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Linux on HP EliteBook 640 G9

    This is my experience with openSUSE Linux LEAP 15.1 on the Asus R541UA-RS51 laptop.  (Note: memtest identifies this computer as X541UAK / U3E1.)  Things in parenthesis are what Windows reports with Device Manager.  See previous versions OpenSuSE 42.3 or openSUSE LEAP 15.0.

Hardware Components	Status under Linux	Notes
Intel 12th Gen. Core i5-1245U	Works	Alder Lake
Display	Works	14" with 1920 x 1080
Intel Alder Lake UP3 GT2 Iris Xe	Works
16GB DDR4 RAM	Works	Max is 64GB, two slots
Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB NVME	Works	I needed more space and I had one, so ....
PCI Express 4x bus	Works
Thunderbolt 4 USB port	Works
Gaussian and Neural Accelerator
USB 3.2 port
Intel Alder Lake WiFi	Works	Use NetworkManager instead of default drakx
Intel Alder Lake HD Audio	Works
Intel Alder Lake Ethernet	Works

Installation of Mageia 10

    Yep, I stopped using OpenSUSE because the development team really did a lackluster job with LEAP 16.0.  Not being able to have a separate /boot so that I don't have to encrypt the bootloader is one very clear way Mageia 10 is superior.  You see, I dual boot with Windows, and I want my wife to have access to Windows if she needs to borrow my laptop.  My wife isn't the type to learn my randomized alphanumeric passwords.  As well, encrypted bootloader is painfully slow for no reason.  Got a super fast PC?  The GRUB2 implementation of encrypted bootloader will send your PC back to the stone age in terms of boot speed.  That and on my ZOTAC PC, I literally only installed LEAP 16.0, then ran my first system update, then rebooted, and it failed to boot entirely.  It booted to init level 3 and would not launch the graphical system.

    The installer for Mageia 10 looks a bit old school but it works.  And it works very well.  You have tons of options.  And having options is something I like!

Using Mageia 10

    Let's just say that when it boots, sure, it looks a bit old-school, but the images are beautiful!  It's hard to argue with results!  It boots, it works!  However, nothing is perfect, so let's dive in, shall we?

Wireless Networking with Intel WiFi

    Intel WiFi works on this machine just fine, but the default Mageia 10 drakxnetcenter application would not connect with Intel WiFi when the device works in Windows (and fast user switching is disabled).  So the solution is to install NetworkManager to manage it (which works).  You will need to follow the steps to add NetworkManager to the services list and then disable the default "network" service.  After that, it works just fine.

Audio

    Audio works well, but just keep in mind, if you use Audacity and BlueTooth, install jack and all the alsa and jack libraries and app portions that apply.