Pick a Linux Distro

• I tried Phoenix OS, which is actually Android and worked really nicely, but my OS randomly broke and got stuck in a boot loop
• Ubuntu might be a reasonable choice, but I imagine that its desktop environment will be too resource-intensive for the weak T100TA
• I'm trying Xubuntu to see if it works well

Create a Bootable USB of your Linux Install Image

1. Download Rufus (I like the portable version)
2. Run Rufus (these instructions are using version 3.11.1678)
3. Click the "SELECT" button and select your Linux installation image
4. Make sure the correct device is selected in the "Device" dropdown (it should be your USB flash drive)
   • Remember that this will wipe out your USB flash drive
5. For "Persistent partition size", use the default of "0 (No persistence)
6. For "Partition scheme", use the default of "GPT"
7. For "Target system", use the default of "BIOS or UEFI" (the T100TA is UEFI)
8. For "Volume label", use whatever you want (I just keep it as the default)
9. For "File system", use the default of "FAT32 (Default)"
10. For "Cluster size", use the default (for Xubuntu, my default seems to be "8192 bytes (Default)")
11. Click "START"
12. If you're given any prompts where Rufus asks for permission, click "Yes" to give permission
13. If you're asked to write the image in "ISO Image mode" or in "DD Image mode", use the recommended of "ISO Image mode"
14. If Rufus warns you about all data being destroyed on the device, click "OK"
15. Rufus will do its thing for a while (you can track its progress in "Status")
16. Once Rufus is done, click "CLOSE" to exit Rufus
17. Download bootia32.efi and move it to the EFI/BOOT directory in your USB flash drive
    • This folder should probably already contain BOOTx64.EFI, grubx64.efi, and mmx64.efi
18. Eject your USB flash drive and then remove it

Disable Secure Boot

1. Power on your ASUS T100TA while repeatedly pressing the F2 key to boot into the UEFI menu (called "Aptio Setup Utility")
2. Go to the "Security" tab
3. Enter the "Secure Boot menu"
4. Make sure "Secure Boot Support" is "[Disabled]"

Boot from USB

1. Insert your USB flash drive into your ASUS T100TA
2. Power on your ASUS T100TA while repeatedly pressing the esc key to boot into the boot device selection menu
3. Select your USB flash drive (should be "UEFI: " followed by the model name of the flash drive) and hit Enter
4. Get to the installer of your Linux distro (varies by distro)

Install Linux

1. Run your Linux distro's intaller (specific instructions vary by distro)
2. For partitioning, you can choose to either keep or remove your Windows partition
   • In my case, I thought Windows 8 and 10 were both garbage on this laptop, so I nuked Windows entirely
   • In Xubuntu's installer, I did the following for "Installation type":
     1. Check "Erase disk and install Xubuntu" (I didn't pick any "Advanced features...") and click "Continue"
     2. For "Select drive:", select "MMC/SD card #3 (mmcbnlk2)" (it was the only device other than the USB drive)
     3. Click "Install now" and click "Continue" on the prompt that pops up
3. Let the Linux installer do its thing

Acknowledgements

This repo was extremely helpful as I was figuring things out.