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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

Installing Ubuntu on ASUS T100 TA

As of November 2018. (20181125)

John Brodie said

The problem with step by step guides. The information is only accurate for up to a few months.

Follow this guide with a grain of salt. Check if something is working before trying to repair it. After fixing it, verify if it is really working.

Most importantly, backup your data. You already do it monthly, don't you?

Source repository

Contribute to the guide here: https://github.com/5bentz/linux-asus-t100

Resources

Other sources that made this guide possible

The guide starts here!

1. Download Ubuntu 18.04.1

Download the ISO file you prefer. I personally like Xubuntu for its lightweight, yet powerful & customizable desktop environment.

Note: Download the 64 bit version. 32 bit versions may fail to boot.

2. Flash the installation media

Flash the installation media. We will need to write on it afterwards, so do not use dd or DD mode.

On Windows

Alternatively to this section's instructions, you can follow Ubuntu's tutorial. https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/tutorial-create-a-usb-stick-on-windows#0

The defaults should be alright, I'd just recommend setting the partition scheme to GTP UEFI, since ASUS T100 and Windows 10 are compatible with it. Make sure you are flashing the correct device.

  • Partition scheme: GPT UEFI
  • Name: 11 characters max, for example UBUNTU1804
  • File system: default (FAT32)
  • Cluster size: default (8192 bytes)
  • Image Mode: default (ISO).

3. Add the bootable GRUB file for our IA32-powered ASUS T100.

Once Rufus has finished to flash the media:

  • Copy the bootia32.efi file in the EFI/BOOT directory. This directory should already contain various EFI files: probably BOOTx64.EFI and grubx64.efi.

If, like jfwells, you would like to build bootia32.efi by yourself, follow his guide (primarily for Linux Ubuntu and other Linux Debian-derivatives): https://github.com/jfwells/linux-asus-t100ta/tree/master/boot

4. Boot

Disable Secure Boot

  • Power on your ASUS T100
  • Press repetitively the F2 button at boot to prompt the UEFI menu, namely Setup Utility
  • Go to the tab Security, then Secure Boot menu
  • Make sure Secure Boot Support is [Disabled]

Boot the installation medium

It is time to boot the installation medium!

  • Power on your ASUS T100
  • Press repetitively the ESC button at boot to prompt the boot menu
  • Select your installation medium, in our case: UBUNTU1804
  • Try Ubuntu without installing
  • You might need to turn keyboard's numeric lock (NumLock) off
    • FN + numLock (or FN + Inser) on the keyboard
    • or numlockx off in a terminal
  • Optionally, change your keyboard layout
    • setxkbmap countryCode (de for German, fr for French, etc)

Run the installer

  • In a terminal, run ubiquity -b

Note: The flag -b is necessary in this tutorial. It tells ubiquity not to install a bootloader. Without this flag, ubiquity would crash when trying to install it (Thanks Steven Andrew Mielke!). The bootloader is installed in the section Bootloader Installation below.

For novice users

For novice users, follow Ubuntu's tutorial. But do not reboot at the end of the installation. Press the button Continue testing instead. When you are done with Ubuntu's tutorial, jump to the section Bootloader Installation in this document.

For more advanced users

For more advanced users, choose the last installation type: Something else. And jump to the next section Partitioning.

5. Partitioning

The changes done in this section are not effectively written on the disk. The actual partitioning will happen when we'll run the installation. Therefore, you can go back at any time and try again.

Note: A new ESP's filesystem is displayed as ext4 in ubiquity when partitioning, before install. This is a display bug. The ESP is a VFAT or FAT32 partition.

ESP stands for EFI System Partition.

Note: Ignore the device with a single partition of 8014 MB, namely /dev/mmcblk0.

Make up space for Ubuntu

2 scenarios: keep Windows or ditch Windows.

Keep Windows
Ditch Windows
  • Delete each partition, except the ESP. The ESP is probably one of the first partition, its size is 100 MB, and may be labeled SYSTEM.
    • Select the partition you want to delete
    • Press the - button to delete it.

Note: Alternatively, if you know what you are doing, you can create a new partition table and a new ESP. Backup the old ESP, just in case.

