Hello, I would like to try Qubes on my laptop, a Thinkpad Z13 Gen 1. Before I screw up things, or end up with things not working, may I ask if anyone ever tried on this hardware? I found many topics related to Ryzen 7 but kind of old and anyway not for this particular machine. Anything I should be aware of? Thanks!
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UPDATE after this (if I manage to make it work I will write an installation report for this machine).
Qubes OS 4.2.3
Using module_blacklist=ucsi_acpi with the normal install gives some extra problems, but using it with latest kernel so far worked best. I ended up in a fully working installer, decided to go for automatic partitioning just to see how it goes.
On first boot, I selected the following options (what I don’t mention I have left as default):
- Install all templates (Debian, Fedora, Whonix) but with Debian as default.
- sys-net for both USB and networking
- Automatically accept USB mice
- Automatically accept USB keyboards
After the setup and initial login, both integrated keyboard and touchpad still worked. I booted with an external mini-docking station attached (which is, I think, this one, maybe an older version) and the following were working:
- external USB keyboard and mouse
- HDMI port
- Ethernet port
However: the second monitor (attached via HDMI) only works as extended monitor for now, I didn’t try mirroring yet, and I didn’t check what resolution/refresh rate I was getting.
The main problem now is the WiFi: maybe I’m doing something wrong because I’m new to Qubes, but I don’t manage to see the WiFi adapter. For now I did the following:
- connect via ethernet cable
- run Qubes update from menu, update dom0, reboot
- run Qubes update again, this time update all templates
Still cannot see the WiFi adapter under the “devices” icon on top right.
Also, if the docking station gets disconnected while the OS is running, everything crashes and reboots.
The urgent fix now is for the WiFi. If I were on Debian or similar I would try adding nonfree or firmware to the apt sources list, but I assume with Qubes it works differently. Any idea?
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Try with:
lspci
in dom0 and sys-net … does it show something with Qualcomm?
Edit:
Also look at dmesg in sys-net … does it say something about ath11k_pci?
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Thanks! Running lspci in dom0 actually lists (among a variety of "Advanced Micro Device"s) one Qualcomm device:
Network controller: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc QCNFA765 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
Is there hope? Thanks!
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sigh – looks like the same Wireless card I have … so far I’ve resorted to adding an USB-card for WiFi, while I look for ways to narrow down my need for acpi=off … :-/
Edit:
One post about the card is:
– but I don’t know if that’s still the status. :-/
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UPDATE: I have sadly to abandon this experiment. The current support status for this laptop is unacceptable for my use case. I might try again in the future if things change.
Basically:
- no internal WiFi is too bad for me.
- Also: if USB is hotplugged or unplugged, that’s a hard crash. Very bad for docking station use.
- Did not try Bluetooth yet.
If things change I’ll try again. Feel free to reply in this thread, I’ll get notifications.