OS: 4.2 rc3
Hardware:
System76 Meerkat (meer7)
- CPU: 12th Gen Intel Core i3-1220P
- Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics
- Memory: 2x 16GB DDR4-3200MHz
- Storage: 1 TB PCIe4 M.2 SSD
See:
It isn’t super clear from System76 marketing material but I think this model corresponds to a NUC 12 Pro: Intel® NUC 12 Pro Product Brief
Working:
- WiFi
- Video & sound
- The regular things one needs in a functioning workstation
Untested:
- Bluetooth
- …
Problems:
- sys-usb occasionally pegs a core to 100% and must be restarted (see more below)
Installation:
First tried installing 4.1.2 but booting up the installer I found that screen redraw was unusably slow, perhaps 1 frame per 2 seconds. Video driver bug? Maybe a newer kernel would have fixed it?
Rather than troubleshoot I moved on to 4.2 rc3 which I was inclined to try anyway. Screen redraw was normal in the 4.2 installer. I don’t recall any other installation hitches.
There was nothing in the BIOS I needed to enable/disable.
sys-usb issue:
In the initial weeks of use I had a recurring problem with sys-usb. Perhaps once every three days a core assigned to the VM would become pegged to 100% and input (mouse, keyboard) in dom0 unusably choppy and droppy. Restarting sys-usb fixed the problem consistently, no other intervention or admin work needed. Though, this once happened while the workstation was locked and it was a minor trial to type my (long) password into xscreensaver successfully so that I could restart the VM.
I haven’t seen the sys-usb peg happen in over a week. Perhaps a recent update fixed it? I feel competent enough in the system now that I could troubleshoot if it does recur.
General remarks
-
Performance has been fine for me. 16 GB was too little memory unless I were to economize on VMs; 32 GB has been better. The meer7/nuc12pro is quiet even under heavy load.
-
The Meerkat line does not run System76 Open Firmware. Marketing material does not make this clear.
-
I chose the meer7 because I like the form factor and wanted to support a freedom-leaning vendor. If I could choose again I would probably go with Qubes-certified hardware. If you the user are taking that big step of transitioning to Qubes you may as well go the whole way: open-source boot firmware, PS/2 input, disabled IME, and a positive-reinforcement reward to a vendor for having gone through the certification process.
HCL Report.yml
--- layout: 'hcl' type: 'Mini PC' hvm: 'yes' iommu: 'yes' slat: 'yes' tpm: '2.0' remap: 'yes' brand: | System76 model: | Meerkat bios: | WSADL357.0086.2022.1103.1433 cpu: | 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-1220P cpu-short: | FIXME chipset: | Intel Corporation Device [8086:4601] (rev 04) chipset-short: | FIXME gpu: | Intel Corporation Alder Lake-UP3 GT1 [UHD Graphics] [8086:46b3] (rev 0c) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) gpu-short: | FIXME network: | Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P PCH CNVi WiFi [8086:51f0] (rev 01) Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I225-V [8086:15f3] (rev 03) memory: | 32340 scsi: | usb: | 4 certified: 'no' versions: - works: 'FIXME:yes|no|partial' qubes: | 4.2.0-rc3 xen: | 4.17.2 kernel: | 6.1.43-1 remark: | FIXME credit: | FIXAUTHOR link: | FIXLINK