Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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Hi Guix!

I'm looking around for a free-software-friendly gaming desktop
solution.  Modern, but on the cheaper end.

How are AMD graphics card faring on Guix?  Are they working with
Linux-libre?  According to
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=radeon-rx590-linux,
the AMD RX 580 seems to be an excellent performance/cost choice,
considering the 560 seems to be buggy on Linux.

As a processor, I was considering the AMD Ryzen 5 2600.  I like the 6
cores.  Thoughts?

Last but not least, I need wifi.  Since I'm on fiber optics here, only
802.11 ac allows me to take full benefit of the bandwidth.  Is there any
free open 802.11 ac driver?  ath10k seems to be non-free, right?  ath9k
seems to only support 802.11n cards, which is limiting the bandwidth to
150Mbit/s.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

Any motherboard recommendation?

I'd be happy to hear your insights, folks!
Cheers!

--
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/

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Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi Pierre,

> How are AMD graphics card faring on Guix?  Are they working with
> Linux-libre?  According to
> https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=radeon-rx590-linux,
> the AMD RX 580 seems to be an excellent performance/cost choice,
> considering the 560 seems to be buggy on Linux.

Have you checked h-node.org?

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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I did, but is a missing card a guarantee that it is non-free?
I'm new to h-node and it leaves me with a lot of questions.

For instance, the RX 560 is in there, but not the RX 580.  Does it mean that the
RX 580 does not run at all on Linux-libre?  Or only 3D is missing?
Which part is proprietary?

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/

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Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Pierre Neidhardt <mail@ambrevar.xyz> writes:

> I did, but is a missing card a guarantee that it is non-free?

No, a missing entry does not mean that a device requires non-free
software.  It just means that nobody has tested the hardware or reported
that it’s working.

It’s a collaborative resource, so you can submit reports if end up being
the first to have tested a piece of hardware.

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Joshua Branson]

Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> writes:

> Hi Pierre,
>
>> How are AMD graphics card faring on Guix?  Are they working with
>> Linux-libre?  According to
>> https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=radeon-rx590-linux,
>> the AMD RX 580 seems to be an excellent performance/cost choice,
>> considering the 560 seems to be buggy on Linux.
>
> Have you checked h-node.org?

I feel like the only graphics cards that'll run on linux-libre is old
nvidia's and integrated Intel CPUs...am I wrong in that?

I did not believe there are /any/ AMD cards that work on linux-libre.

-- 
Joshua Branson
Sent from Emacs and Gnus

Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[nly]

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>AMD RX 580 seems to be an excellent performance/cost choice,
considering the 560 seems to be buggy on Linux.

I have RX570, it won`t work at all, nada, without the blobs.

On January 7, 2019 3:01:16 PM UTC, Joshua Branson <jbranso@dismail.de> wrote:
>Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> writes:
>
>> Hi Pierre,
>>
>>> How are AMD graphics card faring on Guix?  Are they working with
>>> Linux-libre?  According to
>>>
>https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=radeon-rx590-linux,
>>> the AMD RX 580 seems to be an excellent performance/cost choice,
>>> considering the 560 seems to be buggy on Linux.
>>
>> Have you checked h-node.org?
>
>I feel like the only graphics cards that'll run on linux-libre is old
>nvidia's and integrated Intel CPUs...am I wrong in that?
>
>I did not believe there are /any/ AMD cards that work on linux-libre.
>
>-- 
>Joshua Branson
>Sent from Emacs and Gnus

-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

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Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[nly]

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>I have RX570, it won`t work at all, nada, without the blobs.

I think I meant no 3d acceleration. I am very stupid in this topic though.

On January 7, 2019 3:07:52 PM UTC, nly <nly@disroot.org> wrote:
>>AMD RX 580 seems to be an excellent performance/cost choice,
>considering the 560 seems to be buggy on Linux.
>
>I have RX570, it won`t work at all, nada, without the blobs.
>
>On January 7, 2019 3:01:16 PM UTC, Joshua Branson <jbranso@dismail.de>
>wrote:
>>Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> writes:
>>
>>> Hi Pierre,
>>>
>>>> How are AMD graphics card faring on Guix?  Are they working with
>>>> Linux-libre?  According to
>>>>
>>https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=radeon-rx590-linux,
>>>> the AMD RX 580 seems to be an excellent performance/cost choice,
>>>> considering the 560 seems to be buggy on Linux.
>>>
>>> Have you checked h-node.org?
>>
>>I feel like the only graphics cards that'll run on linux-libre is old
>>nvidia's and integrated Intel CPUs...am I wrong in that?
>>
>>I did not believe there are /any/ AMD cards that work on linux-libre.
>>
>>-- 
>>Joshua Branson
>>Sent from Emacs and Gnus
>
>-- 
>Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

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Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Pierre Neidhardt]

> I did not believe there are /any/ AMD cards that work on linux-libre.

