August 2023 Alienware M18 R1 "AMD Advantage Edition" & Zorin OS Pro 17.3 64-bit GNU/Linux

wellywu123 · May 24, 2025, 6:27am

I bought a new August 2023 Alienware M18 R1 "AMD Advantage Edition" gaming notebook PC and I installed Zorin OS Pro 17.3 64-bit with UEFI revision version 1.7, TPM 2.0, and Microsoft Secure Boot enabled and turned on. I use it for academic studies, personal entertainment, and software development along with engineering plus research and personal development. I have access to both Mango Languages and QLango so I finished French, German, Irish, Italian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Spanish (Castillian), Portuguese (Brazilian), Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, Tagalog (Filipino), Hawaiian, Korean, Japanese, Bahasa Indonesian, and English (American). I also taught myself elementary, middle, and high school mathematics including Trigonometry and Geometry and am advancing to pre-Calculus. I also learned C, C++, Oracle Java, Python, and Rust computer programming languages. I finished the CompTIA Internet Technologies Fundamentals+, A+, Network+, Security+, Linux+, CySA+, PenTest+ information technology certifications. I use Under Armor My Fitness Pal and follow the Father Hoog 45-day beginner's workout program and shall work towards former Lieutenant Stewart Smith's U.S. Navy SEAL Teams physical training regimen and have the U.S. Special Operations nutrition guide.

Programs are a wide swath so some of them include Ubuntu Pro, Dr. Web Security Space antivirus and software firewall, Safing IO's Portmaster with SPN subscription, CrowdSec, Proton Visionary Family Plan, Codeweavers CrossOver, Spotify Premium individual, Steam, LaLa Trainer Launcher, Cheat Happens Aurora Trainer Manager Tier 1 Level 7, WeMod Professional, 2016 Microsoft Office Professional Plus (32-bit), 2010 Microsoft Project and Visio Professional (32-bit), Illustrate's dBPowerAMP Reference 17.7, Jetbrains' Rust Rover, PyCharm Community Edition, Intelli J IDEA, Microsoft Visual Studio Code, OnlyOffice, and a lot of mathematical software including Wolfram Mathematica 14.1, Maplesoft Maple 2024.2, Mathworks MATLAB 2024a, Hex-Rays IDA-Pro 9.0, Comsol Multi-Physics 6.3, Rosary app, Yubico Authenticator, Jetico BestCrypt Container Encryption, CrashPlan Pro, Silicondust HDHomeRun, Hasleo BitLocker Professional Anywhere for GNU/Linux, MakeMKV, Tony George's Aptik, Baqpaq, and UKUU, Ahead NERO Linux, Plex Pro, VMware Player & Workstation Pro 17.6.3, pCloud Crypto & Drive up to 2.20 TB, WeChat, QQ, Signal, Wire App, ZapZap, Rakutan's Viber, Telegram, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, J.River Media Center 34, Enpass Password Manager Premium, etc. I also have a 2022 Google Pixel 6a running Graphene OS "Bluejay" 64-bit. For storage, I got a Sandisk Extreme Pro USB 3.2 x2 1.0 TB thumb drive and an Oyen Digital MiniPro RAID V4 with two Seagate Barracuda Pro 1 TB 7,200 RPM 128 MB L3 Cache hard disk drives in RAID-0 striping mode via 10GB Type-C.

Zorin OS Pro 17.3 64-bit GNU/Linux is wonderful and I think it fits me better than Microsoft Windows 11 Pro edition 24H2 64-bit which I decided was not for me and to stay away except in a VMware guest virtual machine. Other ones include Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.5, and Parrot Security OS 64-bit in guest virtual machines. Zorin OS is terrific!

These are the technical specifications of my PC:

August 2023 Alienware M18 R1 "AMD Advantage Edition" specifications:

18-inch, Full High Definition plus (FHD+ - 1920 X 1200P @ 480 Hz & DCI-P3 100%, G-SYNC, AdaptiveSync, FreeSync)

AMD R9 7945 HX microprocessor: 16 cores & 32 threads

AMD Radeon 610M integrated GPU

AMD Radeon 7900M 16 GB GDDR5 VRAM

AMD Ryzen 9 chipset

Zorin OS Pro 17.3 64-bit GNU/Linux

DDR5 64.00 GB 5,600 MHz SO-DIMM RAM (2 X 32 GB modules)

1x RJ-45 2.50 Gbps for Realtek RTL8125 Gigabit Ethernet controller

2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports

1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 port with PowerShare

1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port

2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports with DisplayPort for computers shipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, RTX 4090, and AMD RX 7600/7900M XT graphics card

1x 3.5 mm headphone/microphone jack

1x HDMI 2.0B port

1x mini-DisplayPort 1.4 port

1x SD card slot (Secure Digital (SD), Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC), Secure Digital Extended Capacity (SDXC)

1x M.2 2230 and two M.2 2280 solid-state drive slots, for computers shipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, RTX 4090 and AMD RX 7600/7900M XT graphics card

