Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 3

Getting Ubuntu to Install and Boot

WARNING: DOCUMENTATION IS NOT COMPLETE YET and will likely not be until students get their laptops in person (~late August 2021).

Before trying to install, please note the following: IF YOU HAVE BITLOCKER ON A DRIVE, YOU MUST HAVE YOUR WINDOWS BITLOCKER RECOVERY KEY IF YOU WANT TO SHRINK THAT WINDOWS PARTITION ON THAT DRIVE. OTHERWISE, FIND A DIFFERENT HARD DRIVE OR YOUR DATA WILL BE LOST. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Also, especially if you have little experience with the command line, PLEASE shrink your BitLocker drives within Windows, not within the Ubuntu installer. There are ways to do it using the Linux command line, but you have to be careful!

The steps may be similar to the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 (BIOS version numbers will be different.)

These links are also useful for more information:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Lenovo_ThinkPad_P1_(Gen_3)

How to install Ubuntu

1. I recommend making a full image backup through something like Clonezilla first -- you can upload it to Rose-Hulman's OneDrive and download it if there are issues. We still have to figure out how you could upload it directly through the network if you don't have a spare hard drive/SSD.
2. At the installfest, we installed it on a different SSD.
3. In the BIOS, go to Config and change "Display Device" from Discrete Graphics to Hybrid Graphics. This is because the stock Ubuntu ISO doesn't have the Nvidia drivers pre-installed. You will still be able to use the graphics card and save power through bumblebee or a similar tool.
4. DIsable secure boot in the BIOS. As soon as you uncheck it, you will need to click "OK" out of like 10-20 dialog boxes saying that other devices have failed. This is a Lenovo BIOS bug and will not impact your installation.
5. You will want to click "Something else".
6. On a 500GB SSD:
   1. Choose to remove the existing partitions (if it's a new SSD, they might have created a blank one with 500GB with say, a worthless instruction manual on it that just tells you to install the SSD maker's software). Be careful to select the SSD you just installed and not the main one.
   2. You should have it formatted with GPT (not DOS/MBR).
   3. Check to install the bootloader on the SSD.
   4. Make a 450GB partition for /home (I recently learned this is helpful for transferring most config files between installs if you decide to go with another distro)
   5. Make a 40GB partition for / (the root directory -- mine is ~35GB because of programs in /usr/, logs in /var/, etc. Note that steam games will be installed on your /home, so you only need to worry about this for stuff like, say, CUDA which installs to your whole system, or some Linux games like 0 A.D. which take up ~4GB alone)
   6. Make a 1GB partition for /boot.
   7. Leave a bit of space for the bootloader (which will be of type ESP32 and basically works with the UEFI BIOS).
7. Go through the rest of the installation process.
8. Click "Restart Now". Remove the flash drive (or ethernet cable for PXE) that you installed Linux on.
9. You can boot to Linux through the "Boot Menu" of the BIOS. This will launch the ESP partition and load GRUB which is on the /boot partition. Unlike the Lenovo P1 Gen 1, no acpi_osi kernel parameters are required!
10. You can also make GRUB boot to Windows via GRUB by following the instructions here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#Detecting_other_operating_systems
11. You can also change the boot order in the BIOS so you can get to GRUB first before Windows, so you can choose what to install without dealing with the BIOS boot menu every time.

Read the warning below beforehand, but there is also an official installation guide with pictures here that may be helpful. https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/tp_p15_p17_p1_gen3_ubuntu_20.04_lts_installation_v1.0.pdf

WARNING: In the installation guide, be careful NOT to select "Erase disk and install Ubuntu"! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Specs

The following is a more detailed spec list crowdsourced by current students, should you be interested. It is also an archive for historical purposes, in case you're interested.

Thanks a lot to the people writing https://www.rose-hulman.edu/admissions-and-aid/for-incoming-freshmen/laptop-requirements.html for the base spec list!

Processor	Intel Core i7-10750H (not overclockable)
RAM	16 GB @ ???MHz DDR4 (2x8GB SODIMM stick(s))
Solid State Drive	Unknown Brand M.2-2280 NVMe 512 GB (approx. 476.837 GiB) Solid State Drive (theoretical max 3500MB/s, most cheap NVMe SSDs are slower than that, typically around ~1000MB/s)
Display	15.6" FHD 1920x1080
Video Card	NVIDIA Quadro T1000 w/ 4GB vRAM (GDDR6) Max-Q (limited performance compared to desktop cards, but optimized thermally and for battery life) (supports Vulkan and OpenGL)
Network Cards	Intel Dual-Band AX201 802.11ac/ax wireless and Bluetooth (hardware is 2x2 - 2 transmit chains and 2 receive chains), Gigabit (1Gb/s) Ethernet
Battery	4 cell Li-Polymer, 80Wh
USB	(2) USB Type-A 3.2 Gen1, (2) Thunderbolt (USB 3.1 Gen2 form factor)
Pointing Devices	Trackpad (Synaptics?)
External Video Port	Dedicated HDMI 2.0 port (HDMI 2.0 is optimized for 4K content - see CNet source below)
Integrated Webcam	720p integrated webcam with infrared sensor
Network Accessories	Ethernet cable provided with the laptop (unknown if this supports PXE boot)
Warranty	4 year with Accidental Damage Protection (ADP)
Other Ports and Sensors	Fingerprint reader, color sensor, microphone

Max-Q - what is it?: https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/what-is-nvidia-max-q

What is different about HDMI 2.0 vs 1.0 - CNet article