[Doug Lung]

It turns out Lenovo is rolling out OTA updates to the unit. Recently the tablet was upgraded to Android 10. Settings shows the current software version is TB-8705F_RF01_201015 and kernel version is 4.9.190+ (Oct 15, 2020).

My tablet is still working fine, with excellent battery life and, so far, the screen (no protector) hasn’t shown any scratches even though Lenovo does not claim it is Gorilla glass.

[Doug Lung]

I think I’ve found a work around for the M89 audio glitch every 25 seconds or so, at least for VLC:

In Settings | Notifications | VLC – Set “Block all” notifications (Never show notifications from this app).

This alone doesn’t seem to stop the glitches, but displaying the “Equalizer” (access menu dots on top right in VLC) and leaving it on the screen while the audio plays works fine. It isn’t necessary to change anything on the equalizer. I listened to two 22 minute album sides and didn’t notice any glitches.

I haven’t had a chance to experiment with other apps, but considering that videos and streaming video doesn’t glitch having something else grab the screen seemed to do the trick.

…DL

[Doug Lung]

If you are up to a long, manual install but with the most recent kernel and rolling updates, look at Arch Linux. It is working well for me. I installed rEFInd to select between Windows and Linux. There are step by step directions in the different wiki’s on the Arch web site. A good resource for Linux on tablets, for Arch or other Linux OS, is the wiki at https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Tablet_PC.  It has some tips on getting rotation working.

The major remaining issue is using the i7 in tablet mode. rEFInd is supposed to allow selection via a touchscreen but it appears the Cube’s touchscreen is not currently supported even when enabled in the rEFInd configuration file. I’m using SDDM as the display manager and haven’t got it to work with an on-screen touch keyboard yet. To minimize CPU load, I’m using Xfce as the desktop environment, which supports different on-screen keyboards. I use it mainly with the keyboard attached, so haven’t taken time to dig into the rEFInd and SDDM issues. I think LightDM offers an option to log in with a touch screen keyboard. I could also just eliminate the log-in password, but that wouldn’t solve the UEFI boot selection problem.

If anyone has found a UEFI manager that works with the Cube i7 touch screen, please let us know!

…Doug

[Doug Lung]

I found the link to a driver download in the TechTablets Telcast X98 Pro forum about a year ago. The poster mentioned that it appeared the driver didn’t actually install any software, just changed some registry settings. This was for a different tablet (Intel Z8700 based) with perhaps a different SD card reader so not sure it would work on the Cube i7, although it is also Intel based. Unfortunately I didn’t note what the registry changes were and don’t have access to the tablet now but probably will next month. I’ll see if I can grab the “inf” file from the driver and see what changed. Might be worth a try…

[Doug Lung]

I’m that user. Windows 10 seems to work with some SD cards and not others, for no reason.

I have Arch Linux dual booting on my Cube and it didn’t have a problem with any of the cards, but I had to swap cards from other tablets and cell phones until I found one that worked with Windows 10.

The Patriot class 10 has been rock solid for a few months now. I shouldn’t say that too loud as I’ve had other cards work for a while (after a driver update) and then stop working in Windows later. This seems to be a fairly common problem with Chinese Windows 10 tablets. It could be as simple as a registry setting — that fixed the problem on my Teclast X98 Pro.

[Doug Lung]

One caution, before formatting try using the card as shipped. Formatting can cause problems, so I suggest only trying that if it doesn’t work out of the box.

[Doug Lung]

Yes – that’s the one! It matches exactly.

The way Windows handles these cards is odd, so no guarantees it will work on your tablet, but probably worth a try. For what it’s worth, I formatted it as exFAT in Windows. NTFS might work too but I use it mainly to store photos, books, music and video — large files so exFAT inefficiency isn’t an issue.

[Doug Lung]

This is clearly a Windows issue as I haven’t had any problems detecting and mounting SD cards in Linux (Arch Linux – 4.7 Kernel) on my Cube. Every SD card I tried worked in Linux, but it was hit or miss with Windows. After updating drivers, my Samsung 128 GB card worked sometimes, but often wasn’t recognized. Frustrating.

After trying some different cards, I found my Patriot 128 GB card was recognized all the time in Windows (and obviously, Linux). The Patriot SD card wasn’t a premium card — I picked it up at Fry’s on sale. My Samsung 128 GB card now has a home in my Asus Android tablet.

 

[Doug Lung]

Re: RAVPower battery pack. Bad news.

I posted too soon. The RAVPower displayed the “Plugged In” battery icon in Windows but fails to charge and drops out after a few minutes, not maintaining the battery charge. I’ve got a USB-C to USB-C charge cable on order from Google. We’ll see if that works. According to the RAVPower spec it should deliver 12V/1.5A on the QuickCharge USB-A outlet. If I have any success with it, I’ll post an update.

…DL

[Doug Lung]

Thanks for starting this survey!

Samsung 128 EV)+ Micro SD card works after installing Intel driver using Device Manager.. Select Update Driver and let Windows search on-line for the driver. It will find the Intel driver and install it.

RAVPower RP=PB043 20100 mAh external battery pack will charge the i7 Book via the USB-C port. Use the supplied USB-A to micro-USB cable plugged into the QuickCharge USB-A jack with the female USB-micro and USB-C adapter plugged into the i7 Book USB-C connector. The battery pack can deliver 12V at 1.5A so it won’t charge as fast as the supplied adapter.

The RAVPower battery pack doesn’t come with a charger, so you will need a USB-C QuickCharge charger to charge the battery pack. I found a Tenergy charger at Frys that I wouldn’t dare plug into the I7 but it works okay with the RAVPower until I find something better.

I was happy to find the RAVPower battery pack works. I haven’t had time to test the battery life, but I hope it and the i7’s battery will last at least a full business day.

…DL

[Doug Lung]

Nice job! Installed it without any problems using the batch file and following your instructions. My tablet now performs much better and it is nice to have root!

Thanks!

[Author]

Posts