Overhaul the hardware guide #224
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This commit overhauls the hardware guide by making a few key changes: 1. It removes our specific laptop recommendations, instead referring people to the Qubes hardware compatibility list. 2. It clarifies a few specific requirements for hardware, namely 32GB of RAM (removing the confusing language about production use), as well as a USB 3.0 flash drive with minimum 8GB of capacity. 3. It provides a generalized BIOS update section, which points folks to fwupd on supported systems, and to their manufacturers instructions for instances where fwupd is not supported.
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Few notes:
- I'm a bit uncertain on whether pointing people at Qubes HCL instead of specific requirements is a good idea. When I visit https://www.qubes-os.org/hcl/#hardware-laptops there are so many options listed that I still don't know what to buy and which columns are optional for SDW and which are mandatory. (I also don't remember if we already discussed this and came to a conclusion - OK to ignore me if that's the case)
- Clarifying a minimum of 32GB RAM unconditionally LGTM.
- I just learned via @deeplow that Qubes how has fwupd integration - Do firmware upgrades as part of the update process securedrop-workstation#1125; is that stable enough for us to recommend via docs until we build it into the updater? Otherwise I think the steps you added are fine.
- I think the PCI reset instructions should live somewhere? (I just ran into it again this morning). Maybe we can just link out to https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/pci-troubleshooting/ and possibly improve that for better GUI instructions? Maybe we have a "Hardware workarounds" page that also includes Document
cpufreq=xen:hwp=offworkaround on freezes #226
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Seconded on the HCL - ISTR it was discussed and we were kindof leaning towards:
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Thanks both for the review and discussion! I'll table this for now and we can return to it again when the timing is right. |
If we're recommending fwupd anyways, we might as well use the integrated one, especially in the installation phase, where it's an admin fully dedicated to the thing and not a regular user just wanting to get work done. I don't think it matters much if we do the firmware update prior to the Qubes install or after.
I think these are reasonable recommendations. However, for the novacustom one we may want to to provide some guidance. For example, some may see a 32gb dimm and choose it, where the proper choice would be 2*16GB, and then the firmware part may have too many options. In my opinion guidance here will be critical to avoid some avoidable situations. |
This PR overhauls the hardware guide by making a few key changes:
fwupdon supported systems, and to their manufacturers instructions for instances where fwupd is not supported.Fixes
Fixes #211
Fixes #210
Fixes #69
Testing