AW: Install debian armhf on tablet "surface rt"

[hans.ullrich@loop.de]

Hi folks,

at weekend I tried hard, but I still got not much progress. The most sucess I got with "multiboot". Here I managed to get it booting from an usb-stick

(I had to set a timeout withi grub.cfg like "set timeout=10").The problem is, that when grub is starting the keyboard is not usable. Even the "enter"-key is not working.

Exactly to say it does the following:

1. Booting fom usb-stick = working

2. Grub is loading = working (after 10 seconds)

3. The grub menu with choices (Install, Advanced,.... etc.) = working (after 10 seconds)

4. Screen going dark, then after some seconds I get an erro message

"devices not known" or sinilar


Here I am stuck.

I can not use "dd" for the usb-stcick, as the grub-version on the usb-stick is a special version for the Surface RT, which is not using scripts, only the grub.cfg is used.
Although I searched the web, I could not find any solution without using loopback and a grub.cfg, which is able to start an ISO-image. But grub2 shall be able, to boot iso-images.

Still trying hard, so any help is preciated.

Best regards

Hans


Am Fri, 06 Sep 2019 12:04:36 +0000, hans.ullrich@loop.de schrieb:

Hi folks,

I am trying to install debian on a Surface RT.

Being on 2/3rd on the way, I am now stuck, but an easy problem.

At the momant, I am t the ponit, that I can boot from an USB-stick. The USB-stick is loaded with grub (a special version for the Surface RT).

On the stick I put the installation iso-file. I want to use an ISO, because when thuis is working, other live-images (like kali-linux) can be installed, too.

Booting is starting, grub is starting, after 10 seconds it shall boot the iso.

But at this point I am stuck.

As there is only a grub.cfg, I think there is an entry missing. When grub is wanting to boot, I get an error, pointing to "loopback"

What is wrong? This is the entry in grub:

----snip ---

set timeout=10
set root='hd1,msdos2'
set isofile="/debian-10.0.0-armhf-xfce-CD-1.iso"
menuentry "Install OS" {
 loopback debian $isofile
}
insmod font

if loadfont ${prefix}/unicode.pf2
then
    insmod gfxterm
    set gfxmode=auto
    set gfxpayload=keep
    terminal_output gfxterm
else
    reboot
fi

---- snap --------


I am not sure, if  "hd1,msdos2" is correct, windows is showing it as drive D:\, what let me think, hd0 is the harddrive, hd1 is the usb-stick.

If I get the iso running, I will tell about my progress.

Thanks for any help and hints.

Best regards

Hans