Could someone please share some experience with me?

Recently I bought a Lenovo Thinkpad E595 laptop to replace my ageing Lenovo Thinkpad T460s. I first installed Kubuntu on the E595 (on a secondary drive, later on I replaced it with standard Ubuntu running Gnome. I like to run Linux on a physically separate drive when dual booting) and I keep having some problems with the display driver and the sleep mode. Also, battery life is much less than could be expected.

In other laptops or desktops I installed Linux on I never had there kinds of problems.

Because I am no IT professional I decided to stick to Ubuntu as this is a widely supported operating system. I have been using it for the last couple of years now.

Is it that I should not expect AMD system drivers to catch up quickly? Before buying I checked the Lenovo website and they stated that the model was Linux compatible. These problems really ruin my Linux experience on the E595 - if they persist I am ready to change laptop again. Actually I reinstalled Linux on my old T460s again and I am typing this on the old machine right now..

You do know that Linux distros need 1-2 years to catch up with new hardware?
Archwiki has some info, possibly Ubuntu help pages have too.
This particular model hasn't even made it to the thinkwiki yet, but I can't help noticing that it says this particular thinkpad is closer to an ideapad (cheapo hardware with an expensive brand slapped on).

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Thanks, I figured that since AMD is working closely with Canonical it would be somewhat better. Thinkwiki does not show the E595 but I doubt they ever will, the model has already been discontinued and most of the time, this kind of sites will only show the newest, most expensive, glitter and glamour laptops and not the do-it-all real-work models..

And yes, I think this is a lower-end Thinkpad as well. Build quality is nice as is the keyboard but it lacks a backlit keyboard, the screen is on the dull side and the SD card reader is micro-SD: both pointing the wrong way. Which is a pain in the butt because now I am wasting time on a laptop while I could be spending more time on LQ although most of the times I do like el cheapo hardware if extra money does not come with extra functionality.

Hermani,


https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop/Lenovo

ArchWiki on the E595:

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Thank you, Beachboy2. At the moment I use Ubuntu 20.04.1 and that uses kernel 5.4. I also checked it using the following command: The 20.04.2 release will use kernel 5.8 or newer / actually something called a hardware enablement stack (HWE) that as far as I can understand uses parts of newer kernels in order to support newer hardware while other parts of the kernel stay unchanged..

I read up about installing a newer kernel to a current installation but it seems to me to be something you only do if you want to do some software testing.. (or is it?)

So I guess that means I'll have to wait 'till October, when 20.10 and 20.04.2 are scheduled for release. I was rather surprised that one needs to wait for 1-2 years until the kernel catches up with new hardware - you'd expect hardware manufacturers to work with the Linux foundation to provide support for their hardware sooner. Although in this instance also Ubuntu has part in it, because of their choice to use an older kernel for their 20.04.1 release.

It doesn't help with the topic at hand but I just can't help myself:
I think you completely misunderstood this site - rather the opposite of everything you wrote is true about it.
I don't mean to get into an argument, see it as a recommendation if you will: this site will help you evtl. if you own a ThinkPad.

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Thank you Ondoho. I'll check it out again as I now run two ThinkPads. I donated USD 5 for their site as well, they indeed make an effort.