What does "work" mean?  Do you mean 3D acceleration?  According to h-node, the 560 works
without 3D.

Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Leo Famulari]

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On Mon, Jan 07, 2019 at 10:00:10AM +0100, Pierre Neidhardt wrote:
> Last but not least, I need wifi.  Since I'm on fiber optics here, only
> 802.11 ac allows me to take full benefit of the bandwidth.  Is there any
> free open 802.11 ac driver?  ath10k seems to be non-free, right?  ath9k
> seems to only support 802.11n cards, which is limiting the bandwidth to
> 150Mbit/s.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm no authority but my understanding of the situation is similar: The
latest / fastest WiFi standard supported by free drivers is 802.11n.
With no change on the horizon...

However, I've seen 802.11n ath9k cards that claim to go up to 300Mbps.
Think Penguin sells some PCIe and MPCIe cards like that.

And apparently 802.11n can go to 600Mbps, although a quick search
doesn't tell me if any implementations exist that are supported by free
drivers.

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Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Ricardo Wurmus]

nly <nly@disroot.org> writes:

>>I have RX570, it won`t work at all, nada, without the blobs.
>
> I think I meant no 3d acceleration. I am very stupid in this topic
> though.

Thanks for the information.  Would you like to add this to h-node.org?

-- 
Ricardo

Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Pierre Neidhardt]

> However, I've seen 802.11n ath9k cards that claim to go up to 300Mbps.
> Think Penguin sells some PCIe and MPCIe cards like that.
> 
> And apparently 802.11n can go to 600Mbps, although a quick search
> doesn't tell me if any implementations exist that are supported by free
> drivers.

I've found the TP-LINK TL-WN881ND which on specs goes up to 300 Mbit/s.
It seems to be supported by ath9k, but I'm still looking for a confirmation.

Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Pierre Neidhardt]

> I've found the TP-LINK TL-WN881ND which on specs goes up to 300 Mbit/s.
> It seems to be supported by ath9k, but I'm still looking for a confirmation.

Oh, it's there:
https://h-node.org/wifi/catalogue/en/1/1/undef/undef/undef/undef/wifi-works/undef?search_string=TL-WN881ND&submit=Search

Cool!  300Mbit/s is not so bad! :)

Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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But it.s 2.4GHz only.  I need 5GHz.

Has anyone heard of a 5GHz wifi chipset compatible with Linux-libre?

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/

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Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Benjamin Slade]

For ThinkPad laptops, I've had good luck with the following:

1) Atheros AR9380, e.g. -
Apple A1298 Mac Pro Airport Extreme Wireless Card BCM94322MC 825-7213-A
- 802.11a/b/g/n 450M Dual-band 2.4/5 GHz

2)  7WCGT Dell Atheros AR5BHB112 802.11n Bigfoot Networks Killer 1103 PCI-E Half Mini
  - Atheros AR5B22 a/b/g/n  dual-band 450mbps  2.4/5 Ghz


On 2019-01-17T13:28:16-0700, Pierre Neidhardt <mail@ambrevar.xyz> wrote:

 > But it.s 2.4GHz only.  I need 5GHz.

 > Has anyone heard of a 5GHz wifi chipset compatible with Linux-libre?

 > --
 > Pierre Neidhardt
 > https://ambrevar.xyz/


--
Benjamin Slade - https://babbagefiles.xyz
  `(pgp_fp: ,(21BA 2AE1 28F6 DF36 110A 0E9C A320 BBE8 2B52 EE19))
    '(sent by mu4e on Emacs running under GNU/Linux . https://gnu.org )
       `(Choose Linux ,(Choose Freedom) . https://linux.com )

Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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Thanks a lot for sharing!

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/

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Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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Just noticed they are PCIe cards :p  Anything in USB?

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/

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Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Benjamin Slade]

Unfortunately not. If you're building your own machine, could you build
in such a way to be able to use a PCIe card?  AFAIK PCIe has
better/faster transfer rate than USB anyway.  


On 2019-01-18T03:30:46-0700, Pierre Neidhardt <mail@ambrevar.xyz> wrote:

 > Just noticed they are PCIe cards :p  Anything in USB?

