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jrico

Member

Registered: 2025-06-09

Posts: 3  

Installed Excalibur on Geekom A5

I just installed Excalibur on a Geekom A5.  It's been a while since I have installed a new OS on a machine.  Used Rufus to write the netinstall image (with GPT/UEFI/use dd to copy image).  I started with Daedalus, but the Geekom needed updated Wifi rtw89 drivers.  Excalibur had the right drivers.

The firmware for the driver wasn't on the install disk.  I tried the option to load from removable media, but it didn't find them (maybe wrong disk format on 2nd usb).  I was able to plug in an ethernet cable and they were installed as part of the installation.

Everything is running smooth so far, except if I switch the audio to the HDMI while youtube is playing in Firefox, the wifi drivers crash.  If I switch it before I start up Firefox, everything works rock solid.  Not sure how to go about debugging that just yet.

Pretty impressed so far.  I like the XFCE desktop.  Thanks for making a great distribution!

fsmithred

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 2,650  

Re: Installed Excalibur on Geekom A5

In most cases the install will be easier if you ignore that question about loading firmware from removable media. Most of the firmware packages are on the disk. (e.g. firmware-realtek). That question is a leftover inherited from debian when they did not include non-free firmware in the isos. It's only useful for a few drivers that require you to agree not to share them before they let you have them. (e.g. some broadcom chips) and only if you're installing without a network connection.

jrico

Member

Registered: 2025-06-09

Posts: 3  

Re: Installed Excalibur on Geekom A5

Follow up on the wireless issue.  The wireless card needs the rtw89 driver which is known to have issues.  The wireless network would disconnect and wlan0 would disappear within 10 mins of booting.  Per google search, added /lib/modprobe.d/70-rtw89.conf with one line:

options rtw89_pci disable_clkreq=y disable_aspm_l1=y disable_aspm_l1ss=y

Rebooted and it all seems to work.  (maybe this file go in /etc/modprobe.d instead?)