Y50 - Linux thread

I'm starting this thread to document the experiences of installing and using Linux on the Lenovo Y50.

I'm receiving my 4K model Y50 from Klick tomorrow evening. My plan is to wipe the drive, clean install Windows 8.1 for the games that aren't on Linux yet, and dual boot Kubuntu 14.04. I'll post an update then.

Feel free to discuss any problems you have installing and using Linux on yourY50.

 

thank you for this, Lenovo laptops tend to do well with linux but good luck nonetheless
I plan on doing the same when I get mine

 

I'm planning to do the same, Windows 8.1 for games, Ubuntu 14.04 for Android system development. I'm also curiuos about how well the optimus performs with Linux. Unfortunately the Y50 is not yet available in Hungary.

 

I did a fresh install of Windows 8.1 and Kubuntu 14.04.

Optimus:
Working better in Linux than it does in Windows...
In Linux I just run a game using: "optirun <game>" and it uses the nvidia graphics like magic.
In Windows on the other hand I can't get the nvidia control panel settings to stick. They change back every time I close it...

High DPI:
It works really well in WIndows 8.1
Though I have managed to tweak KDE to a very usable state. There are only a few non-critical elements that I can't figure out how to rescale. I'll play with it more later.

Touchpad driver:
I can't get the Elantech touchpad driver to work in Linux.
I get a system message: [ 4.917272] psmouse serio1: elantech: unknown hardware version, aborting...
The driver must not support this model yet.
The touchpad works, just no multitouch gestures (scrolling :/ )

Refresh rate:
xrandr outputs the allowed modes:

Code:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 3840 x 2160, maximum 32767 x 32767                                
eDP1 connected 3840x2160+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 194mm                  
   3840x2160      48.0*+                                                                               
   2048x1536      60.0                                                                                 
   1920x1440      60.0                                                                                 
   1856x1392      60.0  
   1792x1344      60.0  
   1920x1200      60.0  
   1920x1080      59.9  
   1600x1200      60.0  
   1680x1050      60.0     59.9  
   1600x1024      60.2  
   1400x1050      60.0  
   1280x1024      60.0  
   1440x900       59.9  
   1280x960       60.0  
   1360x768       59.8     60.0  
   1152x864       60.0  
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VIRTUAL1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

If I switch to 1920x1080 @ 59.9 Hz, and I run glxgears, the framerate is still locked to 48 Hz.

I don't really notice the 48 Hz lock. People really underestimate the value of a consistent framerate, and this machine delivers.

Let me know if anyone else has any other questions.

 

Consistent frame rate is good, but for some games like cs:go I'm pretty sure you can get a consistent 60 on high graphics. 48 is a noticeable downgrade

 

I got the touchpad drivers working by installing a backported 3.16 kernel from the deb files here: Index of /~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.16-rc3-utopic
I'm using touchégg to configure all the touchpad gestures. Coming from a trackpoint on my old x220, I'm actually starting to like trackpads a little!

 

Hi
I'm considering this notebook but I want to use Linux(Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc) as main the OS.
How well does linux manage the gpu? Is it possible to install drivers with no problems (overheating and fan noise)? The BIOS allow us to disable the dedicated graphics if needed?

What do you think? Does it work properly with Linux?

Thank you

 

I'm running Kubuntu and you can install the binary nvidia drivers just by installing the nvidia-331 package. There is no need to disable the dedicated graphics because optimus runs perfectly using the bumblebee and bumblebee-nvidia packages. You can run two seperate applications at the same time, one using intel graphics, and one using the nvidia graphics no problem. In fact I find that optimus is easier to use in linux than it is in Windows.

 

Comment #137 also has the solution for the touchpad.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1166442/+index?comments=all

 

So far I haven't had any issues with the 3.16 kernel.

 

How did you guys install it? Im trying to install Kubuntu. I created a liveusb but the laptop keeps rebooting to windows. One problem is that after I go to the bios menu, it doesnt show the usb so I cant change the boot order. I created the liveusb with linux live usb creater.

