Okay. I thought you meant in live session hardware is not detected so the install would fail to include the drivers. Now I see.
And I have 60 days to return it if I don’t like it. So plenty of time for troubleshooting.
Thanks,
Sheila
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I just got my son a similar model but 15.6" screen and Intel CPU. We’ve had good luck with a different Yoga with 14" screen for my daughter the past three years. Hers is a 7i I think. It has the speaker where the screen pivots. That’s pretty neat.
So far so good for both of them. They both use Windows at this point though.
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Well, the laptop arrived. I had to login to Windows to update OS, update BIOS and several drivers like the Wacom, which I think is the pen/ink. Can’t be sure, as no pen I already had works.
So I began the process of installing Linux. First, I added PopOS to my Ventoy drive of distros and attempted that. Through trial and error of choosing the right grub option and going back into BIOS to disable secure boot, I got into the desktop which might not have had the right display driver installed as I could not see the bottom of the window to go through the install. Got rid of the dock hiding it and got to the drives/partitions part, but could not advance past that. I was shown all the parts of the SSD, but selecting the main part I could only choose “use partition” and that enabled “format” and from there I could see nothing to continue; no options to install alongside Windows or create a new partition. So I thought, well, I’ll go back Ventoy and run Kubuntu and repartition there and then come back here to PopOS install.
But Kubuntu gave me a QR code (which I looked at from my phone) that said something about options for installation, one of which involved “Bitlocker” in Windows. I guess I have never installed Linux on a new Windows or at least Windows 11 computer, so rebooting, did not boot back into Windows, but required a Bitlocker key, which thankfully I got from another computer by logging into my Windows account and then I could reboot into Windows.
Sheesh. By the time I finished working today, I just now started working on it again. So had to use Windows disk partition (which again the drive shows Bitlocked) and Ubuntu help had said if you remove the disk lock, it might not ever come back. Does that matter?
I am keeping W11 for now until I ensure I have done everything necessary to install Linux before wiping the drive…just in case I need to go back to it. Specifically, if I cannot get all the hardware to run in Linux and decide to return the thing. But more than likely I’ll have to go through that bitlocker unlock again if I do. So I cut the drive space in half so I could use the new partition for Linux.
Then came the other issue: only NTFS or exFAT format in W11. Have I mentioned how much I hate Windows? So booted back into PopOS and just used the disk partition there to format the Linux file system. Cannot believe how much easier it was to do this in an unknown desktop environment of Linux than it was in Windows.
Started installer, but after selecting the Linux partition, it took me back to either format and install or create partition, manage partitions, etc. So I chose the first option, but then it showed the USB disk and the whole drive, including the Windows partition to be wiped.
There is nothing at the bottom of the PopOS installer that I can see to choose to install on the partition for Linux, once the checkmark is there on that partition, so I just hit enter and that is when it took me back to the previous screen. Not sure what I am doing wrong, since the partition had a checkmark on it once I chose it.
Update: I had to change the display from 200% (lol) no wonder I could not see the options at the bottom of the screen. I will now continue with PopOS install and report back any issues with hardware.
Thanks,
Sheila
Sooo, do you have to create the swap on a separate partition? Following the instructions here I skipped that step as I never did it in Kubuntu or LM, it was done for me, I guess. But the erase and install confirmation is greyed out when I check the new partition choosing Use Partition / Use as Root.
That is the only thing I can figure is preventing me from continuing with the installation.
Update: I created the swap, but am still unable to continue due to something with the boot/efi. If I understand correctly, I do NOT have a legacy BIOS, do I? So ignored that part of the instructions. But it wants me to choose a boot/efi and indicates the one from Windows should work. But when I choose that partition to be used as efi/boot, it says it is too small.
Never having messed with those partitions in W11 before, am a bit afraid to delete that partition and try resizing, but since it sits just before a small MS reserved partition, then followed by the current W11 partition, I am unsure how to go about this IF this is indeed what is causing me not to be able to proceed with the install.
Help…
Sheila
I found this about how to tell which option the PC has turned on legacy vs EFI. I hope it helps. I would be a bit surprised if Win 11 is running in legacy mode.
