Re: Experience with NetBSD on 13-gen Framework 13 laptop

[David Brownlee <abs%absd.org@localhost>]

On Mon, 5 Jun 2023 at 13:11, Sijmen J. Mulder <ik%sjmulder.nl@localhost> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Here's my experience with NetBSD on the recently released 13-gen Intel
> Framework 13 laptop. I have the base i5 model.
>
>  - 9.3 doesn't boot from USB, it fails to find the USB storage device.
>  - 10-current boots and installs without problem.

I wonder if netbsd-10 also boots? (might be nice to check if
everything is on track to be supported for the next release). Rather
than install over your existing setup I'd suggest installing to a
spare USB key or similar)

>  - I found the partitioning confusing. The manual does have a section on
>    GPT but only covers the full-disk experience. The MBR section does
>    explain that a disklabel is written inside the first NetBSD
>    partition, so I naively tried to set up disklabel after creating a
>    GPT partition (all in sysinst) and ended up destroying my existing
>    Linux filesystems.
>
>    It all became clear after reading this thread that for NetBSD (unlike
>    e.g. OpenBSD) disklabel simply isn't relevant any longer on GPT
>    systems:
>
>    https://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2020/10/16/msg025868.html
>
>    The documentation should probably be updated with a focus on the now-
>    standard GPT situation. I can make a start but will need someone
>    familiar with the material to review.

Definitely. I'm happy to help with a first pass review (though I'm in
the "have installed many times by hand" rather than "have written EFI
boot code" camp)

>  - No EFI boot entry is created by systinst and the BOOTIA32.EFI and
>    BOOTX64.EFI files are placed in \EFI\BOOT, which can conflict with
>    other OSes. I think they would be better placed in \EFI\NetBSD or
>    such.

I suspect they should go into EFI/NetBSD by default, with a copy into EFI/BOOT

Just as a side note for anyone who just needs to dual boot NetBSD &
Windows - Some firmware (Lenovo) supports booting from EFI or "Windows
Boot Manager", which means the EFI partition can just contain the
NetBSD /efi/boot/bootx64.efi and then the firmware set to boot the
device by default, and just hit F12 on power on & select "Windows Boot
Manager" for Windows (or vice versa to default to Windows).

I've also used rEFInd a few times, but my various dual boot needs are
currently handled courtesy of Lenovo, so I've simplified down to that

>    I ended up using efibootmgr on Linux to create entries after renaming
>    the files to NBIA32.EFI and NBX64.EFI, which turns out to have been a
>    prudent choice because OpenBSD (which I installed next) used the same
>    generic filenames and would've overwritten NetBSD's.
>
>    I'm aware that we don't have efivars support currently to be able to
>    add boot entries pointing at specific .EFI files so using the generic
>    names is a logical fallback. Perhaps I can have a look at porting an
>    efivars driver from another BSD.

beer++

>  - Not specific to Framework, but having guided crypto setup with cgd
>    in the installer would be nice. I didn't attempt it on my own.

The general advice (for cgd /home or similar) is to set up with a
partition ready, then once installed make sure its empty and convert
the config for that partition to cgd

>  - X works.
>  - X and console use 1024x768 or something rather than the native
>    resolution or whatever the UEFI firmware sets up/suggests.

If you drop into the bootloader does "gop" report any other useful
resolutions? - I hit the same issue on a ThinkPad T495, but now happy
in 1920x1080 with genfb0

>  - WLAN doesn't work (no device). Haven't tried USB ethernet adapter.

The TP-Link TL-WN725N is an unremarkable nano USB wi-fi dongle
currently ~£5, and the Edimax ew-7811un v2 is another easily available
option (for anyone else reading who may find that useful :)

>  - Touchpad doesn't work.

So pms0 at pckbc1 is detected, but no additional information (such as:

pms0 at pckbc1 (aux slot)
pms0: Synaptics touchpad version 10.32
pms0: Extended W mode, Passthrough, Palm detect, One button click pad,
Multi-finger Report, Multi-finger, Reports max, Reports min
pms0: Probed max coordinates right: 5678, top: 4694
pms0: Probed min coordinates left: 1266, bottom: 1162
wsmouse0 at pms0 mux 0

Do you know offhand how Linux reports the touchpad?

David