Sharing some experiences about running Ubuntu on an HP Elitebook 850 G5 laptop.
Right now this document is only half-way finished. Hopefully I will find time to provide some more information.
Basic functionality is working
- WIFI
- HDMI to an external monitor (even with the lid closed). Tested with a Dell UZ2715Hb monitor that has 1080p max resolution.
- Trackpad
- Mouse button (to steer the mouse pointer)
I haven't tested much more than that.
The laptop was customized by me and then assembled by HP like this
HP IDS UMA i5-8250U 850 G5 Base NB PC
FreeDOS 2.0 SE/FI
No Webcam
15.6 inch FHD (1920x1080) Anti-Glare LED UWVA 220 slim
32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 2400
1TB PCIe NVMe Three Layer Cell Solid State Drive
No Near Field Communication (No NFC)
Intel 8265 ac 2x2 nvP +Bluetooth 4.2 WW with 2 Antennas
No WWAN
No Fingerprint Sensor
Active SmartCard
3 Cell 56 WHr Long Life
45 Watt Smart nPFC Right Angle AC Adapter
C5 1.8m Sticker Conventional Power Cord SE/FI
3/3/0 Warranty EURO
No vPro AMT supported
DIB HP Basic Carrying Case
Country Localization SE/FI
Dual Point with numeric keypad spill-resistant Collaboration SE/FI
EU RED Pictogram Label
Core i5 G8 Label
HP 1 year Priority Management Service for PCs (1000+ seats)
HP 3 year Next Business Day Onsite Notebook Only Hardware Support
HP Operations Service
The laptop was delivered to me in the end of August 2018.
Short summary of hardware configuration
- RAM : 32 GB RAM
- Operating system : FreeDOS
- 1TB SSD
- 15.6" inch screen (resolution 1920x1080)
The computer came with FreeDOS already installed. Instead of using FreeDOS, I installed Ubuntu 18.04.1 (wiping the whole hard drive). Unfortunately, it was a few weeks since I performed the installation so I don't remember the details. I believe it was straightforward (selecting default choices).
Here is the partition table
root@laptop:~# fdisk -l /dev/nvme0n1
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 953,9 GiB, 1024209543168 bytes, 2000409264 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 06016D96-2E6A-4584-9897-E9C6E2DDD47B
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1 2048 7999487 7997440 3,8G EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2 7999488 39999487 32000000 15,3G Linux filesystem
root@laptop:~#
The EXT4 file system is used
root@laptop:~# file -s /dev/nvme0n1p2
/dev/nvme0n1p2: Linux rev 1.0 ext4 filesystem data, UUID=9b426948-95ac-4325-8f42-f3ba5fd94f7a (needs journal recovery) (extents) (64bit) (large files) (huge files)
root@laptop:~#
I rebooted the laptop and went into the BIOS. From there it was possible to download and install a newer version of the BIOS.
An even newer version of the BIOS is available from the HP web page
HP Firmware Pack (Q78) 01.03.00 Rev.A 16.5 MB 22 aug 2018
https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-elitebook-850-g5-notebook-pc/18491276
but I wonder how to install it:
linux@laptop:~$ sudo lshw -santize > output/lshw.txt
[sudo] password for linux:
linux@laptop:~$
See the output in output/lshw.txt
linux@laptop:~$ lsmod > output/lsmod.txt
linux@laptop:~$
See the output in output/lsmod.txt
linux@laptop:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo > output/cpuinfo.txt
linux@laptop:~$
See the output in output/cpuinfo.txt
linux@laptop:~$ cat /proc/meminfo > output/meminfo.txt
linux@laptop:~$
See the output in output/meminfo.txt