Well if there was any silver lining, there was actually no firmware to update on the Librem 14 itself.
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Which firmwares?
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The LinnStrument had its firmware updated, from 2.3.3 build 071 to the latest commit.
The LinnStrument Updater itself only supports Windows and MacOS, and is still using the Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. I already tried using Arduino IDE with a PureOS image on a USB drive, but it does not upload the firmware, so I need to troubleshoot it further later.
I also attempted to update my two Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2 TB with Samsung Magician, but apparently they already have the latest supported firmware version: 2B2QEXE7. That probably means the 4B2QEXM7 firmware version is for the Elpis controller, not the Pheonix controller, which is what I have. I also spent a lot of time learning about Samsung’s firmware update utility on Linux, which is a headache in itself, plus using nvme-cli to “download” and “activate” firmware in slots, etc.
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I use it this NVME for Purism L14: Solidigm P44 Pro SSD | Solidigm Storage Solutions | Consumer SSDs
They have .Deb pkgs to Gnu/Lnx to update Firmwares
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Okay, can you provide more information about its cryptographic formatting capabilities?
sudo apt install nvme-cli
sudo nvme id-ctrl /dev/nvme0 -H | grep -E 'Format |Crypto Erase|Sanitize'
[1:1] : 0x1 Format NVM Supported
[29:29] : 0x1 No-Deallocate After Sanitize bit in Sanitize command Not Supported
[2:2] : 0 Overwrite Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[1:1] : 0x1 Block Erase Sanitize Operation Supported
[0:0] : 0x1 Crypto Erase Sanitize Operation Supported
[2:2] : 0x1 Crypto Erase Supported as part of Secure Erase
[1:1] : 0 Crypto Erase Applies to Single Namespace(s)
[0:0] : 0 Format Applies to Single Namespace(s)
[1:1] : 0 Controller Copy Format 1h Not Supported
[0:0] : 0 Controller Copy Format 0h Not Supported
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Open source generally disapproves of any cryptographic capability of a blackbox disk - because all claims made about the operation of the disk are unverifiable.
That said, because of wear-levelling on SSDs, it is desirable but unverifiable to have a physical erase capability. Under the assumption that the disk contains an encrypted root filesystem, it isn’t critical to have that however.
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Can you paste ur Output?
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Samsung 970 EVO Plus using firmware version 2B2QEXE7 with the Pheonix controller:
[1:1] : 0x1 Format NVM Supported
[0x0] : 0x1 Admin Vendor Specific Commands uses NVMe Format
[29:29] : 0 No-Deallocate After Sanitize bit in Sanitize command Supported
[2:2] : 0 Overwrite Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[1:1] : 0 Block Erase Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[0:0] : 0 Crypto Erase Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[2:2] : 0x1 Crypto Erase Supported as part of Secure Erase
[0:0] : 0x1 Format Applies to All Namespace(s)
[0:0] : 0x1 NVM Vendor Specific Commands uses NVMe Format
The NVMe version is 1.3c.
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Yes, which is why I am waiting for the Librem 16 formal announcement to determine if it will support PCIe 4.0.
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Strangely, one of my computers has that same drive and it reports
Crypto Erase Supported as part of Secure Erase
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Okay, if you want to give more information about it, we can determine the discrepancies between our drives:
sudo apt install nvme-cli
sudo nvme list
The command above will list all connected NVMe drives. One detail I want to know about is the FW Rev value, which will determine the firmware version.
