IdeaPad Y580 Laptop - 59359513 - Dawn Gray

[Kevin Oberman]

On Sun, Dec 2, 2012 at 11:35 AM, Eitan Adler <lists at eitanadler.com> wrote:
> On 2 December 2012 14:31, Warren Block <wblock at wonkity.com> wrote:
>> X will only work if the dual-graphics mode can be disabled.
>
> And this is a BIOS feature which isn't guaranteed to exist?

It is not, but as far as I know, it is available on all prior ThinkPads.

The problem is that the nVidia chip used is a supported one, but it
lacks a frame buffer. Instead it uses the frame buffer on the Intel
graphics part of the CPU. On Windows, it also only uses the nVidia GPU
for some operations and the Intel for more basic ones where its
integration into the CPU will result in optimum performance. The
result is no support on anything but Windows for the nVidia.You can
find more on this at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Optimus/

The other big issue with the graphics is the lack of the ability to
switch back to console mode. Once X is started, you have no ability to
get a vty screen. This is especially annoying when something in the
graphics (probably the KMS) glitches and the display goes bad. the
only recovery is a re-boot. I keep hoping that console mode support
will be written at some point, but it has not happened to this point
and kib (who wrote the KMS code) has stated that he has no plans to
write it.

Lenovo does white-list wireless cards and the cards on it all have
Lenovo specific PCI IDs. I bought a standard Intel 2200/BGN card and
it would not work. I had to buy a Levovo branded card at four times
the price. (My T520 came with a RealTek card.)
-- 
R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer
E-mail: kob6558 at gmail.com