" How to figure out whether your computer is using UEFI or BIOS boot mode? Actually, you can check it by yourself. Just follow the step below.
Step 1: Press Windows + R to bring up Run window.
Step 2: Input msinfo32 and click OK button to open System Information.
Step 3: Click System Summary from the left list and go to the right pane to check the BIOS Mode. If it shows Legacy, it means you are using BIOS boot mode. For UEFI mode, it will display UEFI directly."
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Thanks @easyt50 W11 is definitely UEFI. That’s why I was sure I did not need to “create” a partition, but still, it seems to me that PopOS wants me to choose a boot/efi partition to use before it will let me continue the install.
Sigh…I never knew Kubuntu & LM made installing so simple. ::
Sheila
So re-reading the instructions:
500MB fat32 partition only when “boot,esp,and bios_grub” not exist.
linux-swap (optional) as large as RAM.
1024 MB Ext4 partition for separated “/boot” (DON’T recommend unless you require system encryption, as it cause installation fails in my test)
20 GB+ Ext4 partition for system, as large as you can assign.
I guess I misunderstood. The first item IS necessary since bios_grub does not exist? But the fat32 for EFI does for Windows. So that means I cannot use the Windows EFI partition for boot, but need to create an additional partition in front of the swap for that now? Does it need to be before or can I put it after the main partition for Linux?
Well, I am certainly learning about system partition structure in a way I have not before.
Thanks,
Sheila
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Hi Sheila,
I have not tried PopOS, but with most linux installs you have to do a minimum of
- choose a root partition
- choose a swap partition
- put a filesysyem on the root partition
- mount the root partition as ‘/’
If you cant do that with the popos installer, do what most
experienced linux users do… use gparted to make the required
partitions and put an ext filexystem on the one used as root partition. Then use the popos installer, and skip the partitioning step… just tell it which existing partition to install on and mark it as /
What are you going to do when is gets down to the install grub step? Where are you going to tell it to put grub? It requires an efi system partition (for a uefi boot). Do you have
one? If not you had bettter start again and make one with gparted first.
And, did you try a live popos?
Cheers
Neville
Hi Shiela,
Sounds like your disk has GPT partitioning and you use uefi boot? Correct?
You should only need one EFI partition, and it can be anywhere. I have one that is the 11th partition.
I dont see why Win and Linux cant share the EFI partition, unless it were too small?
You would only have a bios-grub partition if you were using
MSDoS partition table. That is unlikely, I think you have a GPT
partition table.
Cheers
Neville
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That is why I thought I had to make a new one, because PopOS says it IS too small.
So I chose a partition for each and finally it installed. But I have no grub, so no ability to boot into Windows now without going into BIOS and changing boot order. I read @abhishek article No Grub Windows Linux but I do not have the option he showed to add a boot item from BIOS. Am wondering if it’s because I have a separate EFI for Pop OS over Windows that no grub was created?
Since other Linux installs automatically allows for dual boot and creates the grub for you, I have no experience in this. How can I create the grub with the current issues?
The touchpad works, but so far no pen, but I do not have a pen (waiting on delivery) as the ones I had with Surface do not work (different protocol). I did open Xournal+ and tried using my finger, but not sure that the app allows that the way OneNote does (it has a menu selection of draw with finger).
Everything else seems to work for now.
Thanks,
Sheila
The way to install grub is to boot Linux and use
grub-install
It has parameters… look at its man page… you need to tell it where to put grub… ie which EFI partition to use.
I am not sure what will happen with 2 EFI partitions… it may work OK , as long as you are careful not to write grub on the Windows EFI partition.
If you get grub-install to work, then do
update-grub
It does not need any parameters.
It should find popos and windows and make you a grub menu.
Reboot and test it.
If it fails to find windows, it may have os-prober disabled.
To enable it go to
/etc/default/
and edit the file grub adding the line
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
Good luck with the two EFI files.
2 Likes
Thanks @nevj . The touchscreen is not working in Pop OS. I was able to use another pen I found in Windows, but I think the pen issue might first be that the touchscreen is not working in Pop OS.
