Split off "hardware" notes

Into bona-fide hardware notes, and notes specific to desktop
maintenance that bear increasingly little relation to "hard"ware.

1 files changed, 0 insertions, 451 deletions

diff --git a/guides/setups/hardware.org b/guides/setups/hardware.org
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-* Where to buy
-Some untested resources to buy laptops or desktops:
-
-- https://starlabs.systems
-- https://www.tuxedocomputers.com
-
-FSF's [[https://h-node.org/][h-node]] rates hardware according to its compatibility with free
-software.
-* LDLC PC Zenifier-SSD
-** assembly woes
-Lots of impedance mismatches between "documentation" and actual
-hardware:
-- CPU cooler (fan) has spring screws; diagrams show retention clips.
-  Had to dig into the [[https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/cpu-7][AMD knowledge base]] to find that some
-  motherboards come with "speculative" clips, which must be unscrewed
-  and removed in order to install the spring-screw cooler.
-- Diagrams say to add thermal paste, but the fan already comes with a
-  pre-applied layer.
-- Documentation shows RAM clips for both ends of the sticks; the
-  motherboard seems to only have clips for one end.
-- =SYS_FAN1= header has 4 pins; front fan plug has 3 holes.  The
-  Internet[[https://old.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/4139k8/3_pin_sys_fan2_vs_4_pin_sys_fan1/][[1]​]][[https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/sys_fan1-and-sys_fan2.3195778/][[2]​]] says it's fine.
-- Motherboard has [[https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B550M-A-PRO/Specification]["8 mounting holes"]] but covers only 6 of the case's
-  standoffs; none of the diagrams in the case's manual match the
-  format of the motherboard.
-- The diagram for inserting the power supply unit leaves a lot to the
-  imagination.
-- The [[https://www.snia.org/forums/cmsi/knowledge/formfactors#U2][SSD dimension nomenclature]] is weird as hell.  The SSD's user
-  manual seems to imply that I have a 2.5″ model, but my measuring
-  tape says the drive is 2.75″×3.875″ (diagonal 4.625″).
-- The link to the LDLC guide for mounting the SSD is dead; the page is
-  [[https://web.archive.org/web/20170901191800/http://www.ldlc.com/guides/AL00000817/comment-installer-un-ssd-dans-un-pc/][archived]], and merely contains a link to a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1dHVb6VuWU][video]].  No matter though,
-  since it does not describe how to mount the drive on a 2.5″ bay.
-- The case user manual says to use specific screws for the SSD drive;
-  the SSD comes with its own set of screws.  Are they meant for the
-  3.5″ adapter?  🤷
-
-For novices, some steps range from "not very reassuring" to "downright
-hostile":
-- The amount of force needed to connect the CPU fan's first two
-  diagonal screws is terrifying.
-- The fan's case is asymmetric: one side has a small bump featuring
-  the maker's brand.  If one does not attention when mounting the fan,
-  there is a 50% chance that this bump will get in the way of a RAM
-  stick.
-- No instruction on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAWNzd-gc3Q&t=74s][how to force that I/O shield in]].
-- No instruction on how to snap the motherboard into the I/O shield.
-- Holy =$DEITY= that power supply unit has a *lot* of cables.  And of
-  course I enthusiastically passed most of the small-headed ones
-  through the designated case hole, and had to pass them back out
-  because there was no room left to pass the 20-pin ATX connector.
-- Power supply user manual was taped to the bubble wrap, so part of
-  the "warnings" section got torn off.
-** maintenance
-*** Front panel
-The case's manual has a terse illustration with two arrows to pull the
-front panel "away and up" from the rest of the case.
-
-Here too, the amount of force required to do that is terrifying.
-Notice how [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUD0HyzVpLg][our friend here]] cuts abruptly at 8:17; that's because the
-levels of violence required to tear that panel off are too graphic for
-YouTube.
-*** Front fan
-Remember that fan from earlier, the one with only 3 holes for the
-motherboard's 4 pins?  Turns out
-
-1. that last "optional" pin is supposed to allow speed control;
-   without it, the fan always spins at full speed;
-2. the fan itself (ZA1225ASL) is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd6gDY7LPlU][complete and utter crap]]: it cannot be
-   disassembled, so no cleaning off the dirt, no greasing.
