New toy: Installing Ubuntu on the HP Z2 Mini

The data sheet of my new AI focused mini workstation from HP mentions Ubuntu 24.04 as the supported Linux distribution. I have tried that, but I could not get the installer to run. However, 25.10 installed without any problems, even from an openSUSE branded USB stick :-)

I must admit that I’m not an Ubuntu fan, but installed it anyway, as Ubuntu is the “official” Linux distro for this machine. GNOME is heavily modified compared to other distros. For GUI apps the focus seems to be shifted to snaps from distro packages.

For now I did not test the in hardware AI support, just tried to collect some first impressions. I ended up installing a few 3D games and playing :-) Having AMD graphics has the advantage that everything works out of box. There is no need for binary only drivers, extra repositories, praying to the binary gods, etc. It just works. Fully open source.

This blog is part of a longer series about my adventures with my new machine and AI. You can reach me to discuss this blog on one of the contacts listed in the upper right corner. You can read the rest of the blogs under the toy tag.

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