2x M.2 2280 solid-state drive slots, for computers shipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060/4070 graphics card

M.2 2230 solid-state drive, PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe, up to 64 Gbps, 1x 4.1 TB M.2 PCI-e Generation 4 x4 NVMe solid-state disk

1x Qualcomm WCN6856-DBS 802.11 Wi-Fi 6E & Bluetooth 5.3

4-watt Realtek ALC3254 stereo speakers

102-key RGB per-key QWERTY US-English keyboard

One FHD-RGB Infrared camera with CMOS sensor technology (2.07 MP - 1920 X 1080P 30 fps)

5.16 X 3.15 inch multi-gesture touchpad

330 W AC adapter

6-cell lithium-ion (97 Wh)

$3,518.12 USD

StarTreker · May 24, 2025, 7:25am

Did the stickers come with that notebook, or did you put them on after you got it?

Its advised to turn it off.

Way to use that computer good, but you missed gaming, value for the dollar I say.

Be the gigabytes, let the data flow through you, feel your 1n's and 0's chi.

Wholly molly guacamole, thats a lot of languages!

Dang dude, you must have an IQ of 185, like the next Steven Hawking or something.

I strongly recommend you remove the link you slipped into your post, a little to greasy for this forums rules. Oh wait, I forgot I'm a mod! Oh look at that, I twisted that nut off with my wrench, I'm multi faceted.

Now I find myself winded by your post. I don't have your impressive qualifications to go on forever, I'm just but a lowly human afterall.

Goodnight!

Ponce-De-Leon · May 24, 2025, 10:04am

I would also suggest to turn that off to avoid Issues. And turn off Fast Boot, too if it should be available.

wellywu123 · May 24, 2025, 10:50am

I shall leave TPM 2.0 and Microsoft Secure Boot enabled and turned on and Fast Boot is not an available option within the InSyde 1.7 UEFI as to enable or disable it. Microsoft Windows 11 Home and Pro editions are fully removed from my PC so Fast Boot should not be working at the former operating system level. I want to keep the TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot working because of the Evil Twin Maid attack vector. I know how to sign Linux kernel modules required for VMware Player and Workstation Pro along with Jetico's BestCrypt Container Encryption each time the Linux kernel version is updated over time and I have created BASH scripts to automate the process for both software products and hooked them into CRON jobs. However, thank you for allowing me to join your community at Zorin Forum.

I do play Sniper Elite: Resistance with WeMod Professional and the WeMod Launcher as well as Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 with LaLa Trainer Launcher and FLiNG trainer and the older Medal of Honor: Warfighter Limited Edition with another FLiNG trainer at this time through Steam. I do have an older Steam Controller as well, but I use the keyboard and mouse almost all of the time to play PC games and the number pad when necessary.

wellywu123 · May 25, 2025, 4:40am

I bought the laptop stickers from Redbubble and purchased them in two separate orders.

One of the software products that I purchased is Tony George's Ubuntu Kernel Update Utility for which the Mainline software package is based upon to change, install, remove, and update Linux kernels for Ubuntu. I can disable and turn off TPM 2.0 as well as Microsoft Secure Boot to install different mainline Ubuntu Linux kernels and versions, but it would mean that I need to remove and uninstall Jetico BestCrypt Container Encryption for GNU/Linux beforehand and then it will work with different Linux kernels and versions. I had done this in the past, but it was not something I preferred as the current Ubuntu 24.04.1 Linux kernel version 6.8 series is good for me now and it enables and supports Hardware Enablement or HWE; this is the current and official Ubuntu Linux kernel version that is supported by Canonical, Ltd. at this time and it works with what I got now. Security is a big priority for me as it is plainly evident so I would not want to follow the advice of others to disable and turn off TPM 2.0 and Microsoft Secure Boot because I know what they do and prefer to keep the status quo while awaiting the newer Ubuntu Linux kernel version 6.11 series in the future.

Perhaps Zorin OS Pro 18.0 64-bit and future point releases are going to be made generally available for purchase within 2025 later this year? IF so, then I would purchase my copy and wait for an in-place upgrade path while doing due diligence to backup using Timeshift, Tony George's Baqpaq, CrashPlan Pro, and good old fashioned copies of my data and information as well.

I am open to comments, criticisms, concerns, questions, etc. to learn from others herein. Thank you.

StarTreker · May 25, 2025, 2:10pm

That might just be the ticket for you afterall. I know that I will be upgrading to Zorin OS 18, once its released, I too always buy the new releases. I like to support the devs, and I like getting the extra goodies. It will be running a later kernel, later version of Gnome & Ubuntu, and a new LTS period for security updates.

wellywu123 · May 25, 2025, 3:12pm

I got DaVinci Resolve 19.1.4 and Bitwig Studio 5.2.0 64-bit for professional grade video editing and a digital audio workstation.

wellywu123 · June 6, 2025, 11:38am

I got another laptop sticker again