few questions before installing
I have a few questions before installing Trisquel, after I recently decided to do the switch from Debian.
1) Is Intel HD Graphics 630 supported? (was told to install proprietary firmware on Debian to fix tearing issues and such)
2) Will Trisquel security updates include patches for the Intel vulnerabilities, including patches for Spectre-NG?
3) What would be the correct way to install i3-gaps via tty after a minimal Trisquel install?
4) What would be the correct way to install XFCE via tty after a minimal Trisquel install?
5) Do Icecat and Abrowser both rely on LibreJS, or is there an alternative?
Thanks in advance.
> 1) Is Intel HD Graphics 630 supported? (was told to install proprietary
> firmware on Debian to fix tearing issues and such)
If there is free firmware for your graphics card, it is likely in the Trisquel repository. There is no proprietary software in the Trisquel repository.
> 2) Will Trisquel security updates include patches for the Intel
> vulnerabilities, including patches for Spectre-NG?
The latest linux-libre kernel can be added to Trisquel from jxself's repo: https://jxself.org/linux-libre/
> 3) What would be the correct way to install i3-gaps via tty after a minimal
> Trisquel install?
You'll need to build it. I have a script saved somewhere that I use each time I install Trisquel. I'll post it when I get home.
> 4) What would be the correct way to install XFCE via tty after a minimal
> Trisquel install?
$ sudo apt install xfce4
> 5) Do Icecat and Abrowser both rely on LibreJS, or is there an alternative?
Icecat has LibreJS installed by default. Abrowser does not. NoScript is similar in function to LibreJS, but lacks LibreJS's license-detection feature, instead blocking all JavaScript by default whether it is free or proprietary.
> The latest linux-libre kernel can be added to Trisquel from jxself's repo: https://jxself.org/linux-libre/
Would u consider it a must for latest security updates in general?
> You'll need to build it. I have a script saved somewhere that I use each time I install Trisquel. I'll post it when I get home.
Your script would help me a lot. I appreciate that.
> Would u consider it a must for latest security updates in general?
I think that for the Spectre patch you need 4.14 or later. Trisquel gets 4.4 from upstream Ubuntu, so if you want the Spectre patch I suggest installing 4.14 from jxself's repo.
> Your script would help me a lot. I appreciate that.
-------------------------------------------------
#!/bin/bash
# get i3-stuff (lock, status, etc.) but remove i3 itself
sudo apt install i3 && sudo apt remove i3-wm
# get dependencies
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:aguignard/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install libxcb1-dev libxcb-keysyms1-dev libpango1.0-dev libxcb-util0-dev libxcb-icccm4-dev libyajl-dev libstartup-notification0-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libev-dev libxcb-cursor-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libxcb-xkb-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev autoconf libxcb-xrm-dev
# clone and build
sudo apt install git
cd /tmp
git clone https://www.github.com/Airblader/i3 i3-gaps
cd i3-gaps
autoreconf --force --install
rm -rf build/
mkdir -p build && cd build/
../configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --disable-sanitizers
make
sudo make install
rm -rf i3-gaps
-------------------------------------------------
Complementing mason's answers:
1. I have "Intel Corporation HD Graphics 630 (rev 04)" (according to 'lspci' and went through the issues you mentioned when I was using Trisquel 7's X server (the latest kernel made no difference). There is no such problem with Trisquel 8.
4. You may (or not) want to use the NetInstall, if you do not plan to use the default MATE desktop environment (and do not want to have two applications for a same task).
5. In Abrowser, LibreJS can be enabled/disabled by (un)checking a box on the default page that is shown when you open a new tab.
Welcome! :-)
There is also a Trisquel mini installation ISO. That installs LXDE for you instead of MATE. :)
@mason
@Magic Banana
Thanks to both of you!
Any Intel HD Graphics starting Skylake (6th generation intelligent Core processor) require non-free firmware, so does HD630.
> Any Intel HD Graphics starting Skylake (6th generation intelligent Core processor) require non-free firmware, so does HD630.
That was my state of knowledge, until Magic Banana said it works just fine on Trisquel 8.
I ran into several problems without the non-free firmware on Debian 9 Stable.
I do have some suggestions if you need the graphics performance.
4th or 5th generation Core processors' graphics still require no proprietary blobs. So search for such a processor with Iris (Pro) graphics. For example, my gaming notebook uses an i7-4750HQ with Iris Pro 5200, and I Plan to purchase an i7-5775C with Iris Pro 6300 for my desktop computer.
