NovaCustom NV41 Series

Sven · May 9, 2023, 12:56pm

Please follow these instructions:

novacustom · May 10, 2023, 8:38am

Here it is.
Qubes-HCL-Notebook-NV4xPZ-20230510-100826.yml (851 Bytes)

Sven · May 11, 2023, 12:13am

Thank you @novacustom for your HCL report, which is online now!

novacustom · May 11, 2023, 5:14am

@Sven thank you!

immaculate · May 11, 2023, 8:40am

Hello Qubes team. Thank you for an amazing OS.

I have a question: how NV41 is certified if there is no hardware buttons for camera and microphone. Wasn’t this a requirement before?

Thank you.
IC

unman · May 11, 2023, 10:46am

Hi @immaculate

This has never been a requirement - it it were then no x230 based
machine would have qualified.

The relevant sections say:

Finally, we require that Qubes-certified hardware does not have any
built-in USB-connected microphones (e.g. as part of a USB-connected
built-in camera) that cannot be easily physically disabled by the user,
e.g. via a convenient mechanical switch. Thankfully, the majority of
laptops on the market that we have seen already satisfy this condition
out-of-the-box, because their built-in microphones are typically
connected to the internal audio device, which itself is a type of PCIe
device…

While we also recommend a physical kill switch on the built-in camera (or, if possible, not to have a built-in camera), we also recognize this isn’t a critical requirement, because users who are concerned about it can easily cover it a piece of tape (something that, regrettably, is far less effective on a microphone).

You can read the full specification here.

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team. When I comment in the Forum or in the mailing lists I speak for myself.

novacustom · May 12, 2023, 1:37pm

Even though we don’t have hardware switches for the camera and microphone module, there is an option in our configurator to permanently remove this entire module.

disp666 · June 10, 2023, 6:29pm

Hello
Pls find my HCL report for NV41 at the bottom of this submission [1] (CC @Sven )

And I’d like to report problems running Q4.1.2 on NV41 (i7-1260P + wifi 6 ax210):

When running latest kernel (6.3.2-1.qubes.fc32) and having S3 or S0ix as suspend mode set, resume from sleep does not work.
Suspend and resume works with S3 and previous kernel version (6.2.10-1)

I am also curious if your laptop is able to be charged via USB-C, because my workstation is, but only for few seconds and then is back to drain the battery.

In specs they stated following:

1 x USB 3.1 Gen. 2 port (Type C) with Thunderbolt™ 4 support and charging over USB-C and Display Alt Mode (up to two external displays via USB-C)

There are also some other open issues reported here

[1] HCL report for NV41

---
layout:
  'hcl'
type:
  'notebook'
hvm:
  'yes'
iommu:
  'yes'
slat:
  'yes'
tpm:
  'unknown'
remap:
  'yes'
brand: |
  NovaCustom NV41
model: |
  NV4xPZ
bios: |
  Dasharo (coreboot+UEFI) v1.6.0
cpu: |
  12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1260P
cpu-short: |
  i7-1260P
chipset: |
  Intel Corporation Device [8086:4621] (rev 02)
chipset-short: |
  FIXME
gpu: |
  Intel Corporation Device [8086:46a6] (rev 0c) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
  
gpu-short: |
  Intel iRIS Xe
network: |
  Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX210/AX211/AX411 160MHz (rev 1a)
  Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
memory: |
  65376
scsi: |

usb: |
  3
versions:

- works:
    'partial'
  qubes: |
    R4.1
  xen: |
    4.14.5
  kernel: |
    6.3.2-1
  remark: |
    Suspend/Resume works with previous kernel 6.2.10.1, but resume fails when running latest kernel 6.3.2-1, there are also issues with charging over USB-C (3.1 with ThunderBolt 4, when it works for few seconds and then it stops).
  credit: |
    disp666
  link: |
    https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/novacustom-nv41-series/18531

---

laci · July 4, 2023, 4:57am

I was advised to use verify that I install and run Qubes with kernel version 6.1.x. After instalation I the qubes-hcl-report said it is 6.1.12 now it got upgraded to 6.3.2-1 - after running al sorts of updates. For me as of now I everything seems to be working fine.

Are there any known issues with this kernel other than the suspend? How could I have triggered a kernel upgrade? Is there an way to downgrade?

disp666 · July 4, 2023, 7:47pm

You can select older kernel in grub menu during the boot (in case you did not uninstalled the older versions)

I just did experiment with test kernel (6.3.9-1.fc32) but resume after suspend does not work properly either.

I’ll try to describe it better, it looks like the problem is in dom0.
Machine can wake up from suspend and I can get back to GUI. I’m able to switch between virtual desktops (i3wm), appVMs.
dom0 applications and tools work OK after resume.

The problem is stuck or frozen appVM windows.
For example when I click the other open tab in browser window, the title in window change, but the content of windows shows the same screen without any re-draw.

appVMs responsible for network are stuck as well and I’m not able to close them by shutdown, I need to kill them.

