Are there distros for the Intel Atom x5-Z8350 Processor

IFTTT · 10-04-2017, 10:22 PM

It's for a mini pc. Thanks

jlinkels · 10-05-2017, 03:45 AM

The processor has a AMD64 instruction set and supports plenty of RAM. The GPU is Intel as well which is widely supported by Linux. So, yes.

jlinkels

jefro · 10-05-2017, 02:51 PM

There should be some web pages on this already. Some of those do have a goofy loader issue and some issues with sound. The cpu as well as bios and motherboard may affect how easily and how well linux will work.

If you have this mini pc then you can always try some of the live boot distro's. Most are these days.

We'd need to know the exact model.

IFTTT · 10-06-2017, 03:07 PM

I saw the mini pc in amazon. It has windows 10 pre-install.

I read the comments about using linux on it, but it requires flashing the bios with a new firmware so it can boot off a USB with linux.

I'm not going to chance it, i will get a raspberry pi 3 instead. At least, I know that all hardware on it will work with linux.

jefro · 10-06-2017, 03:12 PM

What model was it?

Yes, most of those ARM boards can run linux.

IFTTT · 10-06-2017, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefro

What model was it?

Yes, most of those ARM boards can run linux.

Maxesla Z83V Dual Frequency Display Mini PC Linux System Intel Atom x5-Z8350 Processor 2GB/32GB Storage Dual Band 2.4G/5G WiFi 1000M Ethernet Bluetooth 4.0 Mini Desktop Computer support for windows

It says it can run linux on the description, but only if we flash a new firmware provided by the company.

rokytnji · 10-06-2017, 06:37 PM

Gotta wonder about

Quote:

Customer Review
2.0 out of 5 starsLinux users beware! Utter silence in every way!
BySarah L.on July 20, 2017

Quote:

The Bad:
No sound HW was detected in Linux Mint, or Puppy Linux (kernel 4.4.0.83 or below). Alsa lists only a dummy output and lshw and lspci were equally useless at finding the hardware.

Quote:

The Ugly:
*There is a bug in the BIOS that prevents the user from accessing the BIOS menu if fast boot gets selected.
*The vendor recommends to hit ESC rapidly, repeatedly during startup. THIS DID NOT WORK.
*Intel is aware of the problem and their solution is to update the BIOS, but if you are already locked out, this solution is not possible for a Linux user (there are some apps that may work in Windoze.)

After two weeks of mulling the problem over and being unable to try any different OS's to give my "silent" media server a voice, I decided to return the product.

Even wonder more about the sellers reply.

Quote:

As with all Windows to Linux procedures, it is standard practice to upgrade BIOS before attempting installation with any machine, as the native OS and BIOS are configured to work together as proprietary. Once that is complete, connect device to network via LAN cable and move forward with Linux install. During installation, make sure you allow 3rd party software. Once complete, add the needed repositories which may be required to download any drivers left un-installed. This requires some knowledge of Terminal and prior research to determine what drivers you need and where to find them within the Linux universe. It is well known that Fast Boot gives Linux users some heartburn when it comes to installations on some hardware, so disable it prior to install and you should have no problems. You can re-enable it after installation is complete. If you have Boot From USB enabled in BIOS, (usually required to install Linux) you can often recover a bricked unit using Trinity Rescue Kit, a free Linux OS which allows you to repair both BIOS and OS problems, as well as unlocking Windows PCs. I have yet to find any modern hardware incompatible with Linux, especially Ubuntu and it's derivatives but some are more complicated than others to get up and running. Also be sure to use a USB keyboard and mouse for initial installation as the Bluetooth drivers don't load until the OS is up so you can't access BIOS using Bluetooth devices. I would recommend installing Linux alongside the native Windows OS as a dual boot first. This way you can undo anything that caused a problem or boot into Windows to make any needed changes to the machine to get Linux tweaked and peaked. You can always recover the Windows partition later on for use with your Linux distribution using any of the Linux partition managers to make it a 100% Linux machine. Hope this helps.

Then there is this

Quote:

Note: I also read a review that someone was not able to access the BIOS page when booting up. I pressed Esc a couple of times as it was booting up and it went right in the BIOS page. Just make sure your keyboard is connected either via 2.4g dongle usb (for wireless ones) or wired one. Bluetooth keyboard connects when windows boot up that is why such keyboards are not a good choice for any computer if you want to go to the BIOS page (it's fine for everything else).

http://postmyimage.com/img2/162_screenshot2.jpg

S0 it pays to to read up a little more and take these typed out comments on a amazon page with a grain of salt.