Create the partition for Ubuntu

  • Select the Free Space
  • Press the + button to add a new partition
    • Size: the rest (this is the default)
    • Use as: ext4 journaling file system
    • Mountpoint dropdown-menu: /
    • OK

6. Installation

  • Make sure 'Device for bootloader installation' is the right device, probably /dev/mmcblk2
  • Install now
  • ...Installation...
  • When finished, Continue testing

7. Bootloader Installation

  • From now onward, we will run the commands as root. To obtain superuser privileges, execute
  • sudo -s
  • Do not use sudo for each command, since it fails with some commands (for and >).

Enable WiFi

/!\ Theses filenames are for T100TA and T100CHI only. Other T100's (T100TAF and 100H*) have other brcmfmac numbers. See the troubleshooting section No WiFi at the end of this document.

/!\ The filename ends with sdio.txt. Do not overwrite the file ending with sdio.bin.

  • cp /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/nvram-* /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43241b4-sdio.txt #useful now
  • cp /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/nvram-* /target/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43241b4-sdio.txt #useful after reboot
  • modprobe -r brcmfmac
  • modprobe brcmfmac

Now, you should be able to connect your ASUS T100 to your network.

Chroot in the new system

  • Find the EFI System Partition. This should be the VFAT partition next to /target
    • In the example below, it is mmcblk2p1
    • If you are unsure, check its size with lsblk, it should be about 100M.
    • lsblk -f
$ lsblk -f
NAME         FSTYPE   LABEL       UUID                  MOUNTPOINT
loop0        squashfs                                   /rofs
sda
└─sda1       ntfs     Restore     0A32F68B32F67AD1
sdb
└─sdb1       vfat     XUBUNTU_18_ D85F-FC95             /cdrom
mmcblk2
├─mmcblk2p1  vfat                 1DA4-A881
└─mmcblk2p2  ext4                 a1994fa2-ddf3-...ff   /target
mmcblk2boot0
mmcblk2boot1
mmcblk0
└─mmcblk0p1  vfat                 9016-4EF8             /media/xubuntu/9016-4EF8
  • Mount the EFI System Partition on the new system
    • mount /dev/mmcblk2p1 /target/boot/efi
  • Then, we have to mount some other filesystems before chrooting:
for dir in /dev /dev/pts /proc /run /sys;
  do mount --bind "$dir" /target/"$dir";
done
  • Here we go!
    • chroot /target /bin/bash

Install the Bootloader

  • Verify that /dev /dev/pts /proc /run /sys and /boot/efi are mounted
    • findmnt
TARGET
/
├─/dev
│ └─/dev/pts
├─/proc
├─/run
├─/sys
└─/boot/efi
  • Install grub for EFI-IA32 architecture, and update its config file
    • apt update
    • apt install grub-efi-ia32 #grub-pc removed is normal behavior
    • grub-install --efi-directory /boot/efi
    • update-grub
  • Run efibootmgr to see if ubuntu is in BootCurrent and if it is first in BootOrder, as shown below:
$ efibootmgr
 BootCurrent: 0001
 Timeout: 1 seconds
 BootOrder: 0001,0002
 Boot0001* ubuntu
 Boot0002* UEFI: USB stick

8. Boot options

  • Boot options must be edited in the file /etc/default/grub
    • nano /etc/default/grub

Power saving

  • Edit kernel command-line parameters to add intel_idle.max_cstate=1 before quiet
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="intel_idle.max_cstate=1 quiet splash"
  • cstate <= 1 is STABLE in 2018.
  • cstate >= 2 is NOT stable.

GRUB boot screen

  • If you want the system to boot faster, let's say 1 second after the GRUB boot screen
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=1
  • Update the grub configuration file in /boot/efi/grub/grub.cfg
    • update-grub

9. Feel free to do other things in the chroot environment, then reboot

  • When you are done. Just execute exit.
  • Before the reboot
    • umount /target/boot/efi
  • Reboot on the new system.

10. Sound

/!\ T100TA and T100CHI only. Other T100's (T100TAF and T100H*) has other audio device numbers. You will find files for your device on the Asus T100 group drive.

