Xecure
My experience with antiX and tablets is short, but I will try to explain what I have learnt.
I see cheap tablets from China, as cheap as $10 or $15.
You better forget this. Most of these are ARM based. You will have to look for intel based tablets (probably using atom Z8300 series). I think the most basic ones will start at 70$, thought second hand may be a good option.
Things you must avoid:
– Tablets that come only with android (as they will probably have no compatible firmware for linux, and maybe not even a BIOS). If they can run Windows, your hope can go up.
– AVOID EMMC. Search for tablets that can have their hard drive replaced, if possible. Doesn’t matter if they are real SSDs or hybrids. If the EMMC breaks, I don’t know if you will be able to find someone that can replace them. Your only hope would be to use them only in live environment with a USB permanently plugged in.
– Search for devices you CAN disassemble (search google for “tabletname” “disassemble”). Shitstuff like the Surface Pro is a No-no. If you cannot open it with screwdrivers and/or a plastic “clip” (I don’t know what they are called in English), don’t get it. If it breaks, it will become a useless paperweight.
– they MUST have a USB port (or Micro-usb, or the like). You need to boot antiX, and I believe this is not possible to do from an SD card. Get a USB Dongle, as you will probably have to use Mouse + keyboard + live-USB to install antiX, before you are able to get the touchscreen working and Onboard or other on-screen keyboards installed.
– It is better if they have a charging port. If they only charge through USB, then you will not be able to use mouse/keyboard (incase the touch recognition stops) or even a USB-Wifi device, as the onboard wifi may not work under linux (or maybe is missing a firmware file, which you will need to add manually) while they are charging. I would also check, before installing antiX (on the live-USB), that charging and battery level is detected. Some devices simply will never charge after linux is installed (missing driver/frimware).
– Check to see if the Wifi chip works under linux (search on the net). You won’t be able to update anything or navigate the interwebs (except if using Ethernet to USB or a WIFI USB device).
– Touch. AVOID SILEAD. Silead touchscreens are very buggy. My tablet has a Silead screen, and Debian doesn’t include the driver with their kernel (fortunately, anticapitalista does).
– If you are planning on using a WM, think about the resolution. Too big, and you will have to: a)Use a lower resolution, b)Use hi-DPI (Font will be readable), but buttons in programs will look extremely small (I haven’t figured out how to increase their size).
Before buying, search google for “tabletname” “Ubuntu” or “Arch”, as most people who try to configure their tablet with linux use one of them. Maybe even the Arch wiki has an article of someone who got their tablet working and what drivers/firmwares/kernel-version were needed.
My experience: I got a secondhand Teclast X98 plus ii. I needed to boot from USB 4 or 5 times before a special version of Xubuntu launched. antiX launched every single time (10 points to antiX), some problems reinstalling with the present eMMC disk, but it worked. Silead touchscreen (ouch). I needed to find the firmware online, place it in the correct folder and manually restart silead module. Had some trouble calibrating (but it worked out). Wifi (RTL8723BS) needed a firmware I found in MX 18, and I think it only worked when I upgraded the kernel to antiX 4.19 version (bluetooth never worked). Battery wasn’t recognized. I had to compile a new antix-4.19 kernel for my device with the needed modules for my battery and charger (axp288). Sound never worked (still investigating the chip), no gyroscope (created a script to rotate the screen and the touch coordinates), no webcam (who needs this?). I was working on finding a way to compile a module to get Bluetooth working, so at least I could get audio through Bluetooth. Now I have it loaned, and I don’t think I will get it any time soon, so the project is stopped.
antiX works like a charm. Very very fast. Faster than MX and WAY faster than Windows. I was using this device to read ebooks and navigate the web.
Hope this helps.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Xecure. Reason: Added info about wifi USB dongles
antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.