OpenSUSE LEAP 15.6 on Dell Inspiron Desktop 3030S Micro

Introduction

    I purchased this Dell Desktop specifically for work.  I am now a drug counselor and will soon be in practicum to be a therapist, so I wanted to reduce wear and tear on my 7506 2-in-1 laptop.  I also wanted a fully encrypted hard drive (not required, technically, for HIPAA, but I prefer to encrypt for extra security).

    This desktop is based on Intel's Alder Lake hardware series.

HARDWARE COMPONENTS
 		STATUS UNDER LINUX
 		NOTES
Intel Core i5 14400 (20 MB cache, 10 Cores, 16 threads up to 4.7 GHz)
 Works
 Works!  Linux sees it as 16 cores.  I have not set up monitoring on it to watch the cores.
Realtek RTL8852BE PCIe 802.11ax Wireless NIC w/ Bluetooth
 Works
 Works.
Dell Fixed Hardware Configuration
 Unknown
 What is this?
Intel UHD Graphics 730 (Alder Lake)
 Works
 Excellent dual display performance.
8 GB DDR5 (1x8GB)
 Works
 Works
Optical Drive
 Not installed
 The slot exists in the case, so I will likely add one.
NVME KIOXIA Device 001b
 Works
 I'm assuming this is the SD carad reader?  It works great.
System Management Driver
 Unknown
 What is this?
Intel Alder Lake PCH XHCI USB Controller with 4x USB 2.0, 3x USB 3.2 Type A, and one USB-C ports.
 Works
 Only wish there was a USB-C on the front, not back.
Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
 Works
 Works
Internal SATA 2.0 port, SATA 3.0 port, NVME (filled), PCIE x16 and PCIE x1 slots.
 Unknown
 Have not tested.
Intel 12th Gen Core Processor Gassuain and Neural Accelerator
 Unknown
 Intel claims it is used to process speech recognition.
Intel Alder Lake PCH HECI Controller
 Unknown
 Something about maintaining system health; unsure.
Intel Alder Lake PCH SATA Controller (RAID or AHCI modes)
 Works
 The motherboard slot is compatible with 2230 and 2280 size M.2 drives.
Intel Corp. Device 7abb
 Unknown
 High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (DRM)
ISA bridge: Intel Corp. Device 7a86
 Unknown
 Google claims it's an Intel telemetry service that allows users to view the performance and utilization of an acceleration device
Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S HD Audio Controller
 Unknown
 I have not had a chance to plug in the sound to test it.
SMBus: Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S PCH SMBus Controller
 Unknown
 I have not had a chance to test it.
Serial bus controller: Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S PCH SPI Controller
 Unknown
 I have not had a chance to test it.

Installation

    I had to overcome several hurdles, such as (triggering Safe Mode FIRST!) changing BIOS hard drive mode from RAID to AHCI and telling Windows to resize itself so that I could install Linux.

    But the first thing I recommend is when you get a desktop, don't boot it when you first get it.  Remove the hard drive and do a disk image in Linux.  Save it.  Then put the drive back in the desktop and boot it.

1

CPUINFO Output

    Here is the contents of /proc/cpuinfo for those who are interested.  There are 16 processors enumerated in here, because to Linux, virtual processors are listed (i.e. the 6 performance processors, which are capable of Hyper Threading, are listed as 2x virtual processors).

    Note that the Intel Raptor Lake CPUs, I read online, are having minor issues with elevated voltages.  I also read online that Intel had released BIOS and CPU updates to fix it.  I had been noticing some minor slow downs in Windows 11.  So I went into the BIOS to disable Turbo Mode.  So far it seems to have fixed the problem.  Using this computer for my job as a drug counselor and therapist in training is very easy: I don't need tons of performance.  I was tempted to even disable Hyper Threading as well, but I refrained.  This CPU (i5-14400) was not on the list that received a 2 year warranty extension, so it should not be affected, but I always thought Turbo Mode was dumb anyways, so I turned it off.

LSPCI Output

    Here's the lspci output for those who want to look at the full hardware, abbreviated:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. Device 4648 (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 730] (rev 0c)
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corp. Alder Lake Innovation Platform Framework Processor Participant (rev 02)
00:08.0 System peripheral: Intel Corp. 12th Gen Core Processor Gaussian & Neural Accelerator (rev 02)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S PCH USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 XHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:14.2 RAM memory: Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S PCH Shared SRAM (rev 11)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S PCH HECI Controller #1 (rev 11)
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S PCH SATA Controller [AHCI Mode] (rev 11)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S PCH PCI-E Root Port #???? (rev 11)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. Device 7abb (rev 11)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S PCH PCI-E Root Port #5 (rev 11)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. Device 7a86 (rev 11)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S HD Audio Controller (rev 11)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S PCH SMBus Controller (rev 11)
00:1f.5 Serial bus controller: Intel Corp. Alder Lake-S PCH SPI Controller (rev 11)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (rev 1b)
02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8852BE PCIe 802.11ax Wireless NIC
03:00.0 NVM controller: KIOXIA Corp. Device 001b (rev 01)

Sound

    This desktop does not have its own speakers built in, but there is a green 1/8" port on the back of the laptop for plugging in speakers or headphones. I have tested it both in Windows and Linux and it works well.

Brother HL-L2350DW

    I know that the Brother HL-L2350DW printer Linux drivers work.  However, if a printer is WiFi, write down the IP address of the printer before trying to run the Brother Linux auto-installation script.  You'll need the IP address in the installation process.

TMPFS /tmp

    With OpenSUSE Linux 15.6, you can specify the /tmp during installation.  I would recommend making /tmp a tmpfs entry during installation.

Installing Software

    Installing software on OpenSUSE LEAP 15.6 is a good experience and very easy.  Nearly everything I need exists in OpenSUSE's repositories, especially Sea Monkey.  Zoom and Skype have Linux versions that exist in rpm form, and they work on Linux, but they will complain that some dependency isn't installed (even though it is installed).  There is no version of Google Drive for Linux yet.

Keyboard

    I use a DasKeyboard DASK3MKPROSIL-CO mechanical keyboard with this computer at work, instead of the Dell keyboard.  It works great, and the built-in USB hub has no problems in Linux.

Multiple Displays in Linux

    This desktop has an HDMI and a Display Port, and both work in Linux.  I am pleased with how well they work.

Google Chrome and Zoom

    These work, but I would recommend adding the Packman repository before you install them (so that dependencies are automatically installed).

Logitech HD Webcam C920

    I have tested the Logitech HD Webcam C920 in Linux and it works!

Sensors

Body copy.

At Work

    Now I am working as a drug counselor.  I can't run the Best Notes software from Linux, but for all intents and purposes, Linux does fine.  Indeed, since this work center uses Google Workspace, I can to basically everything except take therapy notes.  That way if I need to virus scan a USB stick or do any other major utility work, I can boot into Linux.