  • Download the following folder
  • Extract it and enter the folder
  • Follow the instructions from the file README.txt
    • sudo rm /var/lib/alsa/asound.state
    • sudo mkdir /usr/share/alsa/ucm/bytcr-rt5640
    • sudo cp HiFi bytcr-rt5640.conf /usr/share/alsa/ucm/bytcr-rt5640
  • Verify the file are correctly installed, as shown below
$ ll /usr/share/alsa/ucm/bytcr-rt5640
total 16
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8552 Aug  1 21:35 HiFi
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  118 Aug  1 21:35 bytcr-rt5640.conf
  • sudo alsactl restore
    • We have sound devices in Pulseaudio now :3 But still no sound.
    • Lower the sound volume, just in case.
  • Reboot
    • a new asound file is generated (created before or after reboot), but still no sound
  • sudo cp kernel4.5.xand4.4.x.asound.state /var/lib/alsa/asound.state
  • sudo alsactl restore
    • Now we have sound!

If you have no sound, make sure Pulseaudio is correctly set:

  • pavucontrol
    • Configuration pane
      • Card Name: off
      • Built-in audio: Play HiFi quality music
    • Input device: ignore it, this is for your micro.
    • Output device
      • Port: Headphones or speaker playback
  • You are good!

If you still have no sound, see the troubleshooting section No Sound at the end of this document.

11. Backlit control

Use xbacklight. Working for kernel >= 4.13 (Ubuntu 1804 has kernel 4.15)

  • xbacklight -inc 1 and xbacklight -dec 1
  • xbacklight requires to configure Xorg: /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "intel"
    Option      "Backlight"  "intel_backlight"
EndSection

12. Hardware video decoding

With hardware video decoding, a video player should use around 25% CPU when playing a 720p, h264 video fullscreen, instead of 70-100% without hardware decoding.

  • apt install ubuntu-restricted-addons
  • reboot
  • apt install vainfo
    • vainfo

13. Disable numlock at boot

  • Numlock is especially annoying in the login screen, when typing the password...since we do not see the actual characters.
    • apt remove numlockx

14. Bluetooth

/!\ Same warning as Sound and WiFi, the following file is for T100TA and T100CHI only. Other T100's (T100TAF and T100H*) have other Bluetooth device numbers.

Bluetooth should already partially work. For a better support, e.g. pairing and bonding, we need the firmware file BCM4324B3.hcd in the folder /lib/firmware/brcm/.

Troubleshooting

1. No WiFi

We have to find out which file your system needs.

  • Run dmesg
  • sudo dmesg

2. No Sound

Solution A: Turn realtime-scheduling off for pulseaudio

For any software, the rule of thumb is to override the configuration by creating a new .conf file in /etc/software/directory.conf.d/ instead. In this way, the system won't complain during an upgrade of the configuration file (Here daemon.conf for pulseaudio).

  • Obtain superuser privilege (root)
    • sudo -s
  • Create a new directory for our configuration file
    • mkdir -p /etc/pulse/daemon.conf.d/
  • Create the configuration file
    • echo 'realtime-scheduling = no' > /etc/pulse/daemon.conf.d/50-fix_pulseaudio.conf
    • You can change the name of the file, provided you keep the .conf extension though.
  • For more information
    • man pulse-daemon.conf

Solution B: Disable sound over HDMI

  • Obtain superuser privilege (root)
    • sudo -s
  • echo 'blacklist snd_hdmi_lpe_audio' > /etc/modprobe.d/fix_audio.conf
  • Reboot

3. T100TAM Touchscreen

Add these kernel command-line parameters: tsc=reliable clocksource=tsc

History

20181125
  • Verify the mounts before installing bootloader
  • Add an audio fix: Disable sound over HDMI
  • Add a fix for T100TAM Touchscreen
  • C-state >= 2 is not stable
  • Minor changes
20181024
  • Mention the source repository
  • Improve the style
  • Create the file README.md
20181007
  • Advise to become root instead of using sudo
  • Add a Bluetooth section
  • Add a Troubleshooting chapter with 2 sections: No WiFi and No Sound
20180815
  • Use 64 bit ISOs
  • Disable Secure Boot
  • Keep the ESP instead of wiping it
20180802

First version