Surface windows rt linux

1) Shrink the windows partition.

Go to Control Panel -> System and Security -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management. Then right click on the windows partition and go shrink volume as much as you’d like (a minimum of 50 GB is recommended).

2) Make a bootable Ubuntu usb drive.

3) Have a USB-hub ready (refer to the «State of Surface-Series Devices» thread linked above to see if your keyboard will work OOB).

If it is reported to not work OOB, plug in an external keyboard/mouse as necessary, but be sure to leave a USB port open.

4) Boot from USB.

Turn the Surface off and then hold the volume up button while powering on to boot to USB.

5) Install Ubuntu.

You should be able to boot off the Ubuntu usb stick now. I chose all the default options and installed alongside Windows 10. Reboot and enjoy Ubuntu.

6) Install a patched kernel (optional: some devices, really the SP3 and older really don’t need the added functions anymore because they’ve been mainlined).

You should now be able to boot to a working Ubuntu. If you choose to install a patched kernel (see the «State of Surface-Series Devices» to see if your device needs one to enable functionality), please see the below:

6a) Compile your own kernel from source.

This is recommended if you have the time/are willing to learn. Most of the modifications/patches you will need can be found detailed in these three Github pages. I will be compiling a guide to build/install your own in the coming weeks when I have free time.

• https://github.com/jimdigriz/debian-mssp4
• https://github.com/ipts-linux-org/ipts-linux-new/wiki
• https://github.com/tiggerite/mint-17.3-for-surface-pro-3

6b) Install u/JakeDay42’s kernel. — 4.14.y (he updates the subversions as they come out)

7) Change the kernel that boots by default.

Everything is now installed, however there is a good chance that your laptop won’t boot the right kernel by default. You can select it manually in grub at boot by going Advanced options for Ubuntu -> Ubuntu, with Linux $YourCustomKernel. To switch out the default you will need to edit grub (I did this with grub-customizer http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/43471/how-to-configure-the-linux-grub2-boot-menu-the-easy-way/ followed by sudo update-grub)

8) (Optional)

8)a) Swap Suspend (S3 — Sleep/Connected Standby) for hibernation (see the «State of Surface-Series Devices» thread above for reasoning):

• 1. sudo rm -Rf /etc/systemd/system/suspend.target && sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/systemd/system/hibernate.target /etc/systemd/system/suspend.target
• 2) sudo rm -Rf /etc/systemd/system/systemd-suspend.service && sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-hibernate.service /etc/systemd/system/systemd-suspend.service

This will replace suspend with hibernate system wide and will prevent any program from suspending as the units the system uses to suspend will call hibernate instead. If you just want to disable sleep without substituting hibernate, just mask suspend.target and systemd-suspend.service instead.

8)b) Disable Lid-Wake if you find lid-events to cause sleep issues.

8)c) Disable Touch (on supported custom kernels) when you want to.

Источник

Surface windows rt linux

Alexenferman

UPDATE:

After 5 months since this start of this project, named «Open SurfaceRT», created by CrackTheSurface, with many contributors, including me (I did not really contribute to the Linux side but more on the Windows side) , Linux finally boots up on the Surface RT. This is a huge milestone for the Surface RT community.

Why Linux is better than Windows RT

Thanks to the world of single board computers such as the Raspberry Pi and others, which run on ARM32 and ARM64 hardware, software compatibility issues will be something of the past. Not only we will be able to FINALLY run a up to date Firefox or Chromium browser, but you will be also able to run a ton of software, since most developers release a ARM32 package of their programs under Linux. Speed and stability will also be increased as well. There will be also many new usage cases for these old but still functionnal tablets, such as a good portable programming machine, small server, and basically any other thing you can already do with a single board computer.

Well that sounds great! How can I install it? Well, we are not there yet. Although Linux is booting up, and showing a display signal through HDMI, this is only in the very early beta stage and requires a few weeks or months to build a fully working device tree to get full functionallity. Most functionalities don’t work, such as the built in display, touch, etc.

