Linux on Atom based devices

[pinguy]

Thijs S. wrote:

Hi pinguy, did you put in driver support for Realtek 8723bs than? greetings from Amsterdam.

Ahh, maybe not then.

It does ship with a lot of Realtek firmwares but I don’t think rtl8723bs.bin is one of them.

If it ships with the 4.4 linux kernel, then you should be able to enable it by running:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic-lts-xenial linux-image-generic-lts-xenial linux-generic-lts-xenial

[pinguy]

OK this should work: Pinguy_OS_14.04.4-3-LTS-Mini_Atom.iso

• It’s running Linux kernel version 4.2.0
• Realtek SDIO Wi-Fi driver installed.
• Latest intel-linux-graphics-installer
• Intel Audio Firmware

I have no way to to test this as I don’t own a Atom device, but can’t think of any reason why it shouldn’t work.

Basically to get any *buntu 14.04 distro working with Atom devices this is what you need to do.

First install VirtualBox and install the distro that you want to use on your Atom device.

Once installed, start the OS and open the terminal and run:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install -f
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic-lts-wily linux-image-generic-lts-wily linux-generic-lts-wily

Then reboot.
Once rebooted open the terminal again and run:

dpkg -l ‘linux-*’ | sed ‘/^ii/!d;/'”$(uname -r | sed “s/\(.*\)-\([^0-9]\+\)/\1/”)”‘/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* \([^ ]*\).*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d’ | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

When that finishes run:

sudo apt-get install build-essential git
git clone https://github.com/hadess/rtl8723bs.git
cd rtl8723bs
make
sudo make install
sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe r8723bs

Next download the intel-linux-graphics-installer & PinguyBuilder and place them in the home folder.

Now run:

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

All you need to do now is open PinguyBuilder and create the ISO.

To copy the ISO from the .vdi you need to install virtualbox-fuse.

Download the package from here and place it in your ~home.

Now run:

sudo dpkg -i –force-depends virtualbox-fuse*.deb

Now mount the .vdi

Example:

sudo vdfuse -f ~/Test.vdi ~/mountpoint
sudo mount ~/mountpoint/Partition1 /windows/Partition1

If you are having audio issues this may fix it:

wget https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/third_party/linux-firmware/+archive/master/intel.tar.gz
sudo tar -xf intel.tar.gz -C /lib/firmware/intel
sudo wget https://raw.github.com/AdamWill/baytrail-m/master/alsa/t100_B.state -O /var/lib/alsa/asound.state
sudo reboot

Then run:

sudo alsactl -f /var/lib/alsa/asound.state restore

[xjesus]

Thank you @pinguy !! If you are involved I’m sure everything will work in the end 🙂

PinguyBuilder is working for me on 16.04 (upgraded from 14.04). It works at least on Virtualbox installations and my laptop, but on the tablet it doesn’t boot properly to the graphical interface.

I will try again with 14.04 and xenial kernel. Eventually I’ll also try with 32 bits. Thanks again for everything.

Hope we can convert the “cheap-Chinese-tablet” users 🙂

[pinguy]

@xjesus I updated the PinguyBuider this morning. It has the same version number. The only changes I made was that the 64-bit system downloads the 32bit as well as the 64bit UEFI grub for offline installs.

Unsure if this will help with installing on 64-bit systems with 32-bit UEFI.

On a side note why are you installing 64-bit on Atom devices? All the devices I have seen use less then 3GB of RAM. A 32-bit distro would run far better on that hardware.

[pinguy]

Just came across this: http://www.jfwhome.com/2014/03/07/perfect-ubuntu-or-other-linux-on-the-asus-transformer-book-t100/

Lots of helpful info.

[xjesus]

Well, most of the last tablets you can see around this web have 4GB already, even 8GB some of them. Also the fact that Chrome was dropping support for 32 bits made me think to go for 64 bits first. But when I’ll find the time I’ll make the 32 bits as well, which supports 4GB with PAE and consume less RAM indeed…

[xjesus]

@pinguy I’ve just tried your Pinguy OS mini Atom and this is where it gets stuck:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4TUehAb_iPFSTJIdjE4THAwbVE/view?usp=sharing

With my 14.04 distro I can only boot to the graphical interface with kernel 3.13 or 4.4.4 (manually downloaded from ppa) but I can’t boot with the other LTS’s 3.16, 3.19 or 4.4.0.X

But now again I have problems with 4.4.4 to boot the live USB.

