Do you guys think I should either 1.Get a libreboot thinkpad x200 from retrofreedom and then have only 8GB’s of ram to where I can still use KVM but i’ll be a bit more limited in terms of ram or 2.Get a thinkpad x230 from ebay,save up for a couple of months,and then send it to retrofreedom for retroboot installation ,have 16GB’s of ram and run better VM’s but having the disadvantage of it not being libreboot but still being pretty good because of retroboot.
You cannot use KVM with the X200 librebooted. Only Qemu with TCG or TGC.
AQemu is a good frontend with support too.
They didn’t finish accelerated virtualization support from Intel.
In don’t know in the new Libreboot version though.
https://libreboot.org/docs/hardware/x200.html#hwvirt
It exists the microcode workaround but I didn’t know any model with microcode in the CPU.
What about the x230 retrobooted?Also this should work with both the libre x200 and retro x230?Create Virtual Machine in QEMU on linux with Virt-Manager | KVM - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G21c-sbggk4
https://libreboot.org/docs/hardware/x200.html#hwvirt
I listed this before.
I own a X200 with Libreboot. I tell you that Virt-Manager doesn’t work because it forces KVM which requires hardware acceleration.
If you see something working, must be because of CPU microcode which is listed there.
The X230, no idea.
Really depends on what you are running now, I find them both very lacking as options in 2021. You can put an i7 3615QM into an x230 but it consumes a lot of watts. I am holding off til there’s a 5nm ryzen.
