New Laptop/New Setup

Tags: lenovo x390 laptop

Categories: hardware

A long waiting replacement for ten years old Fujitsu laptop, finally arrived, Lenovo X390.

Looking

Laptop is well build, lightweight(approx. 1.2kg), small, thin. Keyboard is good for typing, enough ports for connecting(USB, USB-C, HDMI). Because is too thin there is no space for LAN port,I get USB LAN Port.

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Lenovo X390

Specification

  • Intel i7 Core vPro Processor 8th Generation
  • 16 GB DDR4 Memory
  • 500GB NVMe Disk
  • 13.3" Display
  • 1TB External Hard Disk
  • Docking Station USB-C Gen2

What I see when Power On

Windows initial setup!
What I do?
Skip this and download OpenSuse Leap 15.2 Network installation iso file and put it on USB Disk to install Linux.
Problems are expected as this laptop is not Linux supported.
USB won’t to boot and BIOS need to be tweak.

BIOS Setup

Restart laptop and press Enter, and after that F1 to go into BIOS Setup.
Go to Restart menu and disable Load Setup Defaults > OS Optimized Defaults. On Attention screen confirm with Yes!

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Disable Load Setup Defaults


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Confirm with Yes


Now, go to Startup Menu and on UEFI/Legacy Boot select Both, on UEFI/Legacy Boot Priority select Legacy First.
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Choose Both and Legacy First


Save with F10 and laptop will be restarted and you press Enter and after that F12 and choose to boot from USB.
Install OpenSuse as usual!

BIOS Upgrade

Latest UEFI BIOS version is 1.70 (N2JET92W) and Embedded Controller Program(ECP) (N2JHT36W) 1.20.

  1. On Lenovo Download Page enter Serial Number(sticker on back of laptop) in filed Enter Serial Number.
  2. Menu Drivers & Software, choose BIOS/UEFI, expand BIOS Update(Utility & Bootable CD)…. and download BIOS Update (Bootable CD). Also, read README for BIOS Update (Bootable CD).
  3. Prepare CD or USB Stick. I choose to run this update from USB Stick.
  4. Reboot laptop, boot from USB (Enter -> F12)
  5. Choose option 2, Update system program
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    Welcome menu - Update BIOS

  6. Warning screen - This utility updates the system program… -> Press Y
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    Warning screen - Update BIOS

  7. Information screen - Make shure that the AC adapter is firmly connected… -> Press Enter
  8. Information screen - Make shure that a charged battery… -> Press Enter
  9. Important screen - DO NOT POWER OFF DURING AN UPDATE… -> Press Y
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    Iportant screen - Update BIOS

  10. Now updating… -> Do not press anything
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    Now updating - Update BIOS

  11. Information screen - System updates are continued by BIOS… -> Press Enter
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    Information screen - Update BIOS

  12. System will be rebooted. For me seems to be powered off, but don’t. Don’t touch anything. Do not try to press power on button.
  13. If everything is successfull, on screen you will see information that BIOS is updated. Reboot laptop!

BIOS severity is critical, so it is recommended to do update

Resolve missing Insert key

On keyboard, key End/Insert is shared. For me it is a problem because I frequetly use CTRL+Insert to copy and Shift+Insert to paste.
So, I decided to swap this two keys.
Steps are:

  1. Export all key codes to file 
    gotanbl~:>xmodmap -pke > xmodmap_original
  2. In exported file, find keycode for End and replace with Insert keycode 
    # Original
keycode 115 = End NoSymbol End NoSymbol End
keycode 118 = Insert NoSymbol Insert NoSymbol Insert
# Replaced
keycode 115 = Insert NoSymbol Insert NoSymbol Insert
keycode 118 = End NoSymbol End NoSymbol End
  3. Test it 
    gotanbl:~>xmodmap -e "keycode 115 = Insert"
  4. Save modified xmodmap_original to .Xmodmap
  5. To run at startup add this small script to .bash_profile file 
    #!/bin/bash
if [ -s ~/.Xmodmap ]; then
        xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap
fi

Firefox profile

Copy Firefox’s profile from previous laptop to new one.
Why?
I want to save my history browsing and bookmarks.
So, where is Firefox profile? At ~/.mozilla/firefox/ folder.
After you copy old profile to this location, delete or rename existing one.

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Warning from Firefox


To resolve this error, find compatibility.ini file in profile direktory. Looks like:

[Compatibility]
LastVersion=78.5.0_20201110001500/20201110001500    # Delete this line
LastOSABI=Linux_x86_64-gcc3
LastPlatformDir=/usr/lib64/firefox
LastAppDir=/usr/lib64/firefox/browser

Delete line starts with LastVersion!
Now, start Firefox normaly.
Also, useful from Firefox is Firefox Sync if you want access and sync your bookmarks, passwords, open tabs and more - everywhere you use Firefox.

More to copy

Also, I copy files .bashrc(bash user config file), .vimrc(vim user config file), .ssh/config, wireguard config file and ansible config files.
I certainly forgot to copy some stuff but when I need them I will copy.

Now, I can use and enjoy new laptop!!!

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