With the 16.04 distro I’ve got different random results but sometimes with 4.4.4 I was able to boot and sometimes with lts-xenial (4.4.0.X) too. But right now it doesn’t boot.

 

I also tried the daily Xenial Ubuntu and it boots all right.

 

In the 14.04 distro I am using graphic drivers from ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa

 

[pinguy]

Without getting my hands on a Intel Bay Trail device, I’m not going to be a lot of help.

One thing I can help with is the grub issue on x64. If you install grub-efi-ia32 on the 64-bit system before creating the ISO with PinguyBuilder. It should fix “The ‘grub-efi-amd64-signed’ package failed to install into /target/”

sudo apt-get install grub-efi-ia32-bin
sudo grub-install –target i386-efi

[xjesus]

I think the problem is on the patches and/or virtualbox guest additions because the only kernels that can boot right (3.13 or 4.4.4 on Ubuntu 14.04) can’t compile the patches. And kernel 4.4.4 in Ubuntu 14.04 can’t install Virtualbox guest additions.

I mean, the only way I can boot the live graphical interface is with the combination that can’t compile the patches.

These are the error logs with kernel 4.4.4 in Ubuntu 14.04 trying to install the patches for touchscreen and Realtek 8723bs WiFi and Bluetooth:

http://pastebin.com/j40FECt1

In Ubuntu 16.04 and kernel 4.4.4 I can compile these same patches and install Virtualbox guest additions, but them it doesn’t boot!

[pinguy]

xjesus wrote:

I think the problem is on the patches and/or virtualbox guest additions because the only kernels that can boot right (3.13 or 4.4.4 on Ubuntu 14.04) can’t compile the patches. And kernel 4.4.4 in Ubuntu 14.04 can’t install Virtualbox guest additions.

I mean, the only way I can boot the live graphical interface is with the combination that can’t compile the patches.

These are the error logs with kernel 4.4.4 in Ubuntu 14.04 trying to install the patches for touchscreen and Realtek 8723bs WiFi and Bluetooth:

http://pastebin.com/j40FECt1

In Ubuntu 16.04 and kernel 4.4.4 I can compile these same patches and install Virtualbox guest additions, but them it doesn’t boot!

OK, removed virtualbox-guest-x11 as a dependency in PinguyBuilder.

Also uploading a new image using wily kernel 4.2.0 and removed the virtualbox-guest-x11 package.

EDIT;

@xjesus where are you getting the touch patches from?

EDIT2;

Never mind. Downloaded your distro and copied the patches folder.

[pinguy]

If someone could test this you would be doing me a huge favour. If it boots and works I will re-package my distro and re-release it with the patches.

Pinguy_OS_14.04.4-3-LTS-Mini_Atom.iso

[Daniél Lecoq]

Downloading.. Will test after dinner.

[pinguy]

Daniél Lecoq wrote:

Downloading.. Will test after dinner.

Thanks.

[palito]

What about kernel 4.5? Will it be better?

 

[xjesus]

My last test on 16.04 with 4.4.4 kernel and the last pinguybuilder 4.3.6beta, removing patch for RT8723bs and vitualbox-guest-utils has resulted in a login screen (lightdm) where it only lets me choose the user “other…” and if I manually enter live or “usu” (my user on the Virtualbox I built the ISO) I can’t login. I’ve tried blank passwords as well.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4TUehAb_iPFT1RRREpRMFZWQkk/view?usp=sharing

 

My last test on 14.04 with 4.4.4 kernel is working but as I said I can’t install/compile patches, I suppose it’s expecting the new upgraded compiler.

I’m downloading your new Pinguy Mini Atom and will try it.

I tried some days ago 4.4.5 , 4.4.6 and 4.5 kernels and they didn’t work. But I might try again if I find the time.

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