Also, to boot it, a Nvidia Tegra exploit known as Fusee Gelee needs to be ran from RCX mode to bypass the tablet’s bootloader and to boot into uBoot, which is a bootloader similar to GRUB. From there, we boot to Linux. This process has to be repeated each restart, as the Surface bootloader does not allow any unauthorized operating systems.

Secureboot can also be completely disabled now, instead of only bypassing it as we did before with the Windows 10 installation.

Prices of Surface RTs are rising

A lot of people want to put a new life into these devices, and it looks like the Open Surface RT project as well as the Windows 10 on ARM build has opened some eyes, and it looks like the Surface RT is in higher demand, and sellers of used Surface RT tablets have responded by rising the prices. Some sellers have installed Windows 10 on these tablets and sold them for even more, and there are others who simply just changed the wallpaper of the desktop to a Windows 10 one.

Progress:

At the moment, this is what is working. All information about Linux on the Surface RT and its current progress as well as the Discord server link can be found on the Open Surface RT website.

Current Project Status:

• Device Tree supports: SD/eMMC/UART-A/I2C/HDMI
• UBoot can boot a zImage
• Kernel boots
• Root filesystem is available
• All the things can be observed via UART-A (/HDMI)
• Linux HDMI output! (via a external HDMI display; graphical console)

Source: The Open RT Surface Project

So basically this translates to:

• SD card, internal storage, HDMI, Serial communication are working
• UBoot bootloader can boot a kernel Image (zImage)
• Kernel boots
• Root filesystem is available
• All the things can be observed via serial communication through the HDMI port
• Linux display through HDMI output (via a external HDMI display; graphical console)

Источник

Can Ubuntu run on a Microsoft Surface with Windows RT?

My family might be buying a Windows Surface tablet with Windows RT (Nvidia)? I was wondering if I can run Ubuntu or WUBI on it for my homework?

great question! Ubuntu tablets are definitely a community interest, and canonical knows that! nobody can answer this question-yet. we really need to get our hands on the surface and start hacking. only 2 days until launch, 3 until its hacked.

I’d take a wild guess and say it depends on three things. 1) The processor architecture. Debian runs on nearly every architecture that was ever seriously used so I bet that wont be a problem for long. 2) The boot procedure. Whether it be BIOS, UEFI, or something Microsoft cooks up on their own. Included in this is task of getting Ubuntu onto the internal disk. 3) Device drivers. If there’s no support for the hardware, then Ubuntu may not be able to run in a functional way (i.e., no video, no touch input, no network ability, etc).

Because it has an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, I would assume the processor architecture is ARM, and that system software can be installed using nvflash when the device is in APX mode. It might be a challenge developing a working linux kernel for it because it was only designed to run Microsoft’s kernel.

Someone got Ubuntu to install on the Surface Pro, which isn’t an arm chip, but the information might be useful. Their instructions are here

You can install Raspberry Pi OS!! openrt.gitbook.io/open-surfacert/surface-rt/linux/… I managed to install Ubuntu MATE 22.04 for Raspberry Pi with the same procedure described in that website, but it turns out to be much slower than RPiOS.

4 Answers 4

Since on the RT tablet I would say no, since Microsoft requires secure keys in order to boot up it. It would probably on a standard Windows 8 tablet though, since the secure boot is an optional thing for OEM’s, unlike the mandatory one for the Surface.

Here is a similar question

In short, it doesn’t look likely without some extreme hacking that nobody has done.

Microsoft have deliberately nobbled the Windows 8 specification so that this can’t happen on ARM-based machines.

To be Windows 8 RT compatible (ARM machines only) it must not be possible to disable or reconfigure secure boot. So if you have an ARM machine that can run Windows 8 RT then it can only run an operating system signed by Microsoft.

So the Surface RT is like all other Windows 8 RT in that it’s very much a device for muggles and mouse mittens; no Linux or BSD wizardry allowed, no dual-booting hacked-up iOS and no Android either. I can understand why they’d do this because most people are pointers and clickers, but it’s not a machine for tech-heads.

The Surface Pro has an Intel i5 machine so hopefully Ubuntu 13.04 will support it of the box, if it does then I’ll get one.

Источник