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I have a new gen 6 X1 carbon with a 4G connection. But, unfortunately, I could not install it in Ubuntu 18.04. I appreciate if anybody can help to install Fibocom L850-GL.

PS: I want to use the 4G network in both Windows and Linux environments. Solution to work the 4G modem on Ubuntu only is not an option for me.

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    Currently not supported: forums.lenovo.com/t5/Linux-Discussion/…
    – user880592
    Nov 10, 2018 at 21:46
  • Thanks for your comments, I know this but I hope in the near future Fibcom release a driver for Linux. Upvoting this might encourage them to release driver sooner.
    – Mohsen Laali
    Nov 12, 2018 at 3:11
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    Just for the record, it appears that this is still not supported as of 4-29-2019... ref ref2
    – Hee Jin
    Mar 29, 2019 at 6:23
  • Sure thing! Hope you get a driver one of these days!
    – Hee Jin
    Apr 2, 2019 at 23:55
  • Does anyone know why the website suggests there is a linux driver for it? fibocom.com/prod_view.aspx?TypeId=68&Id=185&FId=t3:68:3 "OS Driver:Win10/Android*/Linux/Chrome OS"
    – ThankYee
    Jul 24, 2019 at 4:42

4 Answers 4

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Fibocom L850-GL now works on Linux on ThinkPad laptops, see https://github.com/abrasive/xmm7360

The related solution post on lenovo forum: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Other-Linux-Discussions/WWAN-Fibocom-L850-GL-and-Linux-support/m-p/4561524#M13843

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Fibocom L850-GL works in LMDE 3 Cindy in Clevo P651SA (motherboard P65_P67SA).

PCIe interface in the M2 LTE slot is not supported in this laptop, therefore the modem automatically works with the USB 3.0 interface that his modem also supports on Linux.

Mind you, this is a laptop from 2014 (year of launch) or rather 2015 (when the laptop was sold with LTE antenna on board from different OEMs around the world).

This modem was designed to be a transitional modem for laptops that had no PCIe support in the M2 LTE interface slot.

From 2016 laptops had PCIe support in the M2 interface (connection slot).

These newer laptops need the newer modem Fibocom L860-GL to work on Linux, as they came with PCIe interface support only.

The older Fibocom L830-EB that came with USB 2.0 support only, will also work in Linux on any laptop that have the M2 interface, that being older or newer laptops.

Hope this helps :)

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  • On the statement "These newer laptops need the newer modem Fibocom L860-GL to work on Linux, as they came with PCIe interface support only." Is there already a Linux driver for it? If not, will there be one?
    – Nikos Alexandris
    Aug 7, 2019 at 19:00
  • I just bought the X1 Carbon Gen7 and I expect it to work on linux Debian, do you know how I can manage to make it work?
    – Dimitri Kopriwa
    Oct 15, 2019 at 21:05
  • For the L860-GL support in linux, if the drivers are built into the kernel what software in Linux is being used to setup the connection as does that mean it is a PPP connection for data and not MBIM or QMI? Asked by @StefanKnight
    – user68186
    Jul 18, 2020 at 23:58
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Fibocom L860-GL only has support for PCIe interface (No USB 2.0 and no USB 3.0 interface support). As long as your laptop is 2016 or newer and support PCIe in the m2 LTE interface slot (consult your laptops manual to verify), the modem will work on any Linux newer than 2017. The driver is built into the Linux kernel of your Linux distro.

Both L860-GL and L850-GL is based on Intel chips, contrary to many Huawei modems that are usually based on Qualcomm chips.

But L850-GL has support for both PCIe (PCIe only supports Windows 10 for this modem) and USB 3.0 support. As explained already L850-GL works in my 4 1/2 year old laptop only because my laptop does NOT suport PCIe in the m2 LTE connection slot. My laptop only support SATA in the m2 LTE connection slot.

Therefore when I installed Fibocom L850-GL it automatically worked because the laptop automatically detects no PCIe support and switches to USB 3.0 that the L850-GL also supports.

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  • For the L860-GL support in linux, if the drivers are built into the kernel, what software in Linux is being used to set up the connection? Does that mean it is a PPP connection for data and not MBIM or QMI?
    – Stefan Knight
    Jul 18, 2020 at 23:42
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There are few solutions for the owners:

  1. Script https://github.com/xmm7360/xmm7360-usb-modeswitch Does not work for P53, works on other models.
  2. Kernel module https://github.com/juhovh/xmm7360_usb which is based on the script, so still does not work for P53.
  3. And finally, new kernel native PCI module https://github.com/xmm7360/xmm7360-pci from the author of the script. Just tested it on my new P53 gen.2 and it seems to be working! I got a wwan0 interface and see some data received/sent. I'm going to test it with the working SIM card. In anyway, that's a great progress and many thanks to the author!
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