This can be related to stuck processes visible in dom0:

root       39460    3045  0 19:26 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/qrexec-client -d disp2633 root:QUBESRPC qubes.SuspendPostAll dom0
root       39462    3045  0 19:26 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/qrexec-client -d disp3854 root:QUBESRPC qubes.SuspendPostAll dom0
root       39464    3045  0 19:26 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/qrexec-client -d sys-firewall root:QUBESRPC qubes.SuspendPostAll dom0
root       39470    3045  0 19:26 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/qrexec-client -d sys-vpn root:QUBESRPC qubes.SuspendPostAll dom0
root       39472    3045  0 19:26 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/qrexec-client -d sys-whonix root:QUBESRPC qubes.SuspendPostAll dom0
root       39474    3045  0 19:26 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/qrexec-client -d vault root:QUBESRPC qubes.SuspendPostAll dom0

When I kill all stuck app and sys VMs, I’m able to restart everything and continue using NV41 without reboot, but I guess there is no real benefit to this workaround. I need to be able to resume after suspend into fully working system.

So far the only solution for me is to manually choose kernel version (6.2.10-1) for suspend/resume to work as expected.

This paragraph above is not true any more, even with 6.2.10-1 in dom0, appVMs will not resume correctly

If you know anything that needs to be done to mitigate resume issue in recent kernels please let me know.

novacustom · July 5, 2023, 11:19am

The Qubes OS team is working on a fix:

github.com/QubesOS/qubes-core-admin

Fix suspend issues with 6.3 kernel in VMs

QubesOS:release4.1 ← marmarek:r4.1-suspend-6.3

opened 03:07PM - 04 Jul 23 UTC

marmarek

+0 -22

Using TSC clocksource requires all VMs (not only those with PCI devices) to be p…roperly suspended when the system goes to sleep, otherwise the clock after resume may misbehave. Most of the time, Linux recovers by detecting TSC is not stable anymore and switching back to clocksource Xen, but when it doesn't, VM may appear to be frozen. Kernels before 6.3 chosen clocksource TSC anyway (unless explicit clocksource=tsc was present on the cmdline), but since 6.3, it prefers TSC if it's advertised as invariant. Specific Linux commit: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=caea091e48ed9d3951506507abf26e9918d08e35 Qubes OS 4.2 does suspend all VMs properly when the host goes to sleep, but 4.1 does not, so do not advertise TSC as invariant to avoid clocksource issues with newer kernels. This reverts commit 8c8c99c07643c996356f4fc12bbe781a31454f93.

disp666 · July 12, 2023, 6:33am

Thx!

with 6.3.12-1 resume works as expected on NV41

I really enjoy running qubesOS on new HW!

kryptopunk · July 18, 2023, 9:06am

How can I install this kernel version?
I have the kernel 6.3.9-1.
I would also like to try this with my Nitropad NV41.

unman · July 25, 2023, 11:35am

You need to install kernel-latest package:
sudo qubes-dom0-update kernel-latest in dom0.

There is corresponding kernel-latest-qubes-vm package to provide latest
kernel in qubes. You may want to install that also.

disp666 · September 26, 2023, 11:03am

Did anyone manage to setup sys-audio and use BT headset successfully? (r4.1)
Anyone running Q r4.2?
For quite some time (month?) laptop is not able to complete reboot or shutdown, but it hangs with black screen and is not responding to any key-press except power-button. (6.4.13-1.qubes.fc32.x86_64)
Another observation laptop it-self is doing strange noises, it’s not related to mechanical movement like fans but more like electric interference and when surrounding is quiet it is kind of annoying. Did anyone else observe something similar?

ohiohi · September 30, 2023, 12:53pm

Look here

novacustom · January 30, 2024, 1:38pm

Some more information about the IOMMU layout that I received from my customer today.

Bearillo · January 30, 2024, 3:18pm

Very interesting, thank you! So it is possible to use different USB controllers with external USB drives / thumbdrives on the NV41, if this diagram is correct…it’s just more complicated to achieve separation…the reason I gave up on that on my NV41 early on is because I was getting all sorts of strange behavior in my tests, but as it turned out my external SSD drive needed to be reformatted, and, as you now reveal, USB-2 behaves differently from USB-3.

So, having done some quick, preliminary tests now again, basically one could designate the TB4 USB-C port as “trusted” by assigning the two TB4 controllers to a sys-thunderbolt, while the other controller will be in sys-usb, for example. My tests now show that in this configuration, using only USB-3 devices:

when only sys-thunderbolt is running, only the TB4 port can be used
when only sys-usb is running, only the other three ports can be used
performance seems to be very similar for the same SSD drive when hooked up to the TB4 port via sys-thunderbolt vs. when hooked up to the other USB-C port via sys-usb
all USB ports still provide power even when no controller is attached to any VM

Though perhaps it’s prudent to instead designate the TB4 as untrusted, since when e.g. flashing new BIOS firmware the separation cannot be achieved and only the two TB4 controllers can be “isolated” from the rest by not using that port…that is, unless one needs the TB4 for a dock or external graphics card.

fsbof · February 1, 2024, 4:56am

Updated to include USB camera.

fsbof · February 1, 2024, 5:09am

The challenge is that if you passthrough IOMMU group 6 (as per the diagram) to a domain, that will successfully allow access to USB2/3 devices plugged into the 3 non-thunderbolt ports.

If you connect a USB2 device to the Thunderbolt port it will also be passed through to the domain, but a USB3 or Thunderbolt device won’t. What would be ideal, is if a USB2 device connected to this port internally connected to Bus 1, but I haven’t found a laptop yet that does this so I am guessing it is something to do with the Intel chip as opposed to the mainboard traces but I don’t know this for sure.

The main drama I can see with having effectively all USB ports tied to one bus is that HID devices like mice and keyboards have no where to go. At least, with a non-powered Thunderbolt dock, these can be attached to that, and the internal USB ports are left for connection to devices that need predictable USB power and connectivity.