All other devices are well supported by modern Linux distributions. The only device I'm expecting to have potential issues with is the Realtek 522a-based MicroSD card reader. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15) Device 522a (rev 01)Ġ2:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 3160 (rev 83)Ġ3:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. UUID: 0XXXXXXX-0XXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXXĠ0:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 2280 (rev 21)Ġ0:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 22b1 (rev 21)Ġ0:10.0 SD Host controller: Intel Corporation Device 2294 (rev 21)Ġ0:13.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Device 22a3 (rev 21)Ġ0:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Device 22b5 (rev 21)Ġ0:1a.0 Encryption controller: Intel Corporation Device 2298 (rev 21)Ġ0:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 2284 (rev 21)Ġ0:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 22c8 (rev 21)Ġ0:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 22ca (rev 21)Ġ0:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 22ce (rev 21)Ġ0:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device 229c (rev 21)Ġ0:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Device 2292 (rev 21)Ġ1:00.0 Unassigned class : Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Great tools at this point within a live image are dmidecode and lspci to pull firmware and hardware information: I also confirmed that the system was set up with VT enabled for hardware accelerated virtualization as a surprising number of systems still ship with this setting disabled in BIOS or UEFI.
I have a number of bootable images on hand, including Fedora, Ubuntu, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and these days I tend toward a 64-bit image for testing as ultimately I'll be running a 64-bit operating system. With any new equipment, my first step is to try a live USB image to test the hardware.
The integrated Intel HD Graphics are capable of H265/HEVC at 24 frames/second, plus the CPU has VT for hardware accelerated virtualization (sadly only upgradable to 8GB RAM, but enough for a simple testbed). I picked up a GIGABYTE BRIX based on a quad-core N3150 processor, and re-purposed spare RAM and hard drives, for a simple and effective solution.
Recently I was after an Intel-based compact PC that could operate as a MythTV front-end, was capable of running Kodi (open source theater system), and could also be occasionally re-purposed as a hypervisor for my home lab. My update adventureįor many years I've been involved with the MythTV project (open source DVR), including at one point producing consumer-ready systems in New Zealand ( myPVR). Whilst we often should stand by the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," I'm a strong believer when standing up a new environment to make sure all my firmware is current. Historically we'd only see firmware updates for enterprise-class spinning rust (hard drives), but many SSD manufacturers are also providing regular firmware updates for consumer-class devices. In the consumer/prosumer landscape there has been a shift toward UEFI-based systems for desktops and laptops, and along the way many manufacturers appear to have removed the option for the BIOS to update from a USB Stick. In this article, I'll walk through my recent firmware update on Linux, and I'll share a few recommendations based on that experience. Luckily most hardware manufacturers have started to provide bootable images for patching system firmware, and for enterprise-grade hardware they even provide Linux-ready tools.
These days I don't own anything that has a valid Windows license, and even my 2008 white MacBook has spent most of its life running either Ubuntu or Fedora.
I suppose I'm lucky in that for more than 10 years my primary work environment has been Linux-based, yet all too often I've been forced to dig out a DOS or Windows image because I need to patch some BIOS device firmware.