Lenovo ThinkPad Helix 2nd Gen

Hardware	PCI/USB ID	Working?
GPU		Yes
Sound		Yes
WiFi		Partial
Bluetooth		Untested
Camera		Untested
Sensors		Yes
Fingerprint reader		No

This hardware is substantially different from the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix 1st Gen and thus the solutions outlined there are not helpful. Note: the following was tested with the standard ThinkPad Ultrabook keyboard, not the Pro one.

Suspend & Resume

Enable suspend-to-idle (freeze/s2idle)

This device does not support suspend-to-RAM. It only supports suspend-to-idle (aka "freeze" or "s2idle"). In order for this to work completely, you must update the BIOS to the latest version (1.99 works) using the disc image provided by Lenovo. If you do not do this, you may only be able to suspend-to-idle and resume while docked in the keyboard (detaching to tablet mode while suspended would prevent the device from resuming). With an updated BIOS, it appears the device can resume from suspend-to-idle under all conditions.

Older versions of the BIOS misreport the suspend capabilities, and thus the system will try to suspend to RAM. To verify this, run cat /sys/power/mem_sleep. If you see mem in the output, you are susceptible to this problem. If you are unable to update the BIOS, you can force the system to use suspend-to-idle. Simply create the file /etc/systemd/sleep.conf containing:

/etc/systemd/sleep.conf

[Sleep]
SuspendState=freeze

On the most recent BIOS versions, this is not necessary, since /sys/power/mem_sleeep will only contain s2idle and thus any attempt to suspend in any manner will default to suspend-to-idle.

Disable embedded-controller wake-ups

By default, s2idle will still exhibit a significant battery drain while suspended (the batteries will be dead within a few hours). It appears that the device suffers from embedded controller wake-ups. For a more reasonable drain while suspended (i.e. you can leave it suspended for days), you must set the acpi.ec_no_wakeup=1 kernel parameter.

Note: If you set the acpi.ec_no_wakeup=1 kernel parameter, the device will not be able to wake up after any lid events (attaching/detaching the tablet from the base). So, it is a trade-off: enable the parameter and enjoy proper suspend behavior as long as you do not remove the device from the base (e.g. to close it), or do not set the parameter and enjoy the ability to close and re-open the laptop but suffer wake-level battery drainage.

Workaround for no wifi connection on resume

The WiFi chip in this computer (Intel Wireless 7265) has a problem where it can stop re-connecting after waking from suspend. The system can no longer communicate with the card, so restarting NetworkManager (etc) is not sufficient to regain a connection, nor is unloading and reloading the iwlwifi module after resuming. A casual internet search reveals this to be a hardware problem that affects Windows users as well.

An effective workaround, however, is to unload the kernel modules before suspending and reloading them upon resuming. For example, using systemd:

/etc/systemd/system/suspend-unload-iwlwifi.service

[Unit]
Description=Unload iwlwifi before suspending
Before=suspend.target
StopWhenUnneeded=no

[Service]
type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bash -c "rmmod iwlmvm && rmmod iwlwifi"

[Install]
WantedBy=suspend.target

/etc/systemd/system/suspend-unload-iwlwifi.service

[Unit]
Description=Unload iwlwifi before suspending
Before=suspend.target
StopWhenUnneeded=no

[Service]
type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bash -c "lsmod iwlmvm iwlwifi"

[Install]
WantedBy=suspend.target

ACPI CPU load and Battery Power

Many ACPI Interrupt - Events are triggered on older Kernels making CPU load up to 80% of one Kernel => Battery goes empty within 3 hours. With me this problem was fixed when upgrading to Kernel 5.1rc1. Powertop estimates over 7 hours with a pro keyboard attached. Use tlp package for further improvements.

Sensors

In order to use the sensors (particularly the accelerometer and the ambient light sensor) in GNOME, you should install the iio-sensor-proxy package. There is presumably a quirk with this sensor hardware. The effect is that iio-sensor-proxy loads too early, requiring the service to be restarted before the sensors can be read properly. To fix this, edit the systemd unit so that it starts after GDM (After=gdm.service; see Systemd#Editing provided units).

If you are using GNOME, a program called tp-helix-orientation-lock enables the use of the "rotation lock" button on the Helix 2, as well as optionally automatically locking/unlocking the screen orientation when docking/undocking the tablet.

Touch Screen

In order to enable multitouch, install xf86-input-wacom and libwacom. By default, xf86-input-wacom handles multitouch, however it is limited to two-finger input. In order to allow true multitouch, you must disable this built-in support. Multitouch events will then be passed on to XServer. To test this, try running

$ xset "Wacom HID 501D Finger touch" Gesture off

To make it permanent, copy /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-wacom.conf to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/70-wacom.conf and edit it so the input entries all contain Option "Gesture" "Off".

Touch Pad and Pointing Stick

After detaching and attaching a Pro Keyboard the mouse stops working in gnome. Probably there is a sync problem. Attempt to load psmouse with "proto=imps" option. To do that, add this line to your /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf:

/etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf

options psmouse proto=imps

You can test this before making it permanent by:

$ modprobe -r psmouse

$ modprobe psmouse proto=imps

Graphics

Install xf86-video-intel for graphics acceleration.

Software

Firefox

Touch Screen Scrolling can be activated by the ScrollAnywhere firefox Plugin

Unresolved Issues

• The fingerprint reader is apparently not supported by any driver.
• The speakers make popping sounds.