Lenovo ThinkPad T495s

Device	Status
AMD graphics	Yes
Wireless	Yes
ALSA	Yes
TrackPoint	Yes
Touchpad	Yes
Webcam	Yes
Fingerprint Reader	Yes
Mobile Broadband	?
Bluetooth	Yes
Smartcard Reader	Yes

This article covers the installation and configuration of Arch Linux on a Lenovo T495s laptop. Almost everything seems to work pretty much out the box. Yet untested: wwan

For a general overview of laptop-related articles and recommendations, see Laptop.

Hardware

Using kernel 5.3.13-arch1-1-ARCH.

Release Date: 2019
Product Name: Thinkpad T495s
SKU Number: 20QKS01E00
BIOS: R13ET39W(1.13 )

lspci returns something like:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Root Complex
00:00.2 IOMMU: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 IOMMU
00:01.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
00:01.2 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 PCIe GPP Bridge [6:0]
00:01.3 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 PCIe GPP Bridge [6:0]
00:01.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 PCIe GPP Bridge [6:0]
00:01.7 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 PCIe GPP Bridge [6:0]
00:08.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
00:08.1 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to Bus A
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller (rev 61)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge (rev 51)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 0
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 1
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 2
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 3
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 4
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 5
00:18.6 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 6
00:18.7 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 7
01:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless-AC 9260 (rev 29)
02:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM981/PM981/PM983
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 0e)
03:00.1 Serial controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 816a (rev 0e)
03:00.2 Serial controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 816b (rev 0e)
03:00.3 IPMI Interface: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 816c (rev 0e)
03:00.4 USB controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 816d (rev 0e)
04:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS522A PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Picasso (rev d1)
05:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio Controller
05:00.2 Encryption controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 10h-1fh) Platform Security Processor
05:00.3 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven USB 3.1
05:00.4 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven USB 3.1
05:00.5 Multimedia controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor
05:00.6 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 10h-1fh) HD Audio Controller

lsusb returns something like:

Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 006: ID 06cb:00bd Synaptics, Inc.
Bus 004 Device 005: ID 058f:9540 Alcor Micro Corp. AU9540 Smartcard Reader
Bus 004 Device 004: ID 04f2:b67c Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. 4-port hub
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 8087:0025 Intel Corp.
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

AMD Graphics

The opensource AMDGPU drivers work correctly with no special modification.

Fingerprint Reader

Fingerprint sensor seems to work with some recent firmware and software updates (2019-12-15). Driver development info: [1][2].

1. Use fwupd to install the latest firmware for "Synaptics Prometheus Fingerprint Reader". The update might have to be done manually (the released firmware is in testing). [3][4]

2. Latest fprintd and libfprint are required[5]. fprintd-libfprint2^AUR and libfprint-git^AUR can be useful here.

3. fprint has more details on how to setup the fingerprint for PAM authentication for example.

Backlight

Backlight works correctly by manipulating the values, between 0-255, inside /sys/class/backlight/amdgpu_bl0/brightness or using a backlight managing utility.

systemd-backlight@backlight:acpi_video0.service requires masking as it seems to be triggered and fails on boot.

Smartcard Reader

Seems to work and read cards. Following instructions from smartcards.

Updating Firmware

Although the fwupd utility works to update some of the components, Lenovo does not support BIOS updates for the T495s yet. A BIOS update Bootable CD iso that is OS agnostic may be downloaded from Lenovo support[6].

Warning: This may brick your device! Be careful!

A charged battery and connected ac power is required to run the update tool successfully. Avoid having any addons/docks plugged in when performing the BIOS update.

The bootable image needs to be extracted from the iso using geteltorito^AUR to create a bootable USB.

1. Use geteltorito to extract bootable image: geteltorito -o image_usb.img downloaded_bios_update.iso

2. Copy image to USB drive with dd: sudo dd if᐀image_usb.img of᐀/dev/sdX && sync

3. Reboot. Boot from USB drive.

4. Perform BIOS update following instructions on screen.