-
-So the thing is loud, it always spins at full speed, and if one day it
-decides to become even louder than usual, you're SOL.
-*** Motherboard
-**** Firmware updates
-Quoth ~fwupdmgr get-devices~:
-
-#+begin_example
-WARNING: UEFI capsule updates not available or enabled in firmware setup
-See https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd/wiki/PluginFlag:capsules-unsupported for more information.
-#+end_example
-
-Quoth the wiki:
-
-#+begin_quote
-Most typically entering the firmware setup screen and enabling capsule
-updates will cause this warning to disappear, and also make firmware
-updates possible. The relevant option may be poorly labelled, for
-example "allow Windows UEFI updates".
-#+end_quote
-
-Not seeing any such option in the boot menu.
-
-#+begin_quote
-It is possible, but unlikely, that flashing the latest vendor BIOS,
-using either Windows or a LiveCD, will add support for [the thing that
-correlates with capsule updates being enabled].
-#+end_quote
-
-Well then.  [[https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B550M-A-PRO/support#bios][Vendor says]] "put this on a stick; reboot; ask the menu to
-flash from the stick".  Putting some feelers out first:
-
-#+begin_quote
-If you execute a UEFI update, this update might delete the existing
-UEFI boot entries
-
-— [[https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#Installation][ArchWiki]], 2024
-#+end_quote
-
-#+begin_quote
-Like others in this forum, I too suffered from a reformatted EFI
-partition following a BIOS update on my desktop pc.  I had no idea
-that the MSI BIOS team doesn’t care about Linux installs, so to my
-surprise, following the update, my system booted straight to windows.
-
-[…]
-
-Ultimately, I completely wiped and recreated the EFI partition with
-gparted (fat32), changed the structure to GPT with gdisk, and then
-mounted that partition in the /mnt/efi location, and then proceeded to
-generate a new fstab with genfstab.  After arch-chroot’ing into my
-endeavoros install, I ran bootctl install (which complained about boot
-loader not setting esp information) and then reinstall-kernels.  I
-updated the loader.conf with the correct default boot ID, and set the
-recommended options.  That got me back into my system after quite a
-bit of trial and error.
-
-— [[https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/endeavoros-efi-partition-wiped-by-msi-bios-update/54740][EndeavorOS forums]], May 2024
-#+end_quote
-
-#+begin_quote
-when updating the bios, it cleared all my settings.  Apparently, this
-includes clearing the list of boot loaders, which it set back to the
-default of just Windows.  Sadly this bios does not provide the tools
-to add boot entries as, apparently, some do.  To fix it, I managed to
-boot to a Linux live USB and add the missing entry using the efiboomgr
-command line tool.
-
-— [[https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/updating-to-bios-7a32v1q1-wont-see-linux-uefi-boot.388109/][MSI AMD forums]], August 2023
-#+end_quote
-
-Welp.
-
-OT1H, I could dedicate a couple of week-ends learning the joys and
-wonders of efibootmgr, gdisk & friends.  OTOH I sort of like keeping
-my desktop station… not bricked?
-
-Pity, because otherwise I've had smooth and incident-free firmware
-updates on other stations with ~fwupdmgr~ 🤷
-*** SSD
-**** Failure
-On November 19 2024, LDLC's off-brand SSD died on me.  RIP.
-Re-installed Tumbleweed on the replacement (Kingston SA400S3) on
-November 28.  Since then…
-***** Performance loss
-Getting uncannily reproducible frame drops (60 ↘ 40±10, movement
-visibly choppy) in Hades Ⅱ when moving toward effects/particles-heavy
-areas.  No idea WTF, those areas ran fine before.
-
-- "High" graphics setting at native 1920×1080 resolution.
-  - Tried "Low" graphics, lowered resolution, disabled vsync: symptoms
-    persist.
-- Not forcing any "compatibility tool" version, assuming this yields
-  "Proton Experimental".
-  - Tried a couple of old Proton versions: symptoms persist.
-- Reinstalled game & nuked everything under
-  - =~/.cache/mesa_shader_cache*=
-  - =~/.cache/radv_builtin_shaders*=
-  - =~/.config/unity3d=
-  - =~/.local/share/Steam=
-  - =~/.local/share/vulkan/=
-  - =~/.steam*=
-  in case "stale shaders" were to blame or something.
