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Lenovo has confirmed that several of its Yoga laptops are refusing to install Linux-based operating systems. The Chinese firm said the issue had been caused by its switch to a new storage system, which reads and records data faster than normal.
There had been confusion after one of its employees posted that Linux was blocked because of an "agreement with Microsoft". However, Lenovo has denied enforcing a deliberate ban.
The restriction affects PCs sold with the "signature edition" of Windows 10. The term refers to a promise that "junk" software is not pre-installed alongside the OS to avoid slowing down its operation.
The Lenovo rep's response (linked to in the excerpt) seems to have been given before the company PR people got involved.
Hot Hardware , offers an alternative perspective:
Yesterday, Lenovo confirmed that Linux cannot be installed on the machine because there are no OS-specific drivers for the device's proprietary RAID configuration. Given that this machine has been designed to work with Windows 10, it should come as no surprise that Lenovo probably didn't want to devote too much of its resources to developing alternative drivers for this particular model.
To be more specific, Lenovo had this to say:
To support our Yoga products and our industry-leading 360-hinge design in the best way possible we have used a storage controller mode that is unfortunately not supported by Linux and as a result, does not allow Linux to be installed. Beyond the controller setup limitation, other advanced capabilities of the Yoga design would likely not work with current Linux offerings.
Lenovo does not intentionally block customers using other operating systems such as Linux on Yoga or any of its devices and is fully committed to providing Linux certifications and installation guidance on a wide range of suitable products.
In a statement provided to The Register , Lenovo further clarified its position on RAID support in Linux for the Yoga 900, writing, "Unsupported models will rely on Linux operating system vendors releasing new kernel and drivers to support features such as RAID on SSD."
(Score: 5, Interesting) by MadTinfoilHatter on Friday September 23 2016, @05:53AM
I've never seen a good reason for RAID on a laptop.
The reason they gave here was that the default Windows driver had poor power management, and using the fakeraid forced the use of the Intel driver (with supposedly superior) management, so it's actually a clunky workaround for a Windows problem. Of course, even if true, that would only explain why this mode was the default - it wouldn't explain why the AHCI was removed from BIOS altogether. As these guys [bios-mods.com] demonstrated reactivating the option is entirely feasible (and would be trivial for Lenovo) and when activated the laptop works just fine. Unfortunately hacking the BIOS, if you're not Lenovo is a PITA, and requires specialized hardware and even soldering. [imgur.com] This really seems like a fuckup of proportions where it's difficult to attribute things to stupidity, and you have to start looking at the malice option - even more so given the official Lenovo "solution". [lenovo.com]
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Friday September 23 2016, @07:42PM
Hanlon's razor isn't the best tool, as this situation shows. Nowadays there are plenty of malicious actors doing things for their own ends, especially in the computer/software world. Its time to stop apologizing and realize that we are letting things pass that should have us organizing the metaphorical lynch mob.
~Tilting at windmills~