NitroPad V56 vs NovaCustom V56 certification details

[Qyubes]

Does anyone know why

in certification details of NitroPad V56, “Dasharo HEADS with Measured Boot, requires Nitrokey!” is not yet certified,
BUT
in certification details of NovaCustom V56, “coreboot+Heads” which also require Nitrokey Mini, is certified?

[mkowalski]

Certified implies the Qubes OS developers have possession of one of those machines, and are themselves stating there are no issues with running Qubes OS on it.

Certified hardware

[FranklyFlawless]

The documentation for certified devices has not been updated to reflect this new information:

Qubes-certified NovaCustom V54 and V56 Series laptops now available with...

[adw]

@FranklyFlawless

The documentation for certified devices has not been updated to reflect this new information: https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2025/05/20/qubes-certified-novacustom-v54-v56-now-available-with-heads/

Huh? I updated the documentation at the same time as I published that announcement. Here’s the commit:

Add Heads certified firmware option for NovaCustom V54 & V56

I checked the live website again just now, and I still see the new information correctly present on the documentation pages. Can you please explain what you mean and why you think that?

Is it possible that you’re confusing NitroPad and NovaCustom? The Heads option is now certified for the NovaCustom V56, but it’s still not certified for the NitroPad V56.

[FranklyFlawless]

Yes, thank you for the clarification.

[Qyubes]

@adw

The Heads option is now certified for the NovaCustom V56, but it’s still not certified for the NitroPad V56

What’s the reason for one to be certified and other not? I see both to be same laptop models with same firmware (dasharo coreboot) using same payload (heads) along with same hardware key (nitrokey).

[FranklyFlawless]

The hardware certification process:

Hardware certification process

To have hardware certified, the vendor must:

1. Send the Qubes team two (2) units for testing (non-returnable) for each configuration the vendor wishes to be offering.
2. Offer to customers the very same configuration (same motherboard, same screen, same BIOS version, same Wi-Fi module, etc.) for at least one year.
3. Pay the Qubes team a flat monthly rate, to be agreed upon between the hardware vendor and the Qubes team.

It is the vendor’s responsibility to ensure the hardware they wish to have certified can run Qubes OS, at the very least the latest stable version. This could be done by consulting the Hardware Compatibility List or trying to install it themselves before shipping any units to us. While we are willing to troubleshoot simple issues, we will need to charge a consulting fee for more in-depth work.

If you are interested in having your hardware certified, please contact us.

[adw]

I’m not certain, but I think the most likely reason (as others have mentioned) is that NitroPad probably hasn’t submitted their V56+Heads setup to the Qubes devs for certification yet.