (clock 10) [ 7613.778097] usb_audio: Warning! Unlikely big volume range (=511), cval->res is probably wrong. [ 7613.778108] usb_audio: [14] FU [Line Playback Volume] ch = 2, val = -8176/0/16usb_audio: Warning! Unlikely big volume range (=511), cval->res is probably wrong. [ 7613.779380] usb_audio: [11] FU [Lenovo USB Audio Capture Volume] ch = 2, val = -8176/0/16<6>[ 7613.780212] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audioLet us try that again:
Preview helps...
There's an important step missing from this tidbit: The firmware files can be extracted from that firmware file (i.e., iwlwifi-6000g2a-6.ucode) from the firmware-iwlwifi_0.38_all.deb package using /usr/bin/dpkg:
# mkdir /tmp/firmware-iwlwifi # mv firmware-iwlwifi_0.38_all.deb /tmp/firmware-iwlwifi/ # cd /tmp/firmware-iwlwifi/ # dpkg -x firmware-iwlwifi_0.38_all.deb . # ls -al / root@eric-t41p:/tmp/firmware-iwlwifi# ls -1 lib/firmware/ iwlwifi-1000-5.ucode iwlwifi-100-5.ucode iwlwifi-105-6.ucode iwlwifi-135-6.ucode iwlwifi-2000-6.ucode iwlwifi-2030-6.ucode iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode iwlwifi-5150-2.ucode iwlwifi-6000-4.ucode iwlwifi-6000g2a-5.ucode iwlwifi-6000g2a-6.ucode iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode iwlwifi-6050-4.ucode iwlwifi-6050-5.ucode
I received the expensive active DP -> VGA adapter so that I can connect the Carbon X1 to a beamer if required. Turns out this is not w/o issues. When switching with xrandr, the screen freezes and lags quite a lot and the following shows up in dmesg:
While installing debian-7.1.0-amd64-DVD-1 on my new X1 Carbon (344822U), the installer complains...
Checking /var/log/syslog, I found these entries:
So I downloaded the http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/non-free/f/firmware-nonfree/firmware-iwlwifi_0.38_all.deb package, extracted the firmware, and put the firmware files on a USB stick but the installer isn't able to locate the firmware.
Ideas? Suggestions?
There's an important step missing from this tidbit: Extracting the firmware files from the .deb.
The firmware files can be extracted from that firmware file (i.e., iwlwifi-6000g2a-6.ucode) from the firmware-iwlwifi_0.38_all.deb package using /usr/bin/dpkg: