I originally got this ARM ThinkPad to install Linux onto it, but support for the Snapdragon 8cx processor, and other hardware hasn’t been supported until recently. I read a thread just the other day that it was now working on the Ubuntu Concept ISO built specifically for the X13s, and thought that I’d give it a try!
Since I got it, I’ve been running Windows 11 on it waiting until the Linux firmware was ready, and the experience has been less than fantastic.
Recently on Windows 11 Pro, the ThinkPad has had bluetooth headphones cutting out, and refusing to connect until it has been rebooted, as well as constant Windows Explorer crashes upon logging in (huge icons, icon spacing on Desktop is stretched out, Explorer doesn’t start and it just shows the wallpaper with nothing else, etc). I haven’t yet had any of these issues on Ubuntu yet!
To get the system up-to-date with everything working (sound, bluetooth, Wifi, etc.) I ran the following commands in this order after the fresh install. I have heard updating everything without doing the firmware first broke some things on others’ machines.
sudo apt updatesudo apt install --upgrade-only linux-firmwaresudo apt dist-upgrade- Reboot
I’ll be using this computer on Ubuntu now that everything is working! This post is written from it as well! :D
Nice! I’ve had my eye on these for a bit.
Any packages breaking? Faulty applications? Limited functionality?
Have you tested battery life on Linux?
I only installed an hour or two ago, so I haven’t had the chance to test battery yet. I plan on taking it with me to work tomorrow without the charger to see how it fairs.
No broken packages or functionality yet. There are a few apps I’ve found that don’t have aarch64 versions available (like VeraCrypt), but most do and seem to work fine.
How has it been going for you? Do you know of any other distros with support for x13s?
I do know that there’s a custom guide for installing Debian, but I haven’t tried it out. The hardware support is slowly making it into the mainline kernel, so hopefully some future OS releases will have support out of the box.
How is the battery life?
Hey! Great post! Any updates on the matter? How do you like it after several months?
This is a very late reply, but I ended up formatting it back to Windows 11 and selling the laptop. It’s just not quite ready for primetime, and seems very limited during regular use-cases. I ended up buying a Framework 13 laptop, and installing Fedora on it. Couldn’t be happier! Eventually I may move back to ARM-based machines once they progress a bit further.
Same story here. Reverted to Win11 eventually. Anyways, Thank you for reaching out and letting me know! May the odds be ever in your favor!
