Bug#788532: grub-efi-ia32-bin should be shipped on install DVD
So, after a weekend of playing with this device[1], I conclude:
- Debian 8 multiarch DVD includes everything necessary for a working OS
installation.
- To install a full Desktop environment (i.e. Gnome), an internet connection
is still required.
- Installing a 64bit OS with 32bit Grub is possible, but will not boot most of
the time. It usually hangs after Grub's "Loading initrd..." message. I did get
it to boot once or twice, but why remains a mystery.
- 32bit Debian works like a charm on this device, not a single hang at boot,
Gnome desktop is usable.
- A lot of hardware in the device does not work: the touchscreen, wireless and
Bluetooth, power management, the battery indicator, the SD card reader
(internal flash is fine), both cameras, sound, volume rockers and power button
- The device has a combined USB and charging port. I managed to find a
suitable Y cable, so I can inject power into the device and an external USB
hub while connecting keyboard, mouse, ethernet and pen drive via the hub.
- I tried kernel 4.0.0-2 from sid, it works equally well, but with the same
driver limitations.
- A friend of mine who is familiar with Bay Trail devices suggested that the
ACPI tables are most likely incomplete, making the kernel simply not see
certain components, and thus failing to enumerate devices. Tough luck.
- I imaged the preinstalled Windows 8.1 before wiping the flash, and succeeded
in extracting the registry Hives. Maybe I can find a complete hardware list
with resource assignments there. To do.
- I have a driver matching the wireless chipset[2], but it doesn't work
because the SDIO bus fails to enumerate anything on Linux. I'm quite certain
the driver is fine, as I had it operating in a different device with the same
chipset.
- The device comes with a full-blown Award UEFI BIOS setup. You can configure
almost every component, possibly even some that aren't there. The USB setup
page mentions XHCI and OTG support, but this isn't supported officially, and
the single USB port is not a USB 3.0 one.
If you can provide any further help or pointers, they'd be well appreciated.
For now, my priorities lie on getting wireless and the touchscreen to work.
That would turn the tablet from "working" into "useful".
Thanks!
Ah, and I think the bug report can be closed now.
[1] http://www.trekstor.de/detail-surftabs-en/product/surftab-wintron-70.html
[2] https://github.com/hadess/rtl8723bs/
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