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Lenovo G780
Introduction
This is a guide to running Linux with the Lenovo G780 laptop. If you have the Lenovo G780 and are running Linux on it please consider editing this page or adding a comment below with your compatibility details. By contributing you will help other people running this laptop or trying to make a decision on whether to buy it or not.
This page is just for discussing using Linux on the Lenovo G780. For a general discussion about this laptop you can visit the Lenovo G780 page on LapWik.
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Specifications
For full specifications see the Lenovo G780 specifications page.
| Name | Lenovo G780 |
| Processor | 3rd Generation Intel Core i5-3210M (2.50GHz, 3MB Cache) 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3612QM (2.10GHz, 6MB Cache) |
| Screen | 17.3” HD 16:9 widescreen 1600×900 |
| RAM | Up to 8GB |
| HDD | Up to 1TB (5,400 rpm) |
| Optical Drive | DVD reader/writer Blu-Ray Disc drive |
| Graphics | Intel HD graphics 4000 (integrated) |
| Network | Ethernet NIC: 10/100M Atheros 802.11n Wi-Fi Broadcom |
Linux Compatibility
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Yes | |
| Screen | Yes | |
| HDD | Yes | |
| Graphics Chip | Yes | 3.2/3.4 kernel has trouble with HD4000 |
| VGA Out | Not Tested | |
| HDMI Out | Not Tested | |
| Optical Drive | Yes | |
| Sound | Yes | Speakers are quiet; headphones provide sufficient volume |
| Headphone Port | Yes | |
| Microphone-In Port | Yes | |
| Ethernet | Yes | may require 3rd-party driver |
| Wireless | Yes | may require 3rd-party driver |
| Bluetooth | Not Tested | |
| USB | Yes | |
| Card Reader | Yes | |
| Webcam | Yes | |
| Keyboard | Yes | |
| Fingerprint Reader | N/A | |
| Suspend/Resume | Yes |
Notes
On Debian Wheezy/Sid, Jan 2013: alx driver for the Atheros ethernet is currently not available in repositories…assuming that will soon be changed. The Broadcom wireless firmware suggested during the system install did not work…replaced with the “non-free” STA driver after system install.
The 3.2 kernel in current Debian (Wheezy) will likely result in random system freezes with HD4000 (might be ok with nvidia).
Microphone worked with Alsa after adding “options snd_hda_intel model=auto” to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
Summary
You can enter a summary of how well the Lenovo G780 works with Linux here.
Discussion
secure boot is off. Attempts to boot from Oracle Linux 6.4 disc simply make the screen blink. I swapped out the 1TB OEM drive with a 500GB SSD and installed CentOS 6.0.
Installing Centos 6.0 has been irritating. No network drivers.
First install seemed to work except for network drivers. Neither RJ45 nor wireless. second install rebooted to license/NTP/kdump screens, then hung on rebbot. Forced reboot came up to grub shell. dmraid issues flashing across screen at some point. Fixed grub, but re-installed cause everything unstable.
Things came up on third install but no network yet. May try RHEL 6.3 disk next week. Home internet is Verizon 3G so I download DVD ISOs at work.
Random system freezes on this machine (and presumably other recent laptops) has apparently been traced to the Linux kernel and associated video driver for HD 4000 currently available in many distros. There is a growing consensus that the 3.2 and 3.4 kernels are having trouble with Ivy Bridge graphics, and upgrading to a 2.6 kernel seems to fix the problem. In Debian-based (and maybe some other) distros, the smxi script available at http://smxi.org provides a relatively simple way to install a working Liquorix kernel if you, like me, are uncomfortable building the kernel yourself. Alternatively, you may consider installing a distro that has the 2.6 kernel compiled with it. I like this laptop much, much better now.
Where it says “2.6 kernel” should say “3.6 kernel”
Through much testing found the following linux distros that work for me
(out of the box with out fooling with drivers)
I am able to get a good looking screen and a wireless network connection
1-Macpup 529 www.macpup.org (puppy linux based with, E-17 Enlightenment windowing system)
2-Manjaro, Arch based distro for begineers to linux
http://manjaro.org/ latest release .0.8.3
i am having so many problems its not even funny…trying 1 distro after another to get this to work properly…please help….i had linux mint debian working but the random system freezes was too much to handle
Secure Boot Warning!
Having big troubles installing dual boot Win8 and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS because of “secure boot”. UEFI only recognizes DVDs with signed Software. I disabled “secure boot” in BIOS still DVDs like Ubuntu 12.04 won't be recognized. Lucky me Ubuntu 12.10 does have a valid signature so it can be installed.
I do hate Microsoft!
As of January 2013, this laptop is mostly working out-of-the-box with Debian Wheezy and Sid. The Atheros ethernet and Broadcom wireless both required 3rd-party drivers, and installing via netinstall is difficult, if not impossible at this time.
Having problems with total system lockup at random times, apparently unrelated to hardware failure. I suspect it is a driver issue that will eventually be sorted. Most of the time, system performance is very good.