 

Try pressing F12 during boot. This should bring up a menu that lets you choose what device to boot from. Also don't forget to turn off Secure Boot in the BIOS.

Let me know if you are still having trouble.

 

Yeah, still have the problem. The USB doesnt show up.

I tried universal usb installer and linux live usb creater with Kubuntu 64-bit. The USB doesnt show up inbios.

 

Maybe you created the drive with a legacy BIOS mode instead of UEFI? Try setting boot mode to "legacy" in the bios, or if you're dead set on installing an EFI partition, try following the instructions here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI#Installing_Ubuntu_in_EFI_mode

Another thing you can try is creating your usb drive using unetbootin: UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads

 

That does work and i did that before, but I uninstalled it since I have to go back into the bios and change to uefi to use windows as windows 8 wont boot with legacy.

Edit: Well, I never was able to install it with UEFI. Since I already did just install a fresh version of windows, I changed it to legacy mode and reinstalled windows and then kubuntu. Works fine after that.

 

Hi All,

Lenovo y50-70 FHD, i7-4710HQ, 16GB mem, 512GB SSD, Dual-boot Win 7/Debian jessie with Optimus/Bumblebee.

Replaced the original SSHD with my SSD of my old MSI GT663 and upgraded the with 16GB Crucial Ballistix memory.

In BIOS changed boot to Legacy, Had to update/install/remove some drivers in Win 7 no issues.
Running Debian jessie only with MATE-desktop installed the Bumblebee nvidia driver and presto optirun ran fine with EVEonline in wine at a steady pace of 60 fps, probably capped.

Had to install PulseAudio so I could choose which soundcard to use as default as ALSA picked the HDMI output. Needed also PA to get the latest Skype v. 4.3 working. Skype video slow as hell probably because it picks the wrong video output, Skype v.4.2 everything worked ok. Camorama works exellent.

Besides Skype only issue left is I cannot toggle Synaptics touchpad on or off with Fn+F6. Well sometimes I can and most times I can't. Stil trying/looking for a solution. Anyone??

Cheers

 

How did you do a fresh install? I tried and I don't see a COA with product code anywhere? I don't want to pay lenovo for restore CDs that I should've received with my computer.

 

While this solution works, I'm having to rmmod and modprobe the psmouse kernel module on every boot. I've verified that there's only one psmouse.ko file, so the initial boot is using the same psmouse.ko file as the subsequent modprobe. I'm wondering if anyone else has run into this and what you did to fix it.

 

I'll be getting the 4K UHD model as well, how is virtualization with programs like Windows Client Hyper-V, VMware, Vagrant etc..? I'll be running the standard Ubuntu 14.04 x64 image on multiple VMs. Wondering how Unity gets along with the 4K resolution, or if I'll have to scale to 1080?

Thanks!

 

Turns out the old psmouse module was in the initramfs. A simple update-initramfs -u -k all and a reboot fixed the problem.

 

Is the hybrid drive that comes in the Lenovo y50 a standard 2.5" SATA II drive? I'm looking to replace that drive as it's just too slow. I can't find any definitive info regarding this.

Thanks

 

Hi, I need a step by step Nvidia driver installation on ubuntu 14.04.
Please help I have tried many methods.

 

The SSHD is a standard 2.5" 7mm high slimline drive.
So you can replace it with another 2.5" slimline although you can fit a 9mm high one.

Cheers

 

I'm having a problem with the graphics driver. When I install the official nvidia driver, after any reboot I can never get past the login screen (wallpaper and mouse, nothing else). Any suggestions?

 

Are you using ubuntu? I just install it from the ubuntu repositories.

 

Yes, I'm using ubuntu, but those drivers either don't work, or they have the same problem. The one thing I haven't tried is installing the drivers after a fresh install.

 

I am thinking of getting this laptop.

I wanted to know how Ubuntu installation goes with an SSHD instead of an HDD or SSD. I assume it'd be ideal to have root on the 8 GB ssd and home on normal hdd. Does that work well?