I'll never consider purchasing Skylake or newer computers. I really do some scientific computing in my lab and CPU performance is critical. But I don't wish to submit to any entity power. Besides, Haswell (4th generation Core) processors I use in the lab support the AVX2 instruction set, whereas the next instruction set AVX512 will not be supported by mainstream processors until 9th generation Cannon Lake. So Haswell is very enough for me.
@nadebula.1984
Thanks for the suggestions, but I won't buy any Intel hardware.
Built a new workstation, a few weeks before they went public with the vulnerabilities.
I would rather literally burn my money, before I spend it on Intel hardware ever again.
Well I might buy another X200 and that's about it.
You'd like to look for machines that's run under Libreboot+EFI whose processor arch is amd64, that's true practice what's free software. I've also been looking for them at https://technoetic.com. :)
HD 630 does work fine on Trisquel 8 with its default kernel, which does not include proprietary firmware. I know: I use it all day long.
@Magic Banana
> HD 630 does work fine on Trisquel 8 with its default kernel, which does not include proprietary firmware. I know: I use it all day long.
That gives me peace of mind :)
@CalmStorm
> the eoma68 laptop might be a good idea, but it won't be out till november I believe.... We shall see if it is as good as is hoped. ;)
Yeah the eoma68 project looks promising, but I won't count on it being released this year.
Out of interest, why isn't the default Linux kernel completely free software, since it's released under the GPL? Are there loopholes in v2 of the licence (under which the default Linux kernel is distributed) that allow the inclusion of non-free elements in the software? If so, should software that is released under GPLv2 be avoided?
Also, why isn't Trisquel distributed with the libre version of the kernel by default?
Firmware is code that is not linked to the code of the kernel. Firmware is executable files that the kernel sends to the peripherals that run them. The copyleft does not apply in that case.
> Out of interest, why isn't the default Linux kernel completely free
> software, since it's released under the GPL? Are there loopholes in v2 of
> the licence (under which the default Linux kernel is distributed) that allow
> the inclusion of non-free elements in the software?
I've wondered this too. The GPL requires access to the source code, which is defined as "the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it." Since binary blobs are not the preferred form of modifying a program, it seems to me that they should be considered GPL-violating.
> Also, why isn't Trisquel distributed with the libre version of the kernel by
> default?
Trisquel is distributed with the linux-libre kernel, just not the most recent version. jxself's repo is only necessary if you need a newer version of the kernel than what's in the Trisquel repo.
2018-05-11T01:25:40+0200 name at domain wrote:
> 2) Will Trisquel security updates include patches for the Intel
> vulnerabilities, including patches for Spectre-NG?
Also note that Meltdown and Spectre aren't entirely fixable, in the
sense that the patches only narrow the vulnerability margin, but don't
set it to 0% for a given computer. You can be easily vulnerable if you
have JavaScript enabled on your web browser[1].
[1] https://mikegerwitz.com/2018/01/Meltdown-Spectre-and-the-Web
--
- Formas de contato: https://libreplanet.org/wiki/User:Adfeno#vCard
- Ativista do /software/ livre (não confundir com gratuito). Avaliador
da liberdade de /software/ e de /sites/.
- Arquivos que aceito: https://libreplanet.org/wiki/User:Adfeno#Arquivos
- Contribuições à sociedade:
https://libreplanet.org/wiki/User:Adfeno#Contributions
- Gosta do meu trabalho? Contrate-me ou doe algo para mim!
https://libreplanet.org/wiki/User:Adfeno#Suporte
- Use comunicações sociais federadas padronizadas, onde o "social"
permanece independente do fornecedor. #DeleteWhatsApp. Use #XMPP
(https://libreplanet.org/wiki/XMPP.pt), #DeleteFacebook
#DeleteInstagram #DeleteTwitter #DeleteYouTube. Use #ActivityPub via
#Mastodon (https://joinmastodon.org/).
- #DeleteNetflix #CancelNetflix. Evite #DRM:
https://www.defectivebydesign.org/
2018-05-11T01:25:40+0200 name at domain wrote:
> 2) Will Trisquel security updates include patches for the Intel
> vulnerabilities, including patches for Spectre-NG?
... the real fix is changing the hardware to one such as EOMA68 and
(perhaps) RISC-V and POWER8 (or was it "POWER9", I don't remember
now). This list isn't exhaustive, so please forgive me if I forgot one.