[qubes-users] Qubes 4.1 - ready to go on Nitropad X230 without much tweaks?

Mailing Lists qubes-users
1

I am thinking about upgrading my Nitropad X230 Qubes to 4.1, but I am curious if the version 4.1 has some serious issues that would make the experience worse than the current 4.0 or would need many tweaks to make the beast run well.

I know that the 4.1 is an rc1 with all its pros and cons, which can be but different on each hardware. My question is if the Nitropad X230 has some functionality issues running the 4.1-rc1 now.

For sys-net and sys-firewall I use the fedora-33-minimal, I use qubes-gpg-split and a kind of split monero with qrexec, as described here: http://monerotoruzizulg5ttgat2emf4d6fbmiea25detrmmy7erypseyteyd.onion/resources/user-guides/cli_wallet_daemon_isolation_qubes_whonix.html, sys-usb is based on debian-10. The rest is a normal usage with not so many changes in the dom0 or templates from the default state.

Would you recommend to go on with the upgrade/reinstall of my 4.0 Qubes to 4.1 on Nitropad X230 now?

Thank you.

2

4.1rc1 works fine on a corebooted x230 (that's what the nitropad is).
No functionality issues for me, and I cant see any issues with your set
up.
You'll have to reseal HEADS of course, but I assume you know that.

3

unman:

4

Heads will need to be reflashed with a ROM supporting cryptsetup2 to reinstall. Heada will also need to be based on coreboot 4.13+ as per pending Heads pull request 1015.

Consider this as a beta testing ROM.

1 Like
5

Insurgo Technologies Libres / Open Technologies:

unman:

I am thinking about upgrading my Nitropad X230 Qubes to 4.1, but I am
curious if the version 4.1 has some serious issues that would make the
experience worse than the current 4.0 or would need many tweaks to make the
beast run well.

I know that the 4.1 is an rc1 with all its pros and cons, which can be but
different on each hardware. My question is if the Nitropad X230 has some
functionality issues running the 4.1-rc1 now.

For sys-net and sys-firewall I use the fedora-33-minimal, I use
qubes-gpg-split and a kind of split monero with qrexec, as described here: http://monerotoruzizulg5ttgat2emf4d6fbmiea25detrmmy7erypseyteyd.onion/resources/user-guides/cli_wallet_daemon_isolation_qubes_whonix.html,
sys-usb is based on debian-10. The rest is a normal usage with not so many
changes in the dom0 or templates from the default state.

Would you recommend to go on with the upgrade/reinstall of my 4.0 Qubes to
4.1 on Nitropad X230 now?

Thank you.

--
Kind regards
taran1s

4.1rc1 works fine on a corebooted x230 (that's what the nitropad is).
No functionality issues for me, and I cant see any issues with your set
up.
You'll have to reseal HEADS of course, but I assume you know that.

This is very good news, thank you. I will most probably clean-reinstall the beast to get advantage of the LUKS2. But not sure if it is worthy to do or the upgrade is enough to get advantage of the new 4.1.

Is the LUKS1 vs LUKS2 the only difference in between the clean-reinstall and upgrade, or are there other factors to take into consideration when deciding between the clean reinstall vs upgrade to 4.1?

Heads will need to be reflashed with a ROM supporting cryptsetup2 to reinstall. Heada will also need to be based on coreboot 4.13+ as per pending Heads pull request 1015.

Consider this as a beta testing ROM.
Outch, this is what I was afraid of. Thank you for the warning. Is there

any detailed guide on how to do that safely? This is my main laptop used for all of my digital activities, and I wouldn't like to mess it up.

6

Insurgo Technologies Libres / Open Technologies:

unman:

I am thinking about upgrading my Nitropad X230 Qubes to 4.1, but I am
curious if the version 4.1 has some serious issues that would make the
experience worse than the current 4.0 or would need many tweaks to make the
beast run well.

I know that the 4.1 is an rc1 with all its pros and cons, which can be but
different on each hardware. My question is if the Nitropad X230 has some
functionality issues running the 4.1-rc1 now.

For sys-net and sys-firewall I use the fedora-33-minimal, I use
qubes-gpg-split and a kind of split monero with qrexec, as described here: http://monerotoruzizulg5ttgat2emf4d6fbmiea25detrmmy7erypseyteyd.onion/resources/user-guides/cli_wallet_daemon_isolation_qubes_whonix.html,
sys-usb is based on debian-10. The rest is a normal usage with not so many
changes in the dom0 or templates from the default state.

Would you recommend to go on with the upgrade/reinstall of my 4.0 Qubes to
4.1 on Nitropad X230 now?

Thank you.

--
Kind regards
taran1s

4.1rc1 works fine on a corebooted x230 (that's what the nitropad is).
No functionality issues for me, and I cant see any issues with your set
up.
You'll have to reseal HEADS of course, but I assume you know that.

This is very good news, thank you. I will most probably clean-reinstall the beast to get advantage of the LUKS2. But not sure if it is worthy to do or the upgrade is enough to get advantage of the new 4.1.

Is the LUKS1 vs LUKS2 the only difference in between the clean-reinstall and upgrade, or are there other factors to take into consideration when deciding between the clean reinstall vs upgrade to 4.1?

Heads will need to be reflashed with a ROM supporting cryptsetup2 to reinstall. Heada will also need to be based on coreboot 4.13+ as per pending Heads pull request 1015.

Consider this as a beta testing ROM.

As far as I understand it, it is currently not recommended to upgrade on the Nitropad X230 and similar HW due to lack of support for the underlying software like Heads. Do I get it right?

Could you point me to where I can find more about the topic where I can learn how to reflash the ROM on my Nitropad X230 properly, and check if the status changed?

Thank you!