 > -- 
 > Pierre Neidhardt
 > https://ambrevar.xyz/


-- 
Benjamin Slade - https://babbagefiles.xyz
  `(pgp_fp: ,(21BA 2AE1 28F6 DF36 110A 0E9C A320 BBE8 2B52 EE19))
    '(sent by mu4e on Emacs running under GNU/Linux . https://gnu.org )
       `(Choose Linux ,(Choose Freedom) . https://linux.com )

Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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At first I thought that would not be possible lest the PCI-E wifi card would
obstruct the GPU fans.  Then I learned about PCI risers, which allow me to plug
the PCI card much further down.  That would be indeed a good solution.

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/

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Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Maxim Cournoyer]

Hi,

Benjamin Slade <slade@jnanam.net> writes:

> For ThinkPad laptops, I've had good luck with the following:
>
> 1) Atheros AR9380, e.g. -
> Apple A1298 Mac Pro Airport Extreme Wireless Card BCM94322MC 825-7213-A
> - 802.11a/b/g/n 450M Dual-band 2.4/5 GHz
>
> 2)  7WCGT Dell Atheros AR5BHB112 802.11n Bigfoot Networks Killer 1103 PCI-E Half Mini
>   - Atheros AR5B22 a/b/g/n  dual-band 450mbps  2.4/5 Ghz

Would you know if this would be compatible with newer ThinkPad models
such as the T460S?

I'm using a ThinkPenguin USB wifi adapter with the one I have, but it's
a bit bothersome.

Maxim

Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Benjamin Slade]

On 2019-01-18T20:35:06-0700, Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer@gmail.com> wrote:
 > Hi,
 > Would you know if this would be compatible with newer ThinkPad models
 > such as the T460S?

 > I'm using a ThinkPenguin USB wifi adapter with the one I have, but it's
 > a bit bothersome.

One, you would have to see what size card the T460S uses. I *think* it's
probably a half-height one (which is also what my X230 uses), so that
would be the one I listed under (2).

But, two, you could run into issues with the bios only whitelisting
certain wifi cards. I know some ThinkPads have such whitelist, but I
don't know about your particularly model. (And I don't think Coreboot is
an option for that model either.)

-- 
Benjamin Slade - https://babbagefiles.xyz
  `(pgp_fp: ,(21BA 2AE1 28F6 DF36 110A 0E9C A320 BBE8 2B52 EE19))
    '(sent by mu4e on Emacs running under GNU/Linux . https://gnu.org )
       `(Choose Linux ,(Choose Freedom) . https://linux.com )

Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Benjamin Slade]

On 2019-01-18T13:09:31-0700, Pierre Neidhardt <mail@ambrevar.xyz> wrote:
 > At first I thought that would not be possible lest the PCI-E wifi
 > card would obstruct the GPU fans.  Then I learned about PCI risers,
 > which allow me to plug the PCI card much further down.  That would be
 > indeed a good solution.

Great! (As far as I can tell those are the best wifi cards that don't
need blobs. I don't think there are any ac-capable wifi cards that don't
require blobs, unfortunately.)


--
Benjamin Slade - https://babbagefiles.xyz
  `(pgp_fp: ,(21BA 2AE1 28F6 DF36 110A 0E9C A320 BBE8 2B52 EE19))
    '(sent by mu4e on Emacs running under GNU/Linux . https://gnu.org )
       `(Choose Linux ,(Choose Freedom) . https://linux.com )

Re: Gaming desktop hardware + 802.11 ac wifi

[Maxim Cournoyer]

Hello Benjamin,

Benjamin Slade <slade@jnanam.net> writes:

> On 2019-01-18T20:35:06-0700, Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer@gmail.com> wrote:
>  > Hi,
>  > Would you know if this would be compatible with newer ThinkPad models
>  > such as the T460S?
>
>  > I'm using a ThinkPenguin USB wifi adapter with the one I have, but it's
>  > a bit bothersome.
>
> One, you would have to see what size card the T460S uses. I *think* it's
> probably a half-height one (which is also what my X230 uses), so that
> would be the one I listed under (2).
>
> But, two, you could run into issues with the bios only whitelisting
> certain wifi cards. I know some ThinkPads have such whitelist, but I
> don't know about your particularly model. (And I don't think Coreboot is
> an option for that model either.)

Thanks for the answer. Based on my research, the T460S would have an RSA
signed BIOS, which means attempting to modify it is futile, helas.

It would also have a whitelist... I guess I'll stick to my ThinkPenguin
TPE-N150USB USB adapter then!

Maxim