I am doing research and have found some Lenovo (different Yoga models) saying what they did, but am going to look at everything before I post my options here. Hopefully someone can help me get the touch screen working…then I will see if pen input works.
Sheila
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You could test several other distros just with a live usb
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I guess I should try LM and Kubuntu that I already have on Ventoy disk. I’ll report back if touch screen works in those or not. Then we can maybe narrow down the issue in Pop OS.
Thanks,
Sheila
Linux Mint (Xfce) worked out of the box, even with kernel 5.15; some commenters stated new hardware=kernel 6.xx
Even that cheap pen that worked in W11 worked on the screen and the touch screen worked upon reboot after install.
Plus, LM auto creates the grub, so upon reboot I was presented with W11 or LM (I installed LM over PopOS).
Since I am testing out this notebook, not knowing if I am keeping or returning, I figured better to get it working asap so I can further test. I don’t know if LM Cinnamon would have worked OOB, but since I saw the comment on Vera, I decided to give it a try and it did.
Will update with any issues or final resolution in this thread once I have some time to get things installed.
Thanks,
Sheila
3 Likes
Great , you got Mint/xfce to work.
That link seems to say you might be better off with Gnome
Cheers
Neville
@nevj I am waiting for my pen to arrive tomorrow, as I don’t know why, but it stopped working (it was just a cheap stylus that worked in Xfce, but not Cinnamon).
My question to someone who knows more about this stuff:
Is there a difference between an actual install of Gnome and adding it as an additional login option on the current LM install? I found a thread which included this:
You can just do "apt-get install gnome-session" and it will install Gnome and all required on Mint and it works absolutely perfect.
That is what I did with Cinnamon (did not really care for the Xfce) and so now at login I can choose between the two.
Thanks,
Sheila
After reading the article you pointed to, additional questions arise when looking at which Gnome to consider. Rolling releases for one, I have never used one, know about the upside/downside but willing to try, however, OpenSUSE (Tumbleweed) sounded great till I read the BTRFS file system. Can you explain what that is and how it differs over ext4? Does it affect daily usage in saving files, downloading files, etc?
I found itsfoss article that LM is switching to ArchLinux and eventually maybe Gentoo. So was thinking maybe ArchLinux but it seems it is based on Ubuntu (Ubuntu is based on GNOME?) so think I need to understand the differences between GNOME, Debian, Ubuntu or as one article I read pointed out: ArchLinux is “independent.” Maybe you could elaborate on those things.
Thanks,
Sheila
Clicking on the “Official Announcement” at the end of the posting I got directed to “April Fools’ Day”.
So I am not too sure about LM going to Arch.
3 Likes
Hi Shiela,
Firstly GNOME is a desktop environment, like Xfce or KDE or LXDE. You can get LM with GNOME, or Debian with GNOME, or Ubuntu with GNOME, …
I guess that article did not make it clear.
GNOME is a big heavy desktop, like KDE. Xfce is smaller.
I think the article thought GNOME worked well on touch screens because it has big icons. But you have a pen. If you like Xfce, I think I would stay with it.
That article does seem to say that some desktop environments provide more touch pen support than others. It is more a matter of extra tricks… they all have basic support.
Btrfs is an alternative to the ext 4 filesystem that most linux users have by default. Btrfs is more complicsted than ext4. For example it has built in backup facilities. I think I would stay with ext4… it always works… that is what you want in a filesystem. I dont think you have to have btrfs in Opensuse, I think it may be the default, but I think you may be able to opt for ext4.
Which distro. I think if LM works you should stick with it. It seems to be important that this touchscreen and pen work for you. I use rolling release distros, currently Void and Gentoo, but I akso use fixed release , currently MX and Debian. I do not have problems with rolling release… I just run an update weekly in them, it takes a few minutes. The fixed releases only need an update about once a month, but when a new release happens ( about once a year in Debian) there is either a big risky upgrade or a complete replacement.
It does not matter much what LM is based on. It is the quality and dedication of the people that decides how good a distro is. LM and MX seem to be particularly good at the moment.
Cheers
Neville
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