-- Tumbleweed/Plasma/Wayland session.
-  - Tried X11: symptoms persist.
-- Reducing noise with =balooctl6 suspend=, =swapoff -a= (RAM nowhere
-  near exhausted).
-
-Well then.
-****** CPU frequency scaling?
-Started by noticing that the Plasma "Power Management" tray widget
-says "Power Profile" is "Not available".  Not 100% sure whether that
-was the case with the old installation; maybe I had had something
-configured or installed to enable this?
-
-Internet says "install and enable power-profiles-daemon", except
-that's on:
-
-#+begin_example
-$ systemctl status power-profiles-daemon.service
-● power-profiles-daemon.service - Power Profiles daemon
-     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/power-profiles-daemon.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
-     Active: active (running) since Sun 2024-12-01 11:46:32 CET; 45min ago
- Invocation: b2545a02bc9642b7aeb5f370e8b50e7c
-   Main PID: 2289 (power-profiles-)
-      Tasks: 4 (limit: 18320)
-        CPU: 52ms
-     CGroup: /system.slice/power-profiles-daemon.service
-             └─2289 /usr/libexec/power-profiles-daemon
-#+end_example
-
-But:
-
-#+begin_example
-$ powerprofilesctl
-,* balanced:
-    PlatformDriver:     placeholder
-
-  power-saver:
-    PlatformDriver:     placeholder
-#+end_example
-
-Internet says I am missing the right scaling driver, and seems very
-keen on enabling =amd_pstate=, which I do not seem to have available:
-
-#+begin_example
-$ cpupower frequency-info
-analyzing CPU 5:
-  driver: acpi-cpufreq
-  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 5
-  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 5
-  maximum transition latency:  Cannot determine or is not supported.
-  hardware limits: 1.40 GHz - 3.70 GHz
-  available frequency steps:  3.70 GHz, 1.70 GHz, 1.40 GHz
-  available cpufreq governors: ondemand performance schedutil
-  current policy: frequency should be within 1.40 GHz and 3.70 GHz.
-                  The governor "schedutil" may decide which speed to use
-                  within this range.
-  current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
-  current CPU frequency: 3.30 GHz (asserted by call to kernel)
-  boost state support:
-    Supported: yes
-    Active: no
-
-$ zcat /proc/config.gz | grep -i pstate
-CONFIG_X86_INTEL_PSTATE=y
-CONFIG_X86_AMD_PSTATE=y
-CONFIG_X86_AMD_PSTATE_DEFAULT_MODE=3
-# CONFIG_X86_AMD_PSTATE_UT is not set
-#+end_example
-
-=/proc/config.gz= suggests the kernel configuration supports it, but
-=cpupower= does not seem to know about it.  =dmesg= offers:
-
-#+begin_example
-$ sudo dmesg -H
-[…] amd_pstate: the _CPC object is not present in SBIOS or ACPI disabled
-#+end_example
-
-Though:
-
-#+begin_example
-$ lscpu | grep -i cppc
-Flags:                                […] cppc […]
-#+end_example
-
-So ACPI problem?  Lots of posts mentioning =amd_= parameters on the
-kernel command-line but AFAIU those are stale with newer kernels (6.11
-here) which automatically (attempt to) load the =amd_pstate= driver.
-
-Went through the UEFI menu and found nothing related to ACPI or
-[[https://forum.level1techs.com/t/amd-p-state-driver/197885/24][X2APIC]].  Skeptical UEFI settings anyway, since I did not change them
-between the old and new installations.
-
-/Some time later/
-
-Probably not ACPI, =dmesg= is choke full of ACPI noise.  OTOH, using
-some diagnosis methods from [[https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=218171][this kernel bug report]]:
-
-#+begin_example
-$ find /sys/devices -name '*cppc*'
-🦗
-#+end_example
-
-(=acpidump ; acpixtract ; iasl ; grep -i cpc *.dsl= also yields 🦗,
-but =iasl= complains about "unresolved" "control methods", so 🤷)
-
-/Some time later/
-
-[[https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/CPU_frequency_scaling#amd_pstate][ArchWiki]] does say "Change /Enable CPPC/ […] from /Auto/ to /Enabled/".
