Lenovo X230 - List of USB-Ports and USB-Controllers (Layout)

[PhR]

Hello,

an interesting question that might influence the answer "Which Laptop
should I buy" can be the way USB-Ports and internal USB-devices are
connected to the USB-Controllers.

In cases where you need to pass through a whole USB-PCI-Controller to an
AppVM this influences which other (internal) USB-devices and Ports you
"loose" to this AppVM.

I recently bought a refurbished Lenovo X230 (150 Eur) added 16GB RAM and
a SSD and it runs superb under Qubes 3.2.

There the design of the USB-Ports/USB-Devices of the X230, which might
also be helpfull to others:

00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family
USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate
Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub


00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family
USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate
Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
=> Bus 002 Device 004: ID 04f2:b2eb Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd =
720p HD Integrated camera
=> Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0a5c:21e6 Broadcom Corp. BCM20702
Bluetooth 4.0 [ThinkPad]
=> connects to: Right USB-Port (next to Ethernet-Port)


00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset
Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 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 002: ID 0bdb:1926 Ericsson Business Mobile
Networks BV 1 = LTE/WAN-Card
=> connects to: Left USB-Port (next to VGA-Display-Out)
=> connects to: Left USB-Port (next Mini-DisplayPort-Out)

One question:
why the first USB-Controller doesn't seem to connect any USB-devices/-ports.

I have attached each of the 3 USB-Controllers to my sys-usb AppVM and
then looked up which USB-devices are recognized ('lsusb' in sys-net) and
tested out which USB-Ports work.

Any idea what is happening with the first Controller?

Kind regards

- PhR

[Zrubi]

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On 09/07/2017 07:07 PM, 'PhR' via qubes-users wrote:
> One question: why the first USB-Controller doesn't seem to connect
> any USB-devices/-ports.
>
> I have attached each of the 3 USB-Controllers to my sys-usb AppVM
> and then looked up which USB-devices are recognized ('lsusb' in
> sys-net) and tested out which USB-Ports work.
>
> Any idea what is happening with the first Controller?

Probably it is connected to the optional docking station, and it's ports
.


- --
Zrubi
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[Tai...@gmx.com]

Excellent - an x230!

Have you installed coreboot on it? Those sandy/ivybridge thinkpads have
open source init and support all of me_cleaner's features

[P R]

Hello Taiidan,

Am 08.09.2017 4:53 vorm. schrieb "Tai...@gmx.com" <Tai...@gmx.com>

Excellent - an x230!

Yes, I like the X230 a lot and prefer it over my Company Laptop a W540 as it has perfect size and weight and performance is fine for Qubes after adding RAM and a SSD.

The only poor thing - as with any Linux OS is battery life compared to windows.

I bought a new battery (Lenovo 44++ with 94Wh) for 60eur which gives me ~8-10h of battery runtime on windows - under Qubes battery runtime is much shorter.

But I think this is because power management is much better in a, which is using proprietary drivers.

Have you installed coreboot on it? Those sandy/ivybridge thinkpads have open source init and support all of me_cleaner's features

Actually I am currently thinking about doing so. I'm reading the Coreboot Wiki pages and it seems that it is not necessary to get the bios chip out of the Mainboard, but you can use a special Tool/clip and a raspberry Pi to flash the bios. Total costs including cables would be ~70eur for the hardware.

I would prefer coreboot'ing my X230 with someone who has did this before, so if someone reading this and is located near Berlin/Germany and happy to help ... do not hesitate to contact me.

The information I am missing is, if I can use Coreboot and beeing able to boot Qubes OS 3.2 (and later 4.x) AND (!) also Windows 10 Enterprise, which I need, as this is the "corporate OS".

As far as I have understand this involves to use something like seabios (?) and additional Blobs, it seems that Coreboot has lots of different pieces like a puzzle and I haven't figured out how everything fits together.

A newbie introduction for Qubes users would be great.

* Qubes recommended hardware / beginners Guide *

I think "we" should also have beginner howto's which are based on a few common hardware Modells to attract more users to Qubes, the Lenovo X230 seems like a perfect machine to do so, as it has a good built quality and spare parts can be bought for low money including docking stations, charger, batteries etc.

- PhR

[Tai...@gmx.com]

On 09/14/2017 01:21 AM, 'P R' via qubes-users wrote:

> Hello Taiidan,
>
> Am 08.09.2017 4:53 vorm. schrieb "Tai...@gmx.com" <Tai...@gmx.com>
>
> Excellent - an x230!
>
>
> Yes, I like the X230 a lot and prefer it over my Company Laptop a W540 as
> it has perfect size and weight and performance is fine for Qubes after
> adding RAM and a SSD.
> The only poor thing - as with any Linux OS is battery life compared to
> windows.
> I bought a new battery (Lenovo 44++ with 94Wh) for 60eur which gives me
> ~8-10h of battery runtime on windows - under Qubes battery runtime is much
> shorter.
> But I think this is because power management is much better in a, which is
> using proprietary drivers.

It is because of the VM overhead (close ones you don't need), you should
also set cpu powersave to "on demand" and force pci-e aspm.

In comparison I get around 5 hours of battery life with a 65Wh battery.

> Have you installed coreboot on it? Those sandy/ivybridge thinkpads have
> open source init and support all of me_cleaner's features

Almost replied to myself here hehe.

> Actually I am currently thinking about doing so. I'm reading the Coreboot
> Wiki pages and it seems that it is not necessary to get the bios chip out
> of the Mainboard, but you can use a special Tool/clip and a raspberry Pi to
> flash the bios. Total costs including cables would be ~70eur for the
> hardware.

Get a USB CH341A for $10, don't waste your money on a closed source
non-free raspberry pi.
It is very easy to flash as with any SOIC-8 board, one simply clips on
and away you go (please note the proper orientation for the chip/clip so
you don't short anything out)

> I would prefer coreboot'ing my X230 with someone who has did this before,
> so if someone reading this and is located near Berlin/Germany and happy to
> help ... do not hesitate to contact me.

Time to time there are conventions in berlin for coreboot, take a look
on the coreboot mailinglist.

> The information I am missing is, if I can use Coreboot and beeing able to
> boot Qubes OS 3.2 (and later 4.x) AND (!) also Windows 10 Enterprise, which
> I need, as this is the "corporate OS".

One could install windows in a VM and if you need graphics you can use
an ExpressCard EGPU setup and attach that EGPU to the HVM and a monitor
to the EGPU (also one of the usb controllers to the HVM)

If you have a lot of money to burn they even make ExpressCard PCI-e
expansion systems that turn your single expresscard in to 5 PCI-e ports
(you would have 500MB/s of bandwidth to work with with Expresscard2)

Yeah the sandy/ivy laptops support 4.0, and coreboot can boot windows as
well with certain payloads (such as SeaBIOS)

> As far as I have understand this involves to use something like seabios (?)
> and additional Blobs, it seems that Coreboot has lots of different pieces
> like a puzzle and I haven't figured out how everything fits together.

There is a guide on the coreboot wiki, SeaBIOS is the coreboot payload
and it compiles for you automatically.
Reading back the ME/GBE blobs is done via the chip reader and is quite
easy, then you simply include the location for me_cleaner in the "make
menuconfig" options.