2007/2008-2012 Linux config guide; feedback request

Note: The sub guides I use in this guide in the Media options step (Linux Install Media Creation (USB, PlopKexec and Plop Boot Manager) had to be made private due to some severe issues I need to correct before I find a system and go live with the guide. I do not have an ETA for this, so bear with me as I need to fix all 3 guides in some way. All I know is it will be done before I go live beyond the feedback period.

Linux Install Media Creation (USB) is edited and public.

PlopKexec/Plop Boot Manager is edited and public.

Here is a link to the guide.

As it stands, this is where I am at with progress on this guide since I last put out much speaking about it, which was ~4 months ago out of the ~8 month timeframe it took for me to get to a point where I made real progress. I’ve gotten a lot done in order to refine the guide from the previous point I had it at. I feel like it’s at a point I can leave it up for a limited time to get some feedback. So, here it is. I will not be doing much for work beyond this, since I intended these final edits to be the last ones, outside of a small edit that comes up or something I could have done better.

So far the following changes are:

• The editing has been refined heavily over a 4 month time. I’m hoping this is it for the major edits. Most of these are catch up edits.

• I have made some small changes to the hardware requirements. I have cleared the option to use newer systems then what the guide covers, as long as it meets the CPU age bracket. RAM also has to match, but if the CPU is good I’m fairly confident the RAM will too. Again, this will be the case for the hard drive options. I would prefer if WiFi matched as best it can, but I am not going to worry about that one too much seeing as the WiFi steps are generalized that far. The PCIe X1 and NGFF cards are fine because of this, so I do not have to be specific about the form factor of the card.

• I have made a mention of the SSD era the systems from this time will commonly use. I have left out NVMe as Skylane was the first generation with native mainstream NVMe compatibility. The majority of systems will likely not accept NVMe drives so I left it out. I have only mentioned SATA, mSATA and PCIe AHCI. I have also made a mention of TRIM in that is more clear, by separating it from the first line and more or less giving it a dedicated line.

• I have added steps to deal with Win8.x and Secure Boot. I did this on a HP notebook and disclosed this just to be safe. I have also omitted the final step on the notebook I used because it’s a HP only thing. This step is entering a few numbers and pressing Enter to apply the changes before it accepts them. I may add it and mention it is an HP only step, but for the sake of generalization I have chosen to keep it out.

• I rearranged the wireless card brands. The first group is one I have worked with (Intel, Atheros, Realtek and Ralink) and sorted by how much I like them. I have sorted the reference design vendors (Azurewave) at the 2nd to last of the lines and the no experience/offering something group (Broadcom) is last.

Now, for some more major changes.

• I have the AMD Laptop CPU step finished. I had to complete one more line and refined it, but this was it. I have Step 13 finished.

• I have added a DVD drive step. I did not think about this until the end because USB drives exist and the field is pretty well understood. I also was hesitant because I wanted to send the message that looking for a DVD drive laptop is not worthwile; get one you like and do not worry about it. If you need it buy a $50 external DVD +/- RW drive if you really want one. I added this, much to my hesitation.

• I have distinguished the CPU I recommend from the budget recommendations. I did this because while I intend to use something that’s at least Sandy Bridge based, I would rather have a few budget options for those who can’t pull easily pick up a Sandy Bridge i5 laptop. I have also shorted and revised the mention of performance vs value checks for older then I recommend for CPU’s. Again, more of a way of saying I get it, but I think I’ve got it a little more correctly done.

Other than these changes, I have not made any other major changes to the guide. The goal with these edits was to get the foundation to a point I no longer have to deal with major edits and can focus on patching things up, WiFi test results sorting and finding a system.

Debian 9 and WiFi testing

For Debian 9, I’m not done yet but I will put my groups out there for transparency and potentially some input. The first group is the Obsolete card group. These are cards I am not planning on testing due to age or some other issue. The Obsolete group has the following cards:

• WM3945ABG (Intel) (Over 10 years old, no N support, Debian 8.6.0 issues I do not plan on troubleshooting)

• AR5BXB63 (Atheros) (No N wireless, 10 years old)

This is the group for obsolete cards, along with my reasons shorted into something that is easily digestible. The list is small, since most of the cards qualified to make the Legacy group cut. I do not see the point in revealing that because quite frankly the only difference will be minus the 3945 and BXB63. The Modern card group did not change and I feel quite confident it won’t unless something to make a change comes up in the middle of it. Things may change so do not assume a card I tested previously will be tested in Debian 9 until I perform these tests.

For the sake of fairness, I am not predicting the winners and losers on paper unless the distro I have tested is not different from the previous tests and has not had an issue. From the previous battery of tests I have done with very extensive testing, I have a very good idea when it comes to compatibility in my head, even with the 4.x kernel. But to be fair I am going to refrain from taking that information I have and predicting anything until I have done the testing. I think this policy is fair, and I can take the back information I have on what I had to do to improve the results where I can do this. I have also been doing some revised testing based on what I learned later on to improve the good results when I can and have done so except for one situation where I ran out of DVD-R media. These have been distinguished with a note mentioning a previous failure I learned can be avoided with a different approach for transparency. I don’t think this is needed but it’s there in case someone has an issue I worked around doing things differently.

When do I intend to go live?

I am going live when Debian 9 is out and I have done card tests; I should be able to knock Debian 9 WiFi testing out relatively quickly since I pulled 2 old cards that need to go out of the test pool. I am not going to promise an ETA on the results for Debian 9 and am planning on release only when it is done. I am NOT using the test distro because I do not want false positives. What matters is the final version and the results. Debian 9 will come out in 2017 with no ETA, so I am following the same rule along with adding ~1 month give or take to test cards since I do it on and off and only do it when I have spare time due to the time consuming nature of it. This is to ensure I am Debian 9 ready when it comes out rather than shoehorn it in sloppily; I want to make Debian 9 native, and this is the only way to do it.