Quote:

I actually wanted something i could run Linux on (Ubuntu or something). Instead of hassling with possible driver issues with Linux, I left the installed Windows 10 operating system on it and installed "Oracle Virtual Box" on top of the Windows 10 (it's free). I then installed Xubuntu, a somewhat lighter version of Ubuntu Linux; RedHat bases their supported version of their OS on this "community" version; I downloaded the latest version, 16.x, it's free also, then updated it, on top of the Oracle Virtual Box as a virtual guest and after some network issues were straightened out on the virtual box it's up and running fine. I probably over committed the storage for the virtual machine at 25G, when you only really need about 7GB, but this is really what I wanted it for anyway. I run the Linux VM at run level 3, the command line level, so it saves on the overhead, but you can run the gui also, at run level 5, it worked fine. WiFi works great also (or you can use the wired connection). Oh, I couldn't get the windows RDP to work so I ended up using the free home version of TeamViewer, and that works good, so I don't need another monitor or monitor connection. I can use putty to log into the VM as well (also free). One last update... there is a "VMService" app at sourceforge that will start the Linux VM at Windows boot time as a service... (although the VM is what they call "headless"; but that's ok

I don't have 107 bucks though to prove a point on this hardware. Maybe it has the 32 bit bios with the 64 bit architecture bug. Hence the need for the need for a bios update. Kinda hard to tell with these Chinese units shipped with Windows 10 on them.

IFTTT · 10-06-2017, 08:13 PM

@ rokytnji

That's way I'm leery about buying this mini pc. I will stick with buying a raspberry Pi3 or an odroid just to play it safe.

fatmac · 10-07-2017, 05:40 AM

The Pi3 works quite well considering its lack of ram, usual slow Firefox though.

I am presently running mine off of a pendrive, having previously used a microSD card, about the same speed wise, but more convenient.

IFTTT · 10-07-2017, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatmac

The Pi3 works quite well considering its lack of ram, usual slow Firefox though.

It will be used mostly as a plex media server.

Shadow_7 · 10-08-2017, 03:29 AM

Heh, the amazon description. The perfect computer for handling complex spreadsheets.

A 1.4GHz quad core with 2GB ram. Nice-ish specs for the price point. But you can get a lot better systems for $200-ish these days. And for $400 you could double the speed and quadruple the ram. Azulle has a few $200-ish ones that are more "normal", while being compact.

https://azulletech.com/product/byte-...ni-desktop-pc/

Slightly different T3 Z8300 atom cpu, but you can get 4GB ram. One of many options. If it's a 32 bit bios for a 64 bit machine, you can use refind to get to 64 bit linux without flashing the bios (in theory). Plus using a wired keyboard so the hotkey (escape) works for the OPs choice. Since wireless things take time to connect and need software support to work, so not exactly ideal for the early boot process. Either way linux is a bit harder to get going on with newer x86 hardware. Unless you go with more linux orientated things like minnowboard.

ondoho · 10-08-2017, 03:42 AM

it seems i'm slowly getting into SBC's ...
anyhow, you might want to check out https://www.armbian.com/ and see what boards are supported, meaning you can install a stable armbian (sometimes ubuntu-based despite the name!) distro on it.

IFTTT · 10-08-2017, 08:28 PM

@ Shadow_7
@ ondoho

Which ever I get it's for educational purposes. It will not replace my main Linux Desktop.

I do hope that one day they can make an i7 cpu and motherboard combo the same size of a raspberry PI. Then I can get rid of my big clunky desktop. Big clunky desktops are things of the 80s and 90s

rokytnji · 10-08-2017, 09:56 PM

Ok. I see you bought it at least. Give us a idea on well the thing rocks and rolls?

I bet if you bump the ram to 4 gig or higher. Virtual box and Linux would be the bomb on it.

Shadow_7 · 10-08-2017, 10:14 PM

The udoo x86 ultra is small-ish, but not nearly the size of a pi. And a bit pricey for an atom CPU, or even celeron. I tend towards laptops, lower power, plus built in UPS. I got my current one for $280 + tax with a 2.4GHz quad core plus 8GB ram. No longer available and nearest equivalent has been $399 for like six months it seems now. A value technically, but it's all over priced IMO. With pi's and pocket chips and such with basically the same functionality, arguably equivalent specs. At least in terms of numbers on a sheet of paper. For considerably less cash.