-My UEFI menu tucks that under /Overclocking → Advanced CPU
-Configuration → AMD CBS → CPPC CTRL/.  That change *does* convince
-Linux to enable =amd_pstate=; going over the previous tests in reverse
-order:
-
-#+begin_example
-$ [… acpidump && acpixtract && iasl … ] && grep -i cpc *.dsl
-ssdt1.dsl:        Name (_CPC, Package (0x17)  // _CPC: Continuous Performance Control
-[… repeats 12 times …]
-
-$ find /sys/devices -name '*cppc*' -o -name '*pstate*' | tr -s '[:digit:]' N | sort -u
-/sys/devices/system/cpu/amd_pstate
-/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policyN/amd_pstate_highest_perf
-/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policyN/amd_pstate_hw_prefcore
-/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policyN/amd_pstate_lowest_nonlinear_freq
-/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policyN/amd_pstate_max_freq
-/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policyN/amd_pstate_prefcore_ranking
-/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpuN/acpi_cppc
-
-$ sudo dmesg -H
-[… ominous silence about amd_pstate …]
-
-$ cpupower frequency-info
-analyzing CPU 1:
-  driver: amd-pstate-epp
-  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 1
-  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 1
-  maximum transition latency:  Cannot determine or is not supported.
-  hardware limits: 400 MHz - 4.31 GHz
-  available cpufreq governors: performance powersave
-  current policy: frequency should be within 2.38 GHz and 4.31 GHz.
-                  The governor "powersave" may decide which speed to use
-                  within this range.
-  current CPU frequency: Unable to call hardware
-  current CPU frequency: 3.57 GHz (asserted by call to kernel)
-  boost state support:
-    Supported: yes
-    Active: yes
-    AMD PSTATE Highest Performance: 255. Maximum Frequency: 4.31 GHz.
-    AMD PSTATE Nominal Performance: 219. Nominal Frequency: 3.70 GHz.
-    AMD PSTATE Lowest Non-linear Performance: 141. Lowest Non-linear Frequency: 2.38 GHz.
-    AMD PSTATE Lowest Performance: 24. Lowest Frequency: 400 MHz.
-
-$ powerprofilesctl
-  performance:
-    CpuDriver:	amd_pstate
-    Degraded:   no
-
-,* balanced:
-    CpuDriver:	amd_pstate
-    PlatformDriver:	placeholder
-
-  power-saver:
-    CpuDriver:	amd_pstate
-    PlatformDriver:	placeholder
-#+end_example
-
-And lo, the 🍃↔🚀 slider appears in the Power Management tray widget.
-
-Nervous about entering the "Overclocking" UEFI zone tho, and concerned
-about these "Maximum frequencies".
-
-/And does it even help with the game?/
-
-🥁
-
-No.  No it does not; no discernible difference in FPS nor vibes.
-
-Will assume this new baseline cannot hurt - OT1H "overclocking" is
-scary, OTOH Linux now has a finer handle on the CPU and hopefully will
-not overwork it to death?
-****** Sᴇᴠᴇʀᴀʟ Wᴇᴇᴋꜱ Lᴀᴛᴇʀ
-- [[https://www.gamingonlinux.com/forum/topic/5475/page=1/][ridge reports]] "bad frame pacing on ADMGPU",
-  - when vsync is turned off: a non-factor in my testing,
-  - lots of useful information in that thread tho and
-    interesting-sounding pointers,
-  - [[https://www.gamingonlinux.com/forum/topic/5475/page=2/#r42519][Shmerl]] says:
-    - games can cause stutter by underloading the GPU, causing it to
-      drop out of "high performance mode",
-      - (=amdgpu_top= and =radeontop= do confirm that lag spikes
-        correlate with GPU usage drop)
-    - see [[https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/1500][drm/amd#1500]]:
-      - /lots/ of sysfs noodling there; unfortunately, none of the
-        suggested settings for =power_dpm_force_performance_level= &
-        =pp_power_profile_mode= change the symptoms.
-
-- In [[https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/3618#note_2689087][this drm/amd#3618 thread]], @agd5f suggests "6.11 stable kernels"
-  include a fix for the issue at hand there and a further rework "was
-  submitted to 6.13"; @mattipulkkinen reports happy results with
-  6.13-rc2 (FTR, symptoms persist here with 6.12.8).
