this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2024
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Eh. I'm just (again, take 371) trying to get a ThinkPad running on Linux for light use, and I've dabbled with a lot of distros in the last 20 years, but I've always reversed course because something didn't work, and I got frustrated troubleshooting it.
This go around, I wanted Debian 12, fde, btrfs, snapshots. And I wanted it to work ootb (spoiler: it did not). It also needed to support my hardware, which includes WWAN.
D12 installs fine, everything is great, until the restart, where it hangs on hardware errors (I thiiiink it's thunderbolt but I can't remember) on boot. Okay, let's try Fedora - yay it works. Oh no, the fcc unlock for WWAN doesn't work. Let's try Mint (Debian Edition). Wtf, I can do fde but only on ext4, and gparted is useless here. I want Debian(-based) since I have the most experience with it, and the software I use is available easily. Don't like straight ubu, but not a lot of options so let's try kubu. After a couple installs, it checks all my requirements (Debian, fde, btrfs, snapshots via gui, WWAN, ootb* (with fcc unlock and added apn)).
It's fine, it works, but it's not what I wanted. And between needing WWAN working, and needing compiled packages for my software, I'm kinda stuck.
So I dunno. Kubu is fine. It's like the compact car you get as a rental. It does the job. But fuck, WHY is WWAN support so shit, why isn't btrfs support in the installer more common, why is it often difficult to do fde. Those three were a huge pain for me. And I'm not fresh off the boat, but I'm not going to fuck with the terminal just to install a fucking system. Ugh.
Anyway. I'm not "happy", but it's currently working. Suggestions (or assistance) welcome.
You might take a look at spiral linux, its basically a customized debian install that preconfigures a bunch of quality of life stuff for you and is set up to use btrfs with snapper by default. It doesn't use custom repos intentionally so that (in the words of the developed) if the developed gets hit by a bus, nothing stops working. Your install just works like a pre-customized debian
I'll check it out, thanks :D
You're very welcome ☺️
Hope you have a great day!
Could I bother you for some guidance? I installed spiral an hour or so ago, and I got to the fcc unlock, but the expected folder with the scripts doesn't exist, so ln fails of course. Searching / came up with 2 folders and a few files that aren't what I need, and trying to search for ideas online has just been frustrating. I'm assuming I'm missing a modemmanager package that contains the scripts, but again searching online has lead me nowhere. And the Debian package info site is having server errors so I can't even use that as a clue D:
Do you have any ideas?
E: command that worked on kubu was
sudo ln -sft /etc/ModemManager/fcc-unlock.d /usr/share/ModemManager/fcc-unlock.available.d/105b:e0abE: I copied the required files (for the command) from the kubu live system, ln successful, reboot, but I'm still stuck as it's acting like there's no (usable) WWAN card in ModemManager gui. I setup the apn but can't connect to the cellular network, there's no option to connect.
E: also if it's any help I have been using this guide (successfully on kubu) https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Thinkpad/X13s
I really wish I could help, but I think you're probably more advanced of a user than am unfortunately :(
In my experience installing I've just followed the callamares prompts and then had a usable system, but I haven't used it long term yet, as I've been trying to learn how to install void linux before I potentially swtich to a more straight forward distro on my new laptop (seemed like a good opportunity to learn). I've been using linux for a long time now (probably more than 10 years) but I'm really an art and design person who's mostly bumbled their way through it 😅
I just woke up, I'll come back and take a look at things when I'm more awake and see if anything stands out to me
I'm not familiar with FCC unlock, from my initial half asleep googling it looks like a networking feature or service? If it's functionality thats intended to be configured by spiral linux, you might try opening a bug report on the spiral linux github/got repo, the Dev seems like a pretty friendly guy. Or alternatively the linux 4 noobs community here on lemmy is actually pretty good, (regardless of whether the name might be directly applicable to you) if not incredibly active, and the people there are far more likely to be knowledgable than I am. Though frankly I'm guessing the reason it's actually a helpful resource is because lemmy has a viable ratio of new linux users, to technical ones who are willing to help, an attribute I don't think many spaces have lol
Like I said, I'll take another look in a while and see if my awake brain has anything to add that might be more helpful to you. I'm sorry distros have been giving you such a struggle with networking, thats super frustrating
Yeah, essentially 'all' WWAN modems (in the states?) that are sold as part of a laptop, have FCC locks. One needs to run a script designed for their modem (I believe, I'm new to cellular modems in Linux) on every boot that unlocks the modem so that it can be used by the system. I grabbed the necessary script but there's something else missing that I'm not aware of, but kubu has ootb.
I'm just a geek who pokes at things and learns by doing/breaking/fixing, I'm nothing special. But I'm just very baffled at this. It would appear (?) that maybe the service necessary isn't running, but I don't know what that service would be (afaik things ending in .d are daemons, of which the /etc/ModemManager/fcc-unlock.d is) so I'm sort of flailing, confused.
I might poke L4N, as if I can get this going, I'd be content with the system. I'm used to struggling with stuff (flashbacks of getting wifi working in the 00s), it's just so frustrating to be right there and stuck.
Thanks, by the way :)
Hey, sorry for just never getting back to you, I'm not going to be able to take a look at it, I've found myself in somewhat of a mental health crisis, but I hope youre able to work it out, I'm wishing you luck
It's all good :) I reverted back to kubuntu and all is well. I hope things improve for you!
I'm glad you at least have a working system. And thank you, I appreciate it very much. I'll find my way back where I need to be, I just have to figure out how first