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Linux - Laptop and Netbook Having a problem installing or configuring Linux on your laptop? Need help running Linux on your netbook? This forum is for you. This forum is for any topics relating to Linux and either traditional laptops or netbooks (such as the Asus EEE PC, Everex CloudBook or MSI Wind).

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Old 09-12-2018, 07:19 AM   #1
Relztrah
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Please recommend a distro for a tablet PC - touchscreen a must


I am becoming increasingly frustrated with my Lenovo ThinkPad tablet PC running Windows 10. I re-installed Windows and it has been quirky ever since. Here's what's under the hood:

Intel Atom CPU Z2760 running at 1.8 Ghz
2 GB RAM
32 bit processor

I've used Puppy in the past and somewhat familiar with both Ubuntu and Mint. I really have no preference but it must be easy to learn and allow me to use the touchscreen. There is only one USB port but I plug in a hub which allows me 4 peripherals. At my desk I prefer a physical keyboard and mouse although there will be times when I want to disconnect the hub and use the touchscreen and virtual keyboard.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
 
Old 09-12-2018, 05:56 PM   #2
syg00
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Two of the laptops (real not tablet) in this house are touch capable. Both work for touch, no idea re pen operations - one runs Mint Mate the other Fedora gnome3, so it seems you should be able to pick more or less any well known distro/DE combination. As usual, run it in liveCD mode first and check all the facilities - but be aware this will be slow because of the liveCD mode.

I just checked the Mint machine, it's a Celeron N3050, but does have 4G RAM - even with only 2G you shouldn't need to use puppy. My recently retired Pentium IV box ran full Fedora gnome3 32-bit on 1G. Not fast, but ok - with a lighter DE (Mate maybe) you should be ok.
 
Old 09-12-2018, 07:09 PM   #3
frankbell
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Touch screen support is in the Linux kernel. Any distro should work, as long as the technology of the touchscreen is in the mainstream of touch screens.

You may find some helpful information in this article; the authors argue that some desktop environments are more touch friendly than others: https://www.linuxinsider.com/story/81576.html
 
Old 09-13-2018, 04:23 AM   #4
Relztrah
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Thank you for your replies and the link to the article which was indeed helpful. Excuse my ignorance, but what does DE stand for?
 
Old 09-13-2018, 04:32 AM   #5
syg00
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Desktop Environment - basically the GUI you login to these days. Linux has several, some "heavier" than others - meaning they require better hardware or more resources to run properly. Basically the more "eye-candy" the "heavier" the DE has to be to support it all.

Gross over-simplification BTW ...
 
Old 09-13-2018, 05:50 AM   #6
hydrurga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Relztrah View Post
Thank you for your replies and the link to the article which was indeed helpful. Excuse my ignorance, but what does DE stand for?
This article - written by a LQ member - mentions the DE abbreviation and other factors that matter when choosing a distro. I hope it may be of some help to you.

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ro-4175623119/
 
Old 09-14-2018, 08:37 PM   #7
Relztrah
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This may be a moot point because I have tried to install both Ubuntu and Mint from an external optical drive and also a USB flash drive, and I can't find a way to make the tablet PC boot from either. I've accessed the UEFI settings and changed everything to allow booting from either an optical drive or USB flash drive, and neither happens.
 
Old 09-14-2018, 08:43 PM   #8
hydrurga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Relztrah View Post
This may be a moot point because I have tried to install both Ubuntu and Mint from an external optical drive and also a USB flash drive, and I can't find a way to make the tablet PC boot from either. I've accessed the UEFI settings and changed everything to allow booting from either an optical drive or USB flash drive, and neither happens.
Does any of this work?:

https://www.windowspasswordsrecovery...ash-drive.html

Have you tried using the same DVD/USB media to boot another machine to see if there is some problem with the media or the ISO on it?
 
Old 09-17-2018, 01:36 PM   #9
jefro
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An OTG cable adapter ought to assist you in getting started.

Most of those Atom devices have a goofy 32 bit 64 bit loader problem as well as other devices.
 
Old 09-17-2018, 03:49 PM   #10
YesItsMe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Relztrah View Post
Intel Atom CPU Z2760 running at 1.8 Ghz
2 GB RAM
32 bit processor
OpenBSD.
 
Old 09-18-2018, 03:15 AM   #11
Relztrah
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jefro View Post
An OTG cable adapter ought to assist you in getting started.

Most of those Atom devices have a goofy 32 bit 64 bit loader problem as well as other devices.
How would I use it? Would this allow me to boot from a USB flash drive?
 
Old 09-18-2018, 09:09 AM   #12
rokytnji
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Relztrah View Post
How would I use it? Would this allow me to boot from a USB flash drive?
Hard to answer that because of jefros on point statement about

Quote:
Most of those Atom devices have a goofy 32 bit 64 bit loader problem as well as other devices.
Which is a vendor/windows alliance sorta to keep linux off tablets like yours < oops, not established yet you have onbe of these> .


Code:
Latitude-XT2:~$ lsusb -v
<snip>
 Bus 007 Device 002: ID 1b96:0001 N-Trig Duosense Transparent Electromagnetic Digitizer
<snip>
That is the name of my touchscreen on what I am posting on. Dell XT series Latitude laptop.

2nd edit: Hmmmmmmm

Quote:
32 bit processor

Last edited by rokytnji; 09-18-2018 at 09:13 AM.
 
Old 09-18-2018, 07:09 PM   #13
Relztrah
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rokytnji View Post
Which is a vendor/windows alliance sorta to keep linux off tablets like yours
Well, they apparently succeeded in the case of my Lenovo ThinkPad. Thanks again to all who replied.
 
Old 09-18-2018, 07:36 PM   #14
jefro
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Scratch the OTG part. Doesn't apply here.
 
Old 09-19-2018, 05:45 AM   #15
Bryansom
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Please recommend a distro for a tablet PC touchscreen a must

Will any of theWord 4 work on tablet PCs with a Windows OS?
 
  


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