On 13.02.2013 01:07, cprise wrote:
> Hello...
>
> Intel HD4000 (Optimus present but turned off in BIOS)
> i5-3320M Ivy Bridge (supports VT-x and VT-d, turned on in BIOS)
> QM77 chipset
> BIOS version 2.05
>
> Other: TPM, vPro, WLAN Centrino 6300 Ultimate, Samsung 840 Pro SSD,
> 1600x900 screen, finger scanner
>
> Notes:
>
> Everything except bluetooth works at least on a basic level, but I don't
> see any indication from Qubes that the hardware virty features are being
> employed. Is there a way to tell?
"xl info" in dom0 console. You should have "hvm" (for VT-x) and "hvm_directio"
(for VT-d) in virt_caps field.
> I haven't tested the webcam and mic, so I'll get back with an update after
> trying them.
>
> Keyboards (internal and external) are OK, but the default key repeat
> setting is far too quick sometimes giving the impression of a key bounce
> problem (extra copies of a character are produced). Ext keyboard is a PS/2
> via a USB adapter and then a USB hub: this works fine in Grub and at all
> runlevels.
>
> Key layout is a different story: I use Colemak and Qubes doesn't let me
> switch to it in some situations, even though Colemak is built-in. I believe
> the same holds true for Dvorak. NetVM does not take the control panel
> layout setting, nor does the bare Linux console (which in Debian distros at
> least, can be setup for alternate layouts with a couple of commands). There
> seems to be no way to get the layout set for the console in either Qubes or
> Fedora.
Not sure about Linux console (check /etc/sysconfig/keyboard in dom0), but in
VM keyboard layout should be propagated from Dom0 at VM startup. So you need
to reboot VM after layout change to have it applied. I see currently some
problems when multiple layout are chosen (only the first one is working), so
ensure you have only one layout.
You can also set per-VM layout from Qubes Manager - when done, this VM will
ignore further Dom0 layout changes.
> Lastly, as another Thinkpad user stated, special function keys like
> Lock and Sleep do not work, nor does the mic mute button (which seems
> important).
>
> In Dom0 and AppVMs the layout setting seems to work with the
> caveat that setting the Caps Lock key to work as Backspace in the control
> panel works in only a non-repeating fashion; I must tap the key for each
> character I want to erase. I don't recall this being a problem in Ubuntu or
> CentOS.
I think it is KDE bug. Anyway you can set it manually:
http://pthree.org/2007/03/06/switching-caps-lock-and-backspace/
> These distros, along with OS X, try to remember a user's keyboard
> layout (once a non-defualt one has been activated) at the login screen and
> they have icons there that allow changing the layout.
AFAIR only GDM supports that, but we use KDM (and perhaps will switch to
LightDM in the future).
Anyway Qubes isn't intended to be multi-user system, so I see no reason to
have keyboard layout chooser at login screen; setting it system-wide should be
enough.
> Mice have no problems, but the internal pointing devices are lacking a bit.
> There is no way to adjust the Trackpoint from the control panel. Worse, the
> trackpad's speed cannot be adjusted from the control panel -- which is odd
> because it can be adjusted in several other ways. As it is, the trackpad
> seems too slow whereas in Windows it was fine. Also, the trackpad tapping
> defaults are bad: Tapping is 'enabled' by default but infuriatingly won't
> produce any clicks when tapping. The cause of the problem is slightly
> hidden under the Tapping/Buttons section where you must click on each
> desired action in the left column which then shows in the right column that
> they (one finger, two finger, etc) are all set to "None". At this point its
> simple to rectify the settings, but the defaults as they are don't make
> sense.
Looks like KDE (or kde-settings) bug. Anyway I'm preparing Fedora 18 based
dom0 with KDE 4.9, which hopefully will fix many problems like this (and
introduce new ones...).
> The trackpad remains active when the Trackpoint is being used and this
> can't be changed in the control panel.
What exactly do you want to achieve? Some automatic touchpad disable? Or just
Fn-F8 (or sth) to disable touchpad working?
> Mouse pointer "cues" (the symbols for "busy" and the hyperlink hand) do not
> appear. Not having the hyperlink hand appear over links is very
> disconcerting while browsing the web.
This is by design, to keep GUI protocol as simple as possible.
> Dual displays basically work with the internal screen plus one 1080p DVI.
> However, the management of the settings and other aspects of the
> arrangement are somewhat broken. For instance, I cannot disable the
> internal screen: sometimes it refuses to take the setting, other times it
> seems to "disable" the screen by shutting the backlight off while still
> putting important dialogue boxes there (e.g. password for unlocking the
> session).
Strange, do you have something in /var/log/Xorg.0.log? Does it happens on
other systems (especially baremetal Fedora)?
> Also, when a display is plugged in during a session, the running
> AppVMs do not fully understand this and some apps like Firefox cannot sense
> mouse activity everywhere on the larger screen -- hovers and clicks in the
> far right and bottom of web pages will either not be sensed or misread as
> the wrong coordinates. (Firefox has no problem expanding into and
> displaying content in the larger space, however.) The AppVM must be
> restarted manually while the additional display is connected in order for
> the coordinate anomalies to disappear.
I know, this is annoying. This is because VM only get screen layout at
startup, I haven't found any way to update it (xrandr doesn't look supported
by Xorg dummy driver).
I have this on my todo list, but low priority.
> No problems have been detected with performance or thermal management,
> although the settings for controlling related features is rather
> impoverished. I remain wary on this subject because Fedora in the past has
> overheated a couple of 2007 vintage Macbooks where other Linux distros
> performed responsibly. I generally consider Fedora terrible for laptops.
>
> Qubes VM Manager is working very well for its intended purpose so far. The
> only problems with it are that the keyboard layout selector only deals with
> languages and not specific layouts (hence Colemak and Dvorak cannot be
> selected)
Patches welcomed :)
> and it sometimes prompts me to Kill a VM after I have told it to
> shut the VM down (and then it does shut down as expected) and then I start
> the VM again less than 20 seconds after. Manager thinks the original
> instance of the VM never did shut down. The dialogue that appears only lets
> me 'Kill' or "Wait 20 seconds more", neither of which are good choices in
> this scenario; I can't simply dismiss it.
This is already fixed in my git repo, will be in the next version.
> Some added Audio lag is noticeable when watching videos of people speaking.
> There is also a very slight breakup that can be heard in the audio stream,
> though I am able to mentally tune it out thus far. As for the lag, which
> all devices add to the process, media apps already compensate for the lag
> of native sound chips under normal circumstances... So I wonder if its
> possible to add to the number of milliseconds that the sound system is
> already telling the media app to take into account during playback.
Maybe... Currently audio is sent as raw samples, without any metadata (for
security reasons - to keep it as simple as possible), so it would be hard to
measure delay. But perhaps some constant will do the work. You can experiment,
the relevant code is here:
http://git.qubes-os.org/gitweb/?p=marmarek/gui.git;a=tree;f=pulse
> The usual CPU meters are very inaccurate in Qubes. Its possible to see a VM
> in the Manager using a lot of CPU, but hardly anything shows up in the
> system monitor. I would like a way to easily read the entire CPU load in
> one place. I would also like (similar to Windows 7) a way to view network
> load and disk load listed by process (one can always wish).
System monitor (and such tools) shows you only dom0 resources usage, it
doesn't support monitoring of other VMs. Currently only Qubes Manager and
"xentop" can show you all VMs data.
I'm not aware of any other software capable of showing Xen VMs stats. Do you?
> One other thing that concerned me was the way a disposable VM Firefox keeps
> announcing itself to the Internet via the Qubes and Fedora startup pages.
> How can I change the Firefox startup to avoid this... run FF in the
> Template VM and change the prefs there?
http://wiki.qubes-os.org/trac/wiki/UserDoc/DispVMCustomization
> That's all for now and thanks for creating Qubes. :)
Thanks for thorough report :)
--
Best Regards / Pozdrawiam,
Marek Marczykowski
Invisible Things Lab