I am an avid enthusiast of Lenovo ThinkPads, particularly when it comes to business laptops. I’ve been using ThinkPads since 2018, starting with models like the T410, T530, X230, X220, T440P, X260, X270, and T470. Among these, I’ve found the T530 and T440P to be my most frequently used models. Currently, I’m relying on the X220 as my daily driver.
These machines perform exceptionally well with both Windows 10 and Windows 11, despite Microsoft’s lack of official support for Windows 11 on these models. Surprisingly, I haven’t encountered any issues up to this point.
Having heard about ThinkPads’ compatibility with Linux-based operating systems, I decided to install a Debian based Linux distro on my X220. I chose Linux Mint due to its user-friendly graphical user interface, which I anticipated would make the transition from Windows to Linux a smooth and comfortable experience.
Before installing Linux Mint, I ran the live image to test the operating system. I discovered that it’s incredibly user-friendly, and there’s a wide variety of easily installable apps available. For those interested in installing Linux Mint on an X220 or any ThinkPad, I’ll provide some information below on how to install and configure it to ensure everything functions seamlessly.
The following commands can be used to install the necessary resources and utilities for your computer:
Update Package Lists: Ensure your package lists are up to date.
sudo apt-get update
Upgrade Installed Packages: Upgrade your existing packages to the latest versions.
sudo apt-get upgrade
Install Gedit: This will be required to edit config files easily.
sudo apt-get install gedit
If you are getting an error message when booting about a issue in BIOS, it can be ignored and disable.
sudo gedit /etc/default/grub
Then add this line in “grub” file: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash mce=off loglevel=3″ Save “grub” file and do:
sudo update-grub
Use the following command to install Synaptic drivers if your Synaptic touchpad exhibits erratic behavior:
sudo apt install --reinstall xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
If you have a ThinkPad bluetooth mouse or any bluetooth device, follow the steps below pair it.
Launch Bluetooth Control
bluetoothctl
you should respond with
Agent registered.
It should be now in root..
[bluetooth]#
Type in..
scan on
Should result in..
Discovery started
It should return with..
[New] Device (eg) B6-3D-19-23-66-92 Name of bluetooth mouse
Then type..
pair B6-3D-19-23-66-92
The results should say..
Pairing Sucessful
Then type..
connect B6-3D-19-23-66-92
The results should say..
Connection Successful.
Then type…
trust B6-3D-19-23-66-92
They result should say..
Trust succeeded
Install Apps
Mozilla Firefox browser will be installed by default, if you want to get chrome and Microsoft Edge installed follow steps or you can directly download and install from the website without using command-line
Install Chrome
wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add - sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" sudo apt update sudo apt install google-chrome-stable
Install Microsoft Edge
curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > microsoft.gpg sudo install -o root -g root -m 644 microsoft.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/ sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/edge stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-edge-dev.list' sudo rm microsoft.gpg sudo apt update sudo apt install microsoft-edge-stable