Initia 14" with Debian 10

phibro934

Member
This Initia 14" is replacing a previous PC Specialist Ultranote IV 14" (four years old, heavily used).
Initial thoughts are very positive. BIOS is no problem to work with, and no problem getting Debian to boot from USB stick.
Debian install fine, although needed a kernel from backports for the chipset in this laptop.
Construction seems fine so far (one exception, shortly). It's lighter than the old Ultranote yet still feels robust.
Power connector is on the side, two USB3 ports, plus HDMI (important from my viewpoint; I'm not convinced about USB-C and pushing the display through there, especially with Linux). Power button is on the side; wondering if I'll accidentally bump it when I really don't want to….
Sound and graphics all working fine. I positively like having a visual caps lock on the keyboard (wasn't one on the older machine). Not tried bluetooth yet.
Only issue I've found so far is the microSD slot is problematic. There appears to be a metal strip across it just inside the slot, and the one time I tried to out a microSD card in, it got stuck and needed removal with fine tools. I speculate there is something not lined up internally. Currently wondering if that's why the USB3 socket on that side feels quite tight when removing USB plugs. Fortunately, I have a USB adapter with SD card and other readers, so it's not a major problem.

Spec:
Chassis & Display Initia Series: 14" Matte Full HD 60 Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen
(1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® CoreTM i5 Quad Core Processor i5-10210U (1.6GHz, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM) 16GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card INTEL® HD GRAPHICS (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM -
DirectX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive 1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor 1 x 45W AC Adaptor
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery Initia Series Integrated 36WH Lithium Ion Battery
Sound Card 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options 1 x USB 3.2 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.2 PORT + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language ULTRANOTE SERIES UK KEYBOARD
 

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SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
This Initia 14" is replacing a previous PC Specialist Ultranote IV 14" (four years old, heavily used).
Initial thoughts are very positive. BIOS is no problem to work with, and no problem getting Debian to boot from USB stick.
Debian install fine, although needed a kernel from backports for the chipset in this laptop.
Construction seems fine so far (one exception, shortly). It's lighter than the old Ultranote yet still feels robust.
Power connector is on the side, two USB3 ports, plus HDMI (important from my viewpoint; I'm not convinced about USB-C and pushing the display through there, especially with Linux). Power button is on the side; wondering if I'll accidentally bump it when I really don't want to….
Sound and graphics all working fine. I positively like having a visual caps lock on the keyboard (wasn't one on the older machine). Not tried bluetooth yet.
Only issue I've found so far is the microSD slot is problematic. There appears to be a metal strip across it just inside the slot, and the one time I tried to out a microSD card in, it got stuck and needed removal with fine tools. I speculate there is something not lined up internally. Currently wondering if that's why the USB3 socket on that side feels quite tight when removing USB plugs. Fortunately, I have a USB adapter with SD card and other readers, so it's not a major problem.

Spec:
Chassis & Display Initia Series: 14" Matte Full HD 60 Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen
(1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® CoreTM i5 Quad Core Processor i5-10210U (1.6GHz, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM) 16GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card INTEL® HD GRAPHICS (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM -
DirectX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive 1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor 1 x 45W AC Adaptor
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery Initia Series Integrated 36WH Lithium Ion Battery
Sound Card 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options 1 x USB 3.2 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.2 PORT + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language ULTRANOTE SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Awesome review and feedback for all the Nix users, thanks so much for taking the time! 👍🏼
 
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