NitroPad T430 passes hardware certification for Qubes 4.0!

Update: Please be advised that the i7-3632QM option is not compatible with Qubes OS, as it does not support VT-d. The option specifically tested by the Qubes team is the i5-3320M.

It is our pleasure to announce that the NitroPad T430 has become the third Qubes-certified Laptop for Qubes 4.0! This makes Nitrokey the first vendor to have two products that pass Qubes hardware certification, the other being the NitroPad X230.

What is Qubes Certified Hardware?

Qubes Certified Hardware is hardware that has been certified by the Qubes developers as compatible with Qubes OS. Beginning with Qubes 4.0, in order to achieve certification, the hardware must satisfy a rigorous set of requirements, and the vendor must commit to offering customers the very same configuration (same motherboard, same screen, same BIOS version, same Wi-Fi module, etc.) for at least one year.

Qubes-certified Laptops, in particular, are regularly tested by the Qubes developers to ensure compatibility with all of Qubes’ features. The developers test all new major versions and updates to ensure that no regressions are introduced.

It is important to note, however, that Qubes Hardware Certification certifies only that a particular hardware configuration is supported by Qubes. The Qubes OS Project takes no responsibility for any vendor’s manufacturing, shipping, payment, or other practices, nor can we control whether physical hardware is modified (whether maliciously or otherwise) en route to the user. (However, see below for information about how this risk is mitigated.)

About the NitroPad T430

![nitropad-t430.jpg](upload://kQF4xxY6nWzlITpjYWhZ1K2yaOa.jpeg)

Key features of the NitroPad T430 include:

For further details, please see the NitroPad T430 product page.

How to get one

Please see the NitroPad T430 on the Nitrokey website for purchasing information.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2021/06/01/nitropad-t430-qubes-certification/
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I’m reading about the Hardware Certification Process and I’m confused about what exactly this process certifies. More specifically, the vendor should send two units for each configuration they wish to offer to the Qubes team. However, for each Nitrokey’s laptop, there are a number of options such as different processors and WiFi cards. Does the certification assure that any combination of these options will be compatible with Qubes?

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@marmarek, can you comment on this?

One one hand, older CPU’s like this are great because of coreboot support and ability to disable Intel ME. However 3rd gen Intel / Ivy Bridge CPU’s were already EOL June 2020, so there will be no microcode updates for new CPU vulnerabilities.

Update: Please be advised that the i7-3632QM option is not compatible with Qubes OS, as it does not support VT-d. The option specifically tested by the Qubes team is the i5-3320M. Please see here for more information.

The tested configuration has i5-3320M, Intel wifi, and is with the webcam. We have tested similar (but not the same!) Atheros wifi card and I don’t expect any issues there, but we can’t say it’s certified configuration until properly tested.
Changes like more RAM or more disk should not matter for the compatibility (for example we intentionally tested the smallest disk, which doesn’t mean we recommend having too little space for your data).

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