What hardware are you using?

Discussion of hardware related issues
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tlmiller
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Re: What hardware are you using?

Post by tlmiller »

I remember the 3340 LCD. Washed out, low viewing angles, horribly ugly things on those machines.
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crosscourt
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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Both the Dell Latitude 3330 and 3460 have much better displays versus the 3340/3350 versions. The 5470 has a really nice display as well.
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Re: What hardware are you using?

Post by crosscourt »

Going to convert the Dell Latitude 3330 over to Zorin and use it full time.
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tlmiller
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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Had some issues this weekend. The Inspiron 7415 had a BIOS update, but when attempting to run it, would just get an error that it couldn't continue due to an invalid image. Downloaded both the slightly newer version and the newest version, same thing. Finally grabbed the 256GB m.2 2242 drive I keep lying around (this is a weird laptop, it mounts the SSD upside down, so you CANNOT use a heatsink of any form), installed Windows, and tried to install the bios update from the Dell autoupdate. That worked, although it only installed the SOMEWHAT newer version, not the newest; then installed the LATEST bios from Windows, which worked, so swapped out the drives again back to Debian. Not sure why the bios failed from the built-in updater, never had that happen before on a Dell. But in the end got it updated, so it's fine. That laptop only has about 4 months of warranty left, so I need to decide if I want to extend that or not...

Switched to the T14 G2A since I also knew that had a BIOS update. Weirdly, fwupd didn't see it. So I had to update the classic ThinkPad linux way. Download the CD image, geteltorito on it to extract the bootable portion, then put that on a USB to flash. Went without issue, but had me worried for a little while due to how long it was taking. The T14s G3A also had BIOS update, but that was seen, and worked, with fwupd without issues. The T14 G1A also worked with fwupd about a week ago when it had an update. Not sure why the G2 didn't see the update. But whatever, got it done.
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crosscourt
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Re: What hardware are you using?

Post by crosscourt »

Ive had issues with bios updating in Linux and since then Ive done all my updating with Windows. Its happened often enough that I became wary.
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tlmiller
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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I've never updated a Dell from Linux before, I'm hoping to at some point. fwupd isn't compatible with most Dell's. I've only ever updated Lenovo from Linux, although never had an issue so far (although only done like 4 times).
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crosscourt
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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Ive got nothing but Dells and thus Ive done it thru Windows as it fast and easy.
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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I used to have tons of Dells, currently only have 2. I prefer doing it from the bios interface even when running Windows. I've actually had too many issues with the Windows update failing so I started using the Bios interface for updating. This is the first time I've ever seen the Bios interface refuse to update, although refusing to update is certainly better than failing and leaving the Mobo bricked.
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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Windows updating hasnt had any issues. I havent bricked a bios since the early 2000s.
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Re: What hardware are you using?

Post by tlmiller »

Eh, I haven't had it brick any, but I've had it fail a LOT. Like, a huge amount at my old job. I found trying to update Bios in Windows on some of those machines would take 3+ tries, so after try 2 I'd just copy it over, reboot into the Bios updater, and boom, it updates.
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