-
-- Piggybacked onto [[https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/issues/11300][mesa/mesa#11300]]:
-  - common: Hades Ⅱ, iGPU, recent kernel & Mesa, Proton Experimental,
-  - differences: Fedora, GNOME, X11,
-  - noteworthy: good performance on Windows,
-  - suggestion by @Venemo: downgrade & bisect Mesa;
-    - tempting, though scared of bricking graphical sessions and/or
-      ending up with a frankensystem (intalling binaries under a
-      prefix is probably easy, but then keeping track of config tweaks
-      and cache artifacts sounds fraught).
-
-- In [[https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/upower/power-profiles-daemon/-/issues/164][upower/power-profiles-daemon#164]], @Nyan reports problematic iGPU
-  capping; not convinced this is applicable though, given the reported
-  symptoms (video playback is fine here).
-
-- Seen reports of Variable Refresh Rate causing problems:
-  - searched high and low to understand why VRR appears nowhere in
-    Plasma settings, despite the start menu turning up "Display
-    Configuration" when searching for "VRR",
-  - mystery solved by ~kscreen-doctor -o~: =Vrr: incapable= 🤷
-
-- [[https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/what-fixed-stuttering-and-random-framerate-spikes-in-games-for-me.327264/][aska33j proclaims]] that /disabling CPPC/ "fixed stuttering and random
-  framerate spikes in games for [them]" so…  roundtrip to UEFI,
-  disabling that.  The =amd_pstate= warning is back; the "Power
-  Profile" slider is no longer accessible in the systray widget; no
-  discernible effect in-game anyway.
-
-- Looking at Steam forums, [[https://steamcommunity.com/app/1145350/discussions/1/596260472619121965/][some folks]] do report FPS drops /shortly
-  after the update/:
-  #+begin_quote
-  it started fine after the major update, now suddenly im stuck with 40~50 fps with micro sutters
-  — December 6 2024
-  #+end_quote
-
-- After AMD drivers & Mesa, figured I could look at vkd3d's issue
-  tracker.  [[https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/issues/4436][doitsujin/dxvk#4436]] and
-  [[ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#11446]] looked somewhat promising:
-  reports of lag on "KDE Tumbleweed Wayland", reported not long before
-  my symptoms began (November 2024)); alas, ~LD_PRELOAD=~ does not
-  help.
-  -
-    #+begin_quote
-    Alternatively, remove the offending line in =/usr/share/drirc.d/00-radv-defaults.conf=
-    #+end_quote
-
-    /discovers [[https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/blob/main/src/util/00-radv-defaults.conf][=/usr/share/drirc.d/=]]/
-
-    Computers were a mistake.
-
-- Peeked at [[https://github.com/HansKristian-Work/vkd3d-proton/blob/master/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.md][vkd3d-proton's issue template]] and idly ran with
-  ~PROTON_LOG=1~.  Over the course of 30 seconds or so, the log file
-  gets flooded with 3MB's worth of =trace:unwind:dump_unwind_info= 🤨
-****** This is insane
-Selected subset of moving parts; "testability" considering ease of
-clean reverts:
-
-| Part         | Testability                                                                         |
-|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-| Linux kernel | 🫣 [[https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:InstallNewerKernel][some distro documentation]]; afraid of side-effects                                |
-| AMD drivers  | 🤷 no clue; maybe inextricable from kernel?                                         |
-| Mesa         | 😬 easy to recompile; hard to control transient state in cache & config folders     |
-| Steam        | 🫥 under Steam's control                                                            |
-| Wine         | 🫥 under Steam's control                                                            |
-| Proton       | 👌 as long as I stick to versions under Steam's control; have not considered GE yet |
-| vkd3d-proton | 🫥 under Steam's control                                                            |
-| Hades Ⅱ     | 🫥 under Steam's control                                                            |
-
-That's looking at software packages as individual blackboxes;
-config-wise, worth noting:
-
-| Part       | Testability       |
-|------------+-------------------|
-| AMD pstate | 😬 UEFI roundtrip |
-| sysfs      | OK                |
-
-Let's throw in:
-
-| Part          | Testability                       |
-|---------------+-----------------------------------|
-| Mobo firmware | 🔥 reports of nuked boot settings |
-