Distro for Old Windows 7 Tablet?

[Bones]

Given the experience with Windows 10, LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) might be your best bet as it's one of the more user friendly distros out there. Firefox still supports 32 bit processors, but I'm not sure how fast your tablet will be at browsing the modern, bloated internet.

Either that or Peppermint 10 which is a very friendly verison of it based on Ubuntu.
Peppermint 11 sadly has TPM in it during install and between my setup not having that hardware-wise and the fact I refuse TPM anyway, I'm sticking with 10.

 

[dgianstefani]

Clear Linux.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Couple others good for x86
Absolute linux
Linux lite or light, sounds like a beer

 

[Athlonite]

Defo go with LMDE there's not that much in difference in the GUI to windows and apps are easy just use flatpacks so there's nothing to install

 

[stinger608]

Okay, downloaded LMDE and used Rufus to make a bootable USB flash drive with LMDE iso installed.

Cannot get the Transformer T-100 to boot to that dang USB drive at all.

Rufus shows that it's fine, but it won't boot from it. I've gone into the bios and set the flash drive as first boot drive........Nope.

Hit the Esc key to bring up the boot menu, set to the flash drive..........Nope.

What would everyone suggest for making the USB drive bootable with LMDE ISO installed?

 

[dgianstefani]

Okay, downloaded LMDE and used Rufus to make a bootable USB flash drive with LMDE iso installed.

Cannot get the Transformer T-100 to boot to that dang USB drive at all.

Rufus shows that it's fine, but it won't boot from it. I've gone into the bios and set the flash drive as first boot drive........Nope.

Hit the Esc key to bring up the boot menu, set to the flash drive..........Nope.

What would everyone suggest for making the USB drive bootable with LMDE ISO installed?

Ventoy.

 

[silentbogo]

Did you check the following:
1) GPT parition scheme (for proper UEFI boot)
2) ISO mode (not DD)
3) Secure boot disabled in BIOS
4) Valid image? It seems that 64-bit should work with a 32-bit bootloader, but just in case try a 32-bit distro. In my case a 32-bit debian worked right away.

EDIT:
Just looked up an old thread on XDA.

[FAQ] Asus T100: Installing custom OS (android/ubuntu/*nix/Windows 7/Windows 8 x64)

[4 April 2014]I haven't had time to play with my device or update fully the info in this post Jhong2 has an updated post on how to get ubuntu working on the Asus T100 http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=51291244&postcount=181...

xdaforums.com

 

[ThrashZone]

Okay, downloaded LMDE and used Rufus to make a bootable USB flash drive with LMDE iso installed.

Cannot get the Transformer T-100 to boot to that dang USB drive at all.

Rufus shows that it's fine, but it won't boot from it. I've gone into the bios and set the flash drive as first boot drive........Nope.

Hit the Esc key to bring up the boot menu, set to the flash drive..........Nope.

What would everyone suggest for making the USB drive bootable with LMDE ISO installed?

Hi,
Use this

Hi,
Interesting I would usually just use this easy to use app

Universal USB Installer ▷ Bootable Pendrive Software (UUI)

Universal USB Installer (UUI) USB Bootable Pendrive Software. Boot from USB Windows setup installers, Live Linux ISO files, system repair tools.

pendrivelinux.com

Pop os dude

2gb memory

 

[stinger608]

Man, I've tried all of the above solutions and nothing seems to be working.

I'm just going to burn the damn Linux distro on a DVD and use an external DVD drive I guess.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
So can't get to the boot menu ?

 

[stinger608]

Hi,
So can't get to the boot menu ?

Yeah, I can get to the boot menu without a problem.
However, when I set the USB flash drive to be the first boot after using Rufus, it just boots back to windows.
If I use any other method to make the USB bootable and burn the ISO to the flash drive, it gives me an error upon booting to the flash drive.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Try a different flash drive ?
If no joy after bios setting will have to be altered
If you have another ssd remove the current os ssd and install it maybe that will shack secure boot up a bit.

 

[Icon Charlie]

Heh. It seems you went the Linux way and that is not bad,...

However If that was my tablet and it ran Win 7 I get a Stripped down version of Win 7. Like Win7 lite.

It also depends on your experience with Linux as well. So IMHO I would try Zorin Linux, Pop's Os. and Mint.
I use Zorin a little bit as I slowly transition to Linux.

On my back up computer I'm using stripped down version of Win7.

 

[Timbaloo]

But in order to install it you'll need at least a USB hub, kb/mouse and a USB Ethernet adapter(WiFi won't do).

Out of curiousity: What was/is the problem with the Wifi during the installation? Driver so exotic that it did not make it to the install media kernel modules but can be apt installed later?

 

[silentbogo]

Out of curiousity: What was/is the problem with the Wifi during the installation? Driver so exotic that it did not make it to the install media kernel modules but can be apt installed later?

Not "exotic". Just an old Broadcom chipset with its usual set of quirks.

 

[stinger608]

Well, burnt a LMDE disk, booted to it, installed it.

Took about a half hour for the install.......reboot, and now it doesn't show any disk in the system?

It's like it made the main drive disappear?

Wondering if I did something stupid during the install. Jeez, didn't realize this was going to be such a PITA.

 

[silentbogo]

Jeez, didn't realize this was going to be such a PITA.

That's why in my very first post I recommended to drop this idea and just get a "proper" more modern windows tablet/convertible.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Linux installed in legacy mode and you're using uefi boot only ?
So disable uefi and or enable csm.

 

[stinger608]

That's why in my very first post I recommended to drop this idea and just get a "proper" more modern windows tablet/convertible.

Yeah, that would be an option......Other than I can't really afford something new.

Hi,
Linux installed in legacy mode and you're using uefi boot only ?
So disable uefi and or enable csm.

No, that tablet doesn't have UEFI BIOS. Pretty sure it's all legacy type BIOS and booting.

 

[silentbogo]

No, that tablet doesn't have UEFI BIOS. Pretty sure it's all legacy type BIOS and booting.

I'm pretty sure it does have UEFI, just like my tablet.

Yeah, that would be an option......Other than I can't really afford something new.

I'm not talking "new". Earlier I mentioned a few models, and the most prominent is something like HP Elite X2 tablet. An older Core M3 version runs around $100-150 used nowadays depending on condition and what's included(keyboard, stylus etc). Updated KabyLake version has also fallen in price, and it's just a tad more expensive. Even in Ukraine I can get one locally for $150 or so.
Just digged a bit on our fleebay-equivalent and started drooling over 1013 G4. Slightly cracked glass in a corner, but it's $125 for a friggin' i5-8365U/16GB DDR4/256GB SSD variant. I think I'm getting that one for my workshop.
Older MS Surface or surface pro is also a good candidate. Gen4 and older is cheap enough, but definitely harder to repair than HP X2.

 

[ThrashZone]

Yeah, that would be an option......Other than I can't really afford something new.



No, that tablet doesn't have UEFI BIOS. Pretty sure it's all legacy type BIOS and booting.

Hi,
Pretty sure ?
It should clearly say one way or another in bios boot section legacy or uefi boot :/

Nice avatar by the way I've had the wall paper for a long time