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Tablet to boot FD64?

Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2023 2:21 pm
by fundog

I have searched the forum. I read the recent thread about the Chromebook but I have minmal technical skills and also I am looking for a tablet I can give to a middle school student who uses FD64 at home on an Intel based machine. So, a tablet that is light and sized to slip into a school backpack somewhat like the iPad family is what I am wishing for. Either an attached or separate keyboard could be okay.
I have found no mentions of something like this, so I am hoping...
Thanks in advance!


Re: Tablet to boot FD64?

Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2023 3:05 pm
by chiron

I just recently got myself a Lenovo Yoga 11e chromebook 3rd gen. for near to nothing. That thing has a quad Celeron CPU and runs FD 813 really nice. Only thing missing so far is sound, but I didn't investigate much into it, so there might be an easy way to get sound working, too.

There are really good tutorials online how to get there, it is not much more technical than running a script. Oh, and you need to take it apart to remove the write-protect screw.

Be aware, though, that touch functionality in all Linuxes is somewhat limited, in Chromium based browsers, where the browser handles touch events, things work fine, in the general OS environment, the touchscreen behaves like a mouse at best. Chromebook keyboards are a little bit different, too, you need to use SVEN to remap some of the keys (I only did the important ones).


Re: Tablet to boot FD64?

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:54 am
by Clarity

Nice going @chiron

chiron wrote: Thu Apr 13, 2023 3:05 pm

Be aware, though, that touch functionality in all Linuxes is somewhat limited, in Chromium based browsers, where the browser handles touch events, things work fine, in the general OS environment, the touchscreen behaves like a mouse at best. Chromebook keyboards are a little bit different, too, you need to use SVEN to remap some of the keys (I only did the important ones).

Yes, the touch screen is confused in mouse emulation.

One suggestion to anyone converting a Chromebook to Linux regards the default mouse click on the desktop: Mouse button #1 SHOULD always popup the FD Menu. This is NOT how FD sets the mouse and it would be best changed for tablet productivity. (In fact, it would be best for all uses...not just mouse #1 (BUT I AM SURE that old members would cause an uproar if this happens)

At best, IMHO, there should be a button, or a mouse behavior entry that make this both 'plain and simple' to make mouse #1 be the button that exposes the systems applications for user immediate selection. It would be a productivity gain. But, again, I am sure pure developers will disagree. (Fingers crossed that this is met with some consideration for touch screen system use. :) )

Anyway, enjoy the FD experience.

BTW: Is your tablet dual boot or USB boot?


Re: Tablet to boot FD64?

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 10:52 am
by chiron

BTW: Is your tablet dual boot or USB boot?

I used the Mrchromebox scripts to wipe the whole thing and set up coreboot (This is actually just finding, downloading and running the correct script, which in turn finds, downloads and installs the correct firmware, after opening the case and removing the write-protect-screw).

And now I boot FD from the internal eMMC via rEFInd. If drive-space at 16GB wasn't quite limited, Windows install would also be an option.