Thanks.

 

Ubuntu right now, is one of the distributions with the best support for exotic hardware out of the box. What took me hours to get working in Slackware worked out of the box in ubuntu =P

 

mmm... but that feeling when you finally get it working.

 

Ok, after another fresh install, the official nvidia driver doesn't work. Is the card just not supported right now? None of the solutions I've found online (bumblebee, for example) have worked after a reboot.

 

IIRC, the nvidia 800m series is supported by nvidia linux, though since Ubuntu is supposed to be stable, they probably use an older version.

 

Is it maybe not working because I'm using Kubuntu 14.10? Has it worked in the past, on older versions of Ubuntu?

 

I don't think it matters, though I've had issues with nvidia/bumblebee on Ubuntu before. What's not working for you? Did you select the right driver in the 3rd party drivers app?

 

The additional drivers app claims that no additional drivers are needed. The problem is that if I install any driver (either the official one from nvidia or the nvidia-current package), after a reboot the desktop doesn't load, requiring me to go into the terminal and remove the driver.

 

I'm using Arch Linux right now, so I'm not sure what steps you need to take, but the process should be similar.

have you tried the steps here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bumblebee

Also make sure you get rid of the previous nvidia drivers first.

 

I'll try that, and then post what happens.

 

Well, that didnt work. Running anything through 'optirun' gives me the error that bumblebee can't access the driver. I'm trying the xorg-edgers ppa now.

 

Ok, that didnt work either. After a fresh install, the proprietary nvidia driver broke X. Has anyone successfully gotten the driver to work on the y50, or is this all speculation on what "should" work?

 

I want to buy the y50 and use it mostly for Linux, preferably Ubuntu. Can anyone please tell me what is the battery life on Ubuntu?

 

The battery life isn't the best in general (it is a gaming laptop), but it seems to do better on Ubuntu than Windows for me. That could be because I can't get the graphics card working on ubuntu, though.

 

Thank you for replying.
In general what is the average that you got? Like on 50% brightness settings? Because my primary aim is programming on Ubuntu. I would like that high configuration laptop with minimum of 3 hours of battery at 50% brightness

 

It's screen seems to be unusually dim, so I keep mine on almost 100% brightness. If you're going to use it for programming on Ubuntu, I would recommend a different laptop, because the nvidia graphics drivers for ubuntu are a nightmare. I haven't gotten the graphics card to work at all on Ubuntu, so it might be better to get a laptop with similar specs, minus the graphics card.

 

But i think using the nvidia 331 drivers along with bumblebee works fine for most of the people. But anyways please tell me the battery life in hours that would help me a lot. Thank you

 

I usually keep mine plugged in, but I'll test it on Ubuntu and see how long it lasts at 50% brightness.

 

I shall be waiting for your reply. Thank you very much

 

Ok, I started at 60% battery and waited until the battery was about 10% (a 50% change). It lasted for about 1hr 20 minutes, so I predict the battery should last 2-3 hours at full charge, depending on your settings, and what you're doing.

 

That was on the default desktop, Unity, but I'm not sure how different desktops such as KDE compare.

 

Thanks. That will help a lot

 

Can anyone help me, I need to buy my Y50 by today, and I love the specs. I just need to know how to install Ubuntu in dual boot with Windows... I normally wouldn't have problems, but this is my first Hybrid SSD-HDD computer. My model will have 8GB SSD space and 1TB HDD space. Anybody with tips on how to install dual boot windows 8.1 and Ubuntu? Get back to me asap please?

 

I just installed Ubuntu normally, but be careful. The computer comes with more than one partition (about 5, I think), some of which have something to do with recovery. I just resized the Windows partition and installed Ubuntu to the HDD, and grub to /dev/sda. I'm not sure if that's the SSD part, but it works fine for me. Just be ready for a struggle with your graphics drivers on Ubuntu, though; I still can't get mine working for the Nvidia card.