If you want to share everything about the drive instead (assuming it is in the first NVMe slot), use this command:
sudo nvme id-ctrl /dev/nvme0 -H
Otherwise, use the command I provided earlier to only provide information about the nvme-format and nvme-sanitize capabilities.
sudo nvme list
Node SN Model Namespace Usage Format FW Rev
--------------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- --------- -------------------------- ---------------- --------
/dev/nvme0n1 S59CNM0W423973V Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB 1 54.58 GB / 2.00 TB 512 B + 0 B 2B2QEXM7
sudo nvme id-ctrl /dev/nvme0n1 -H | grep -E `Format |Crypto Erase|Sanitize'
sudo nvme id-ctrl /dev/nvme0n1 -H | grep -E 'Format |Crypto Erase|Sanitize'
[1:1] : 0x1 Format NVM Supported
[29:29] : 0 No-Deallocate After Sanitize bit in Sanitize command Supported
[2:2] : 0 Overwrite Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[1:1] : 0 Block Erase Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[0:0] : 0 Crypto Erase Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[2:2] : 0x1 Crypto Erase Supported as part of Secure Erase
[1:1] : 0 Crypto Erase Applies to Single Namespace(s)
[0:0] : 0x1 Format Applies to All Namespace(s)
[1:1] : 0 Controller Copy Format 1h Not Supported
[0:0] : 0 Controller Copy Format 0h Not Supported
sudo nvme list
Node SN Model Namespace Usage Format FW Rev
---------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- --------- -------------------------- ---------------- --------
/dev/nvme0n1 S5HRNC0N202746N Samsung SSD 970 PRO 512GB 1 38.63 GB / 512.11 GB 512 B + 0 B 1B2QEXP7
sudo nvme id-ctrl /dev/nvme0n1 -H | grep -E 'Format |Crypto Erase|Sanitize'
[1:1] : 0x1 Format NVM Supported
[29:29] : 0 No-Deallocate After Sanitize bit in Sanitize command Supported
[2:2] : 0 Overwrite Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[1:1] : 0 Block Erase Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[0:0] : 0 Crypto Erase Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[2:2] : 0x1 Crypto Erase Supported as part of Secure Erase
[1:1] : 0 Crypto Erase Applies to Single Namespace(s)
[0:0] : 0x1 Format Applies to All Namespace(s)
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I double checked the command’s output and noticed that I have that line now, so I have edited my prior post.
This prompted me to check if there was any firmware update for my Samsung NVMe SSD and if this would be easy enough to do. Bummer! It seems you can only do it from Windows with their Magical software whatever…
There are some instructions I could use for hacking it through Linux, but one has to get the right .iso from Samsung support in the first place. And that is my problem now: I couldn’t find any fw update for this particular model, originally ordered through Purism Samsung SSD 970 PRO 512GB. Mine has firmware 1B2QEXP7 and surprisingly there is no update for this anywhere listed! How come? Most other models seem to have fw updates but not this model…
Should I be worried or is it good news (maybe there is no update because no problem)?
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Apparently 1B2QEXP7 is the latest firmware revision for the Samsung 970 Pro.
All == one but OK. 
FW Rev is 1B2QEXM7 which straight off the bat is different from yours, IIRC.
I have absolutely no Microsoft Windows here, so I have no way of updating the firmware (if an update became available).
[1:1] : 0x1 Format NVM Supported
[29:29] : 0 No-Deallocate After Sanitize bit in Sanitize command Supported
[2:2] : 0 Overwrite Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[1:1] : 0 Block Erase Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[0:0] : 0 Crypto Erase Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[2:2] : 0x1 Crypto Erase Supported as part of Secure Erase
[1:1] : 0 Crypto Erase Applies to Single Namespace(s)
[0:0] : 0x1 Format Applies to All Namespace(s)
[1:1] : 0 Controller Copy Format 1h Not Supported
[0:0] : 0 Controller Copy Format 0h Not Supported
OK, acknowledged. So probably this post has been overtaken by events.
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In case an update would be made available, this link: Solid state drive - ArchWiki could help you prepare and flash it under Linux. It first involves downloading the ISO image for your firmware from Samsung download page (Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global), then extracting something (script?) from the initrd and running it.
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Yes. Rather good news: it was perfect as is and nothing was reported or found that would call for an update. Or at least one can hope…
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