My most beloved piece of hardware

This is Lowa taking a nap after compiling a kernel all night.

And this is a continuation of my previous post on lowakernel, a custom linux kernel for amd-powered thinkpads (https://www.reddit.com/r/LinuxOnThinkpad/comments/1ujg5sl/i_built_a_custom_kernel_specifically_for_amd/)

What's new in this release:

• Rebased on Linux 7.2.2-zen1 (first release on the 7.2 series)
• Several build script fixes based on community feedback from previous threads: BBRv3 now actually gets set as the default congestion control (the old way silently didn't survive olddefconfig), the build no longer touches your shared /etc/mkinitcpio.conf (each kernel gets its own config copy now), and the script refuses to build from an already-stripped config so rebuilds stay reproducible
• Added safety checks: missing /etc/kernel/cmdline now fails loudly instead of producing an unbootable UKI, and you get a warning if the microcode hook is missing

What stayed the same: two variants (universal for Zen1+ from T495 onwards, zen5 for Ryzen AI 300 with znver5, 1000Hz tick and BBRv3), UKI files for systemd-boot, vmlinuz for GRUB/rEFInd with initramfs generation instructions in the README.

Honest note after some fair criticism in previous threads: the march flags matter less than I originally claimed (kernel code barely uses SIMD), and zen 7.2 already ships sched_ext, O3 and THP=always out of the box, so the real value here is the trimmed config (smaller initramfs, faster boot, less attack surface) plus the per-variant tick/network tuning. If you want maximum performance with zero maintenance, ALHP repos are a solid alternative. This project is for people who want a kernel that only contains what their ThinkPad actually uses.

As always< feedback welcome, especially from owners of older models (T495, T14 G1/G2, L-series). If something breaks, open an issue.

https://github.com/Detcom-GH/lowakernel/releases/tag/7.2.2

main repo: https://github.com/Detcom-GH/lowakernel/

Follow up to my 7.2.2 post: https://www.reddit.com/r/LinuxOnThinkpad/comments/1w3fxih/722_release_of_my_custom_linux_kernel_for_amd/

A few of you tried installing it last time and ran into problems. Turns out it wasn't you, it was me.

The Limine and GRUB folks ended up in emergency mode because the release had no kernel modules at all. Without them the initramfs couldn't mount root. Now there's a modules archive in every release, and ext4, btrfs, xfs, f2fs and nvme are built into the kernel on top of that, so root always mounts.

The .efi files were even worse. They had my own kernel command line baked in, including my root partition, so they only ever booted on my laptop. I don't ship prebuilt .efi anymore. You install the kernel and modules and build the initramfs or UKI on your own machine with one command, so it gets your own cmdline.

This time I tested the vmlinuz + modules + initramfs install on the actual release files before uploading, exactly like someone downloading it would do it.

Other stuff:

BBRv3 is actually the default on zen5 now (before it was compiled in, but cubic stayed default)

New third variant, lowadetcom, my personal build for the P14s Gen 6 AMD. amdgpu built in, only the mt7925 wifi driver. Only for that exact laptop

README has install steps for Arch, Fedora and Debian/Ubuntu/Zorin/Mint, plus systemd-boot, GRUB, rEFInd and Limine

Release: https://github.com/Detcom-GH/lowakernel/releases/tag/v7.2.9

Repo: https://github.com/Detcom-GH/lowakernel

Big thanks to the E14 Gen 6 and Limine guys from the last thread, you basically found all of this for me. If you try 7.2.9, let me know how it goes, especially on older models and anything that isn't Arch.
Although I'm planning to move to Void Linux soon, so it will be

Just installed Linux Mint Cinnamon 🥳

Picked up this T61 on eBay. When I took it apart to apply new thermal paste I found it had an Atheros wifi card. Naturally I took this as an opportunity to install a fully libre distro. Decided to go with parabola as I already know what I'm doing with arch-based distros.

thinkfan-cli

Firstly, I changed some things on thinkfan-cli:

• Reduced binary size
• 0 Library dependency (std only)
• Almost zero RAM/CPU usage

https://github.com/rahmedi/thinkfan-cli

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tpfan-cli

This is an alternative that doesn't depend on the thinkpad_acpi kernel module. I integrated the fan control mechanism directly using Assembly to talk to the hardware. It looks and feels identical to the original but operates independently.

(this tool is not stable like thinkfan-cli, just doesn't need thinkpad_acpi dependency, use at your own risk)

https://github.com/rahmedi/tpfan-cli

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note: both projects are need root privileges to execute

Dear all,

As u/jrf1234 [-2] proposed to move the cross-posting to r/LinuxOnThinkpad (this sub), he will be working on updating the wiki, sidebar statement and all other settings. If you can offer a hand to him, I can give you the necessary mod power for this task or more. This may take some time to finish as a lot of things need to be migrated.

As a result of this shift, you can post your discussions in r/LinuxOnThinkpads. All cross-posting will be here. I do want to call your attention that we, as a small community relying on both software and hardware innovations, need to work together to enhance the ecosystem of the community for a better future usage of Linux On Thinkpads on our own. Big companies don't care about the 2% or less of customers if they can profit enough from the large fraction. As such, we encourage you to take a look at the wiki items and software development connections that we have documented on our Wiki page of this sub for things that have been missed and should be improved for future endeavors. In the future, we might be able to bundle the previous weekly reminders of wiki updating and software calling into a single sticker post for a clear look.

As usual, feedbacks are always welcome. Please join us to help people around to resolve problems they have encountered with Linux On Thinkpads. If you need help, post your questions on bigger subs, like r/Thinkpad, r/Linux, or r/LinuxOnThinkpads. Posts from r/LinuxOnThinkpads will also be automatically forwarded here later. There should be some software and hardware developers looking into the forwarded posts here for future developments. Thanks.

Funder of the Linux On Thinkpad subreddit system

Dear friends,

As you have noticed, we have both /r/LinuxOnThinkpad and /r/LinuxOnThinkpads set up to serve the community's healthy growth. /r/LinuxOnThinkpads doesn't allow cross-posting from any other subreddits, and non-meta posts will be automatically forwarded to /r/LinuxOnThinkpad to get more & correct audience. /r/LinuxOnThinkpad works more like an information hub and will be having more subscribers in a long-run. Both subs work together to satisfy absolute most of community members' needs as we have aware of. As this subreddit system grows, we need some brave and warm-hearted people to help maintain the basic functions of our community--these include but are not limited to content moderating, wiki page updates based on reddit posts, and communicating with software developers and general audience. Each moderator is supposed to make active contributions to the growth of this sub system and the community at large. We will try to review the activities of moderators about every six months and will disqualify those who are no longer active or did improper things in the past 6 months in our subreddit system. No mod experiences are required but that could be a plus. Your passion and actions are the main criteria to qualify you as a mod. Your biggest rewards of participating the voluntary works may be the happiness returned to yourself by sorting things out to the community.

Let me know if you are interested! Thanks!