# FreeBSD on new Thinkpads (T480)



## alx82 (Jun 18, 2018)

Recently I decided to run exclusively FreeBSD 11.2 (RC3) on my new Thinkpad T480. I'm using drm-kmod-next, overall the system runs quite well. But one really annoying problem is that none of the FN-brightness up/down, wireless, etc.. was working. Even using the acpi_ibm driver. It took me a whole week-end, but at the end I found that the acpi_ibm driver does not support new Thinkpad Models. I've worked out a patch to enable support for newer models, the patch is submitted here https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=229120. It works perfectly fine for my T480, my I'm pretty sure it will work also for other models. 

I hope the patch will be useful for somebody here, if you have a new Thinkpad model you can try it out, but the above patch applies on top of another one that has been already pushed to 12-CURRENT, https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=229074. This one adds *dev.acpi_ibm.0.mic_led* sysctl to turn on/off the led light over mic mute (F4) button, found on some models (like my x230 and T480).


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## guidok (Jun 19, 2018)

Last week I ordered a T480 to run FreeBSD on. So this is very helpful. Thank you.


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## alx82 (Jun 19, 2018)

Depending on your configuration (If you have a Samsung SM961 nvme ssd), you might end up having this #bug 211713 on FreeBSD when you wakeup the laptop from suspend, it works, but you have to wait for 10-20 seconds until it is usable again. If you have a SATA configuration (which is very fast anyway for desktop and daily use) suspend should work just fine. Wireless works great, sound is very nice, I'm using even a docking station to work with two external monitors on FreeBSD, you might have a look at the following link https://wiki.freebsd.org/Laptops/Thinkpad_T480.


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## guidok (Jun 19, 2018)

I've got the PCIe SSD, which goes through the SATA interface if I'm not mistaken. Would have liked the NVMe version, but that was only offered on the 1TB SSD. Given the bug you've referenced, the PCIe version isn't such a bad option after all. 

Any chance you could update the wiki page with a reference to that bug? Will update that page myself with whatever issues and successes come across once I've got my T480. 

That's one thing I've found frustratingly hard with regards to FreeBSD and laptops. Accurate information on what works on what model laptop.


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## kpedersen (Jun 19, 2018)

I actually agree with this. A lot of FOSS operating systems overlook a hardware list. They either do not have one or it becomes quite out of date.

It is difficult though. A lot of hardware models with the same name have different (often incompatible) chipsets. It is almost as if hardware companies don't want us running open operating systems...

What I tend to do is have a long read through the mailing lists and get a "feel" for what model hardware everyone else is using.


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