XPS 15 Drivers & Disk Encryption

aXel_f0l3y · 2023-06-25 12:20:25

Hi there,
Thanks for providing and maintaining this forum.

I'm a student in IT Security and I just acquired a dell XPS 15. I need your advices to figure out some grey areas before I start the installation.

CONFIG

Processor: I9-13900H
GPU: Nvidia 4060 8GB GDDR6
Disk: 4to SSD PCIe NVMe M.2
RAM: 64GB DDR5
Wifi & Blueetooth: Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6 1675 (AX211)
Display: 15,6"" OLED 3,5K (3456x2160) InfinityEdge Touchscreen 400-Nit
OS: Windows 11 Professional (Pre-installed)

GOAL

I want to keep the pre-installed Windows 11 and have dualboot with Arch with roughly 1TO for Window s and 3 for Arch. I highlighted my doubts and questions in red.

GENERAL INSTALLATION

Given my case of an already installed Windows 11, I'll follow a step-by-step video guide I found on youtube

GPU

I will rarely use the discrete Nvidia GPU on Arch so I will proceed with installing the open source video drivers for the integrated Intel GPU.

xf86-video-intel

When I occasionally need the Nvidia it seems very simple:

prime-run app

However I can't find an exact matchon the wiki for my Nvidia card (Drivers Linux x64 AMD64/EM64T Display Driver v535.54.03). My guess is I just need to install the nvidia package (not nvidia-dkms or nvidia-lts) before Xorg? Beside that is there anything else I need to do?

Wifi & Bluetooth

From my researches it seems the kernel will already support it but can't be sure. Any suggestion here?

Touchscreen

I don't want it, I wish I could have bought the pc without it. So I won't be looking for any drivers but I want to make sure it won't be an issue for regular video transmission.

Encrypt /home

Here is the toughest part for me. I will partition with / and /home separated.

I can't conceive to have a pc without my personal files being encrypted but I am a total noob when it comes to disk encryption, my previously owned Macbook did that for me automatically at setup.

I'm simply looking for a simple way to have the /home encrypted (AES 256 I guess) until boot is completed AND I'm authenticated. However what's explained on the wiki is far too complex for me. I would be looking for some newbie step-by-step guidance here. I always force myself to understand the commands I run before I run them but in this case security of my data comes first.

I know it's a big post so thank you so much!
A

ewaller · 2023-06-25 15:43:01

Good questions.

Do NOT install xf86-video-intel. It is long deprecated and is only intended to support very old Intel video. You will want to use the intrinsic modesetting driver
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Intel_graphics

Can't help with Nvidia; I avoid them like the plague. But, I am not a gamer.

This system uses the Intel AX201 WiFi. It is extremely well supported. As I write this, my tx and rx bit rates over WiFi are both 1.3 Gb/s while listening to some John Coltrane over my Bluetooth headset so as not to wake my wife.

As to encrypting $HOME, did you find this article? https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-homed

Edit: Oh yeah, dual boot Windows -- turn off Windows "Fast boot" now. Turn it off often. Not to be confused with any kind of uEFI fast boot settings. This is a Windows think that does a quasi hibernation mode that will leave the system in strange, nondeterministic states if trying to use anything else but Windows. And Windows does the disservice of reenabling it silently.

Last edited by ewaller (2023-06-25 15:46:45)

aXel_f0l3y · 2023-06-25 18:24:10

Thank you for your answers! You definitely saved me a lot of time.

For my discrete GPU actually you're right, I can't think of any reason I would need to use it on Arch as it is strictly for gaming. So I won't install any Nvidia drivers.
Regarding the Intel GPU, do I just need to install Xorg (modesetting seems to come with it) and it should automatically detect my integrated GPU and switch into KMS (+ I will install mesa for 3D acceleration)? Or am I missing something? Also there is no risk for the hardware if I'm 100% of the time in KMS?

Just another question regarding partitioning if I may. As mentioned I'll do separated partitions for / and /home. Given than Windows 11 is already installed, I won't need to create a /boot or /swap right? Also Arch should get ~3TO of my 4TO SSD, how much do you think "/" should be to be comfortable?

Thank you for the homed link, seems like a good toolkit and I should definitely be able to do some post-authentication decrypt thing. Thanks also for the Windows tip.

I will discover John Coltrane in my next study session .

Last edited by aXel_f0l3y (2023-06-25 18:28:12)

ewaller · 2023-06-25 19:32:05

No issues using KMS continuously.
The driver does get pulled in by something; not sure exactly what. It does not need any particular love for either Xorg or Wayland. You will want Mesa. I think that GPU also supports Vulkan, so you may want to install that alongside mesa as well.

You should be okay with the existing /boot. You might check to see how full it is, you could bump your head on space if you start installing multiple kernels and boot loaders.

As to swap, no you do not need a swap partition. If you need swap later, you can always set up a swap file. That is what I use.

The size of root (/) is a matter of taste and use cases. If you have the space, I suggest several hundred megabytes if not several gigabytes. Others here may not agree, but you have a lot of storage and there is not much point in optimizing early only to regret it later.

2ManyDogs · 2023-06-25 19:43:16

aXel_f0l3y wrote:

Given my case of an already installed Windows 11, I'll follow a step-by-step video guide I found on youtube

Youtube guides are not supported here. They are almost always outdated or just wrong. Use the wiki and the Installation Guide.

aXel_f0l3y · 2023-06-27 00:32:18

ewaller wrote:

No issues using KMS continuously.
The driver does get pulled in by something; not sure exactly what. It does not need any particular love for either Xorg or Wayland. You will want Mesa. I think that GPU also supports Vulkan, so you may want to install that alongside mesa as well.
You should be okay with the existing /boot. You might check to see how full it is, you could bump your head on space if you start installing multiple kernels and boot loaders.
As to swap, no you do not need a swap partition. If you need swap later, you can always set up a swap file. That is what I use.
The size of root (/) is a matter of taste and use cases. If you have the space, I suggest several hundred megabytes if not several gigabytes. Others here may not agree, but you have a lot of storage and there is not much point in optimizing early only to regret it later.

Thanks a lot for your answers ewaller. I was planning on updating you tonight but unfortunately Dell has a delay with my PC. I'll let you know when I get it!

2ManyDogs wrote:

aXel_f0l3y wrote:
Given my case of an already installed Windows 11, I'll follow a step-by-step video guide I found on youtube
Youtube guides are not supported here. They are almost always outdated or just wrong. Use the wiki and the Installation Guide.

Yes I'll only use it for some guidance regarding the dual boot with Windows 11

Arch Linux

#1 2023-06-25 12:20:25