Does System76's Thelio Maria support Trisquel?
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Hello everyone,
I hope this message finds you in great health.
I am part of an organization that assists with hardware upgrade costs, but we require pre-built machines that meet specific technical standards. Unfortunately, this means I cannot utilize most RYF Certifiable hardware for my work with them.
However, I am eager to run Trisquel wherever possible and have identified a machine that meets all necessary requirements: System76 Thelio Mira.
I've come to realize how much I took my old ThinkPad for granted, especially when it comes to verifying compliance with Linux Libre.
The device comes with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but it can be ordered with these features disabled (more info here).
Regarding Ethernet support, it appears to be compatible, but am uncertain which card it ships with: H-Node Page
Before I proceed with the purchase, is there anything specific I should verify? Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your support!
The H-Node link for the Ethernet Card appears to have some extra text at the end. Here is a better version: https://h-node.org/ethernetcards/view/en/2375/Realtek-Semiconductor-Co---Ltd--RTL8125-2-5GbE-Controller--rev-05-
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For Graphics, it appears to have the integrated Intel (or optionally a dedicated card):
It appears to be the same as what is used in other Linux-libre machines that support Trisquel such as the The Penguin Pro 14.
Thank you all once more for your help! I have been a very long time Trisquel user but have not purchased a new machine in some time. I immensely appreciate any support.
> The H-Node link for the Ethernet Card appears to have some extra text at the end.
That text usually means that some non-free firmware has been removed ("deblobbed") but the adapter is working fine without it. For peace of mind, you could ask del111, the author of the h-node entry, who also happens to be a user here:
https://h-node.org/meet/user/en/del111
https://trisquel.info/en/users/del111
Why not the Penguin Pro?
ThinkPenguin sells everything compatible with Free Software.
In "Additional Networking Options" have 10 GbE Ethernet Card.
The description of the website:
. Fast - available with up to a 14th generation i9 24-Core Intel CPU
. Expandable - up to 256GB of DDR5 ram & plenty of expansion bays & full profile card slots
. 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek Audio Chip) with support for up to 24-Bit/192 kHz playback
. Support for up to two high capacity hot swappable drives (we stock up to 16TB drives currently)
. Compatible with legacy media formats: Internal Blu-ray & DVD RW drives available
. Support for most popular and libre (free) GNU/Linux distributions
. For superior support and freedoms sake there is no dependence on OS-loaded binary blobs or proprietary drivers
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/libre-only.php
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-pro-14-gnu-linux-desktop
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-nas-2-bay-mini-server-gnu-linux
That DOES look worth looking into. Only $749 for a barebones system - not bad at all.
I've got the Intel integrated graphics running on a 13th generation processor, but I haven't tried it on the 14th generation. Just be sure that you are using the latest Linux-libre kernel. The kernel that comes with Trisquel will probably allow you to run the graphics via llvmpipe, but to get graphics acceleration using the card you'll need one of the most recent Linux-libre kernels. I'm currently using Linux-libre 6.11.
I wrote some posts in a couple of threads about my experiences getting graphics acceleration working, here they are in case you find them useful:
https://trisquel.info/en/forum/trying-out-new-novacustom-laptop-work-today
https://trisquel.info/en/forum/i-am-getting-hdmi-i915-how
We got a huge amount of help from Jason Self and from Alexandre Oliva, both with the Linux-libre project, to get graphics working correctly with the Intel Xe integrated graphics. They re-worked parts of the Linux-libre kernel in order to get the Xe graphics going. Let us know if you order this Thelio Mira and how it's working for you, I'll be very interested to hear more about it!
I am a translator!
I have the same CPU like andyprough and I also use Linux-libre 6.11. For some reason, Xorg crashes sometimes, so I am now using KDE on wayland and I have no problem with it. GNOME on wayland also works fine, but I prefer KDE.
>"For some reason, Xorg crashes sometimes, so I am now using KDE on wayland"
For the record, I haven't experienced any Xorg crashing, and I mostly use the DWM window manager and occasionally use Mate.
I am a translator!
Yes, this difference is still a big mistery to me. I tried using MATE with dwm yesterday, Xorg crashed in about 5 minutes, so I gave up.
With parabola, it even crashed much faster.
You might want to start a support request with NovaCustom if you haven't already: https://novacustom.com/forum/t/support
I'd do it before the initial 1-year warranty is over. From what I've seen they seem to be pretty good about doing whatever it takes to fix a problem, including free shipping for repairs I think. Could be hardware related, you never know.
I use Parabola GNU/Linux-libre with the linux-libre-vanilla kernel (version 6.9.3), and I tested the linux-libre package but it often have issues with the Realtek RTL8188CE WiFi card from my netbook. That's why I changed to the linux-libre-vanilla package and that bugs dissapeared. Even that unpatched version of the linux-libre kernel fits so well to the Gigabyte B365M Gaming HD motherboard from my desktop PC that I have with Intel ME enabled by default, plus I don't have any issue with Xorg and XFCE (because for whatever reason, MATE on Parabola seems to be buggy compared to XFCE).
Maybe the Intel ME feature may be crashing with the linux-libre kernel, which in the linux-libre-vanilla package seems to lack of that weird bugs.
Even that type of issue has been reported in that laptop model.
https://trisquel.info/en/forum/trying-out-new-novacustom-laptop-work-today#comment-175180
I am a translator!
Maybe the Intel ME feature may be crashing with the linux-libre kernel, which in the linux-libre-vanilla package seems to lack of that weird bugs.
There is a bit of issue with updating kernel packages for Parabola. I have read that linux-libre package is a bit difficult to update, perhaps due to a lot of customization, which may be why the current version in the repository (6.7.4-1) is rather far from the latest one.
linux-libre-vanilla was created to make it easier to update, but is still lacking update. If you can, you may try to update the PKGBUILD to build the last version yourself. I plan to do that but did not find the time so far.