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Hi,
I have received a 10" HP Detachable Laptop with touch screen. This machine works with a special double OS, one in the keyboard side with a 500 Gb SSD drive and another one in the screen having a 32 Gb drive. I imagine this is in order to permit to detach the screen from the keyboard, keeping the system alive and working as a tablet.
After a lot of trials, finally, I have installed the Linux Mint, first in the screen drive and, afterwards, in the keyboard drive. It can boot from both drives and seems to work. It has some big problems, tough:
- I can't split the screen. The moment I do that, the system hangs, and I need to drain the battery in order to be able to boot again.
- If ever the system goes to sleep or suspend, again I have to drain the battery to start the system back.
- To boot the computer, I need to clean the BIOS via Windows + B + switch-on combination. Then F9 and select the drive to boot from.
- It takes several minutes before any information appears on the screen, so it seems like nothing is going on.
For me, all these problems are unacceptable, and I need to find a way to make the system work. I have been searching for information on this particular machine working under Linux, but I haven't found anything significative.
Does, some of you, have experience sanitizing these kinds of devices? The one I haver is an HP X2 10-P018WM.
Thank you in advance
Kommentare
Hi Josep,
Hi Josep,
there are some problems with this kind of devices:
- the normally used Atom-CPUs are weak
- the RAM is often to small and can not be expanded
- the SSDs in the "tablet-part" are too small ( 32 or 64 GB ) an can not be changed
- this devices normally use an SoC -( System on a Chip ) CPU so not all functions ( audio, camera, wifi etc. ) might be well supported by the linux kernel
- if there is a second harddisk inside the keyboard it can not be used for the operating-system. I tried it with different devices and it is only a question of time when bad connections between keyboard and tablet corrupt the harddisks filesystem.
In sum I this low-spec devices are not usable for the Labdoo-project.
If you want to use it in any other way:
- install an OS on the tablet's harddisk. I prefer MX-Linux for those devices. It runs smooth on lowpowered CPUs
- the keyboard's harddisk can be used like an external harddisk, but it makes no sense to link the users personal folders to it. If the filesystem is corrupt or absent ( booting without keyboard ) there might be problems
- before installing MX-Linux use it as a live-distro and try if audio an wifi are working.
- use it some hours before giving it to someone else because some devices can freeze because of the problematic driver situation
I by myself use a HP X 210 with 32GB HD. MX-Linux uses 12-14 GB from the HD. That will be enough as long as I don't start collecting pictures or videos on that device. And my preferences in Firefox are set to delete all the data collected during a Firefox-session. This point is often overseen when running devices with small harddisks.
best regards
thomsen
Hi Thomsen,
Hi Thomsen,
Thank you very much for your quick answer. This machine is really a pain..
I have understood correctly, I can try to install a Linux OS, like MX-Linux, just in the screen 32 Gb HD. And then use it as a tablet basically. I can even install some of the educative programs contained in the EN image, but that would be all. I have read that the screen is a 32 bits EFI, did you use a 32 or 64 MX-Linux? I have searched the web page of MX-Linux and it seems they only support the 64 bits version. Instead, could I use the 32 bit Antix 23 version?
Given that, the moment I connect the keyboard with the screen it can start having issues, do you think it would be right just to deliver it to a school without the keyboard, just as it was a tablet ?
Thank you in advance.
Best Regards
Josep M
Hi Josep,
Hi Josep,
the space on a 32GB harddisk is very limited even if with a slim OS like MX-Linux. If you want to use this device it would be a good idea to add an indicator for the diskspace to the panel. There is one in XFCE, the DE I prefer for some reasons.
MX-Linux is the "big sister" of Antix. These projects share the community and the techniques behind them. Antix is for "really old" devices and MX is a debian based slim OS that runs well on older machines. On https://mxlinux.org/download-links/ there is a version wich still supports 32-bit, but I don't know if it is bootable on a UEFI-device. So you'll have to try it ...
The problem with 32-bit OSs is the missing support for programs that are no longer maintained for 32 bit. This can be an security issue and you are sticked to deprecated programs.
As you mentioned the uefi on this device might be 32-bit whereas the CPU is 64-bit. I remember I had to add boot32ia.efi somewhere into the /boot folder of the USB-device with the installing system to boot it.
If you can install the device you should give it away as an "goodie". It can be used for surfing the Internet or doing a little officework. You can try to install educational software but always have a look at the remaining limited diskspace :-((
best regards
thomsen
Hi Thomsen,
Hi Thomsen,
Thank you for your answer and all the information.
I have managed to install Linux Mint into the drive located on the keyboard side of the laptop. It boots fine and works fine and, considering the CPU and all, it works also fine. I'm thinking about a solution to fix the screen so the user can't remove it while the system is working.
On the other hand I have been trying with MX and Antix but none of them recognizes the 32 Gb eMMC drive placed into the screen side. I think I'm going to try with a SD card in the SD slot.
I'll keep you informed.
Best Regards
Josep M