Please, what new operating system would be suitable for my "eCafé EX HD" (manufactured by Hercules; no hard drive but an SD card)?
Freescale processor tm i.MX515, 800 mhz with heart ARM cortex tm A8

indeed the original operating system (Hercules Ecafe netbook edition) is no longer supported and I wish to continue to be able to use this mini computer by reinstalling an operating system that works on it and is compatible.

if you can also give me a link from step to step installation in French it would help me a lot because I’m a beginner
thank you!

From what I can tell (I do not own one and cannot test verify) any Linux distro compiled for ARM should work. Chrome would be better, it will run Android. It appears a good device, but it does have some limitations. I would not want to see how it would slow down if burdened with a heavy video requirement from one of the more massive DE loads. Anything lighter should serve.

Optimum would be the OS designed for it. Just because it is no loner supported does not make it the best OS for the hardware. If you have the original load image, or it is still running the original OS, I would consider keeping that as an option.

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thank you so much dear wpeckham,

at the moment this small computor stil runs under the original os and works ok except for going on the web because no update is anymore available: I cannot access many websites because of this updates lack and it's a pity as it was a very good and handy machine.

you say "any Linux distro compiled for ARM should work" but please can you give me a more precise idea of which one I should get / or a link going to the right os to get and install?

I am really not professional with computors and am afraid to to something wrong ; my technical english is weak, I do not understand specific terms and everything is in english (but my machine is in french)

here below I give you the characteritics of this e cafe machine, just in case you may need it to help me... many thanks!!
regards,
libou

Marque HERCULES
Nom du produit Hercules eCafé EX HD noir
Catégorie NETBOOK
Général
Système d'exploitation Linux
Type de produit Netbook
Affichage
Type 10.1"
Technologie de rétroéclairage LCD Rétroéclairage par LED
Résolution 1024 x 600 (WSVGA)
Fonctions HighBrightness
Grand écran Oui
Format de l'image 16:9
Stockage
Stockage principal 8 Go SSD
Mémoire
RAM 512 Mo
Audio & vidéo
Caméra Oui
Résolution 0,3 Mégapixel
Son Microphone
Communications
Sans fil 802.11b/g/n
Connexions & extension
Lecteur de carte mémoire Oui (carte SD, MultiMediaCard, carte SDHC)
Interfaces Entrée microphone
3 x USB
Sortie casque
LAN
HDMI
Logiciels
Logiciel(s) inclus eCAFE Sync
Entrée
Type Clavier, touchpad
Batterie
Capacité 6800 mAh
Durée de fonctionnement Jusqu'à 13 heures
Divers
Couleur Noir
Câbles inclus Câble USB
Dimensions et poids
Poids 1.1 kg
Dimensions (LxPxH) 30 cm x 17.1 cm x 2.8 cm
Garantie du fabricant
Processeur / Chipset
CPU Freescale i.MX 515 / 800 MHz

A few seconds in a search engine gave me these three articles:
https://www.slant.co/topics/5304/~li...m-architecture
https://www.linux.com/learn/4-fine-linux-arm-distros
https://www.slant.co/topics/5304/~li...m-architecture


The detail about getting an OS on your specific hardware is something I did NOT find. If you have access to someone more experienced with LINUX, ARM, and minimal hardware devices I would see if they might help.

Your processor info - https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/fact-sheet/IMX515FS.pdf

So you need something that will run on a Cortex-A8.

I'd take a look at SliTaz or Debian.
http://www.slitaz.org/en/
https://www.debian.org/ports/arm/#about

Don't overwrite your present O/S, (as you may need to re use it), go & get yourself another SD(HC) card to experiment with.

SliTaz is a small fast O/S that I have used on Intel computers, & Debian is a good stable distro that I use as a base distro on all my present computers.

a big big thank you for all these infos!!!

searching for install linux on eCafé EX HD
also turned up this:
https://linuxfr.org/users/loulou83/j...af%C3%A9-ex-hd
probably that forum has some more good tips for you, or you could open a thread there.

thank you ondoho but this link was written in 2011... not really up to date. (on 2011 the os was supported )

I do not agree with most comments on your link : ecafe ex hd is a great machine, quick and no problems as long as it was supported.

The only problem is the os not anymore supported

Thanks again to all of you for your good advices and positive answers on the various possibilities to give the machine a second life!