I've just updated my strapmod utility to handle R9 straps:
~/github/strapread$ ./strapmod.py 7771332000000000EF516A3790550F1232179A05006AE40022AA1C0874021420CA89C0A8020000C01510232859283315
R9 strap detected
Old, new RRD: 0 , 5
Old, new FAW: A , 0
Old, new 32AW: 7 , 0
Old, new ACTRD: 15 , 0x10
7771332000000000EF516A3790550F1232179A05006AE40022AA1C0874021420CA89C0A8020000C01510232859283315
7771332000000000EF515A3790550F1232179A050060040022AA1C0874021420CA89C0A8020000C01010232859283315
On a semi-related note...is Debian stable a good distro to start using linux? Not for doing anything fancy...but just web browsing and email and maybe some mining and folding and more importantly getting familiar with the OS.