[gentoo-user] Testing Gentoo before install on new laptop

[gentoo-user] Testing Gentoo before install on new laptop

[Alexis Praga]

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Dear fellow Gentoo users,

For the first time in 15 years, I have bought a new (and recent too !) laptop (Yoga 7 Gen 9).
Is there a way to test Gentoo on it before installing it ?
I was thinking of using the Live GUI usb to ensure the following works :
- GPU  (integrated AMD 780), especially with wayland
- wifi
- webcam
- CPU (it's not a snapdragon but a Ryzen 7).

Thanks !

Alexis

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Re: [gentoo-user] Testing Gentoo before install on new laptop

[Michael]

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Hi Alexis,

On Tuesday, 6 August 2024 15:43:21 BST Alexis Praga wrote:
> Dear fellow Gentoo users,
> 
> For the first time in 15 years, I have bought a new (and recent too !)
> laptop (Yoga 7 Gen 9). Is there a way to test Gentoo on it before
> installing it ?

You can try the LiveUSB, but unless it has all the requisite firmware you will 
discover some hardware may not be identified or work as expected.


> I was thinking of using the Live GUI usb to ensure the following works :
> - GPU  (integrated AMD 780), especially with wayland
> - wifi
> - webcam
> - CPU (it's not a snapdragon but a Ryzen 7).
> 
> Thanks !
> 
> Alexis

You could try any Linux distro LiveUSB to get get an idea of what kernel 
drivers and firmware are needed for your hardware, then it is a matter of 
installing Gentoo and configuring your system accordingly.

Initially, you can use binary packages from Gentoo for a quick installation 
and then decide if compiling from source and customising your USE flags is 
something you may prefer for you needs.

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Gentoo_Binary_Host_Quickstart

HTH.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Testing Gentoo before install on new laptop

[Alexis Praga]

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Hi Michael,

Thanks for your helpful advice.
I was quite happy with Gentoo LiveUSB for checking wifi and GPU support. Using binary packages sped up installation substantially as expected.

No issue to report at the moment. Wayland seems to work fine, too. 

The only point I didn't anticipate was Windows Secure Boot. I ended up disabling it as I could not setup Grub with it.

Apart from that, quite happy with the process !

Alexis 




On Tuesday, August 6th, 2024 at 10:57 PM, Michael <confabulate@kintzios.com> wrote:

> 

> 

> Hi Alexis,
> 

> On Tuesday, 6 August 2024 15:43:21 BST Alexis Praga wrote:
> 

> > Dear fellow Gentoo users,
> > 

> > For the first time in 15 years, I have bought a new (and recent too !)
> > laptop (Yoga 7 Gen 9). Is there a way to test Gentoo on it before
> > installing it ?
> 

> 

> You can try the LiveUSB, but unless it has all the requisite firmware you will
> discover some hardware may not be identified or work as expected.
> 

> > I was thinking of using the Live GUI usb to ensure the following works :
> > - GPU (integrated AMD 780), especially with wayland
> > - wifi
> > - webcam
> > - CPU (it's not a snapdragon but a Ryzen 7).
> > 

> > Thanks !
> > 

> > Alexis
> 

> 

> You could try any Linux distro LiveUSB to get get an idea of what kernel
> drivers and firmware are needed for your hardware, then it is a matter of
> installing Gentoo and configuring your system accordingly.
> 

> Initially, you can use binary packages from Gentoo for a quick installation
> and then decide if compiling from source and customising your USE flags is
> something you may prefer for you needs.
> 

> https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Gentoo_Binary_Host_Quickstart
> 

> HTH.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Testing Gentoo before install on new laptop

[Michael]

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On Sunday, 11 August 2024 22:53:15 BST Alexis Praga wrote:
> Hi Michael,
> 
> Thanks for your helpful advice.
> I was quite happy with Gentoo LiveUSB for checking wifi and GPU support.
> Using binary packages sped up installation substantially as expected.
> 
> No issue to report at the moment. Wayland seems to work fine, too.
> 
> The only point I didn't anticipate was Windows Secure Boot. I ended up
> disabling it as I could not setup Grub with it.
> 
> Apart from that, quite happy with the process !
> 
> Alexis

Nice to hear you got your system up & running.  If you need/prefer to run with 
Secure Boot enabled, have a look at this guide to help you setting it up.

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Secure_Boot

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Re: [gentoo-user] Testing Gentoo before install on new laptop

[Matt Jolly]

On 12/8/24 08:07, Michael wrote:
 > Nice to hear you got your system up & running.  If you need/prefer to 
run with
 > Secure Boot enabled, have a look at this guide to help you setting it up.
 >
 > https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Secure_Boot

There's some recent news in relation to Secure Boot that should be
considered: A number of major PC vendors have been shipping
untrusted Platform Keys (PKs) for a long time[1].

I haven't dug into this in too much depth yet, but if you
are not removing factory keys and only using your own
there is a good chance that you are vulnerable.

Worse, even if you remove those keys, a factory reset will
restore them.

There is a tool available to scan firmware bins[2] to see
if your firmware is impacted. It's obviously advertising for
the firm hosting it so take that as you will.

You can also scan EFI variables:

 > Devices affected by PKfail will have the Platform Key certificate's
 > subject and issuer fields containing the string DO NOT TRUST or DO NOT
 > SHIP.

```
# efi-readvar -v PK
Variable PK, length 862
PK: List 0, type X509
     Signature 0, size 834, owner 26dc4851-195f-4ae1-9a19-fbf883bbb35e
         Subject:
             CN=DO NOT TRUST - AMI Test PK
         Issuer:
             CN=DO NOT TRUST - AMI Test PK
```

TL;DR - If you use the default keys you're potentially vulnerable.
If you want to use Secure Boot you should be purging the
manufacturer's PK and installing your own regardless.


1: 
https://github.com/binarly-io/Vulnerability-REsearch/blob/main/PKfail/BRLY-2024-005.md
2: https://pk.fail/