installing linux on envy x2

[speculatrix]

I'm very interested to follow progress on this. I've not found anyone else trying to do this, after a variety of Google searches.

I've never touched one of the Envy-X2 machines, so forgive the dumb questions. Is there some kind of BIOS or EUFI settings option when you power up, where you can disable secure boot, enable boot menus, that kind of thing? Does Windows have similar power settings/control panel like the x86 version, where you can disable fast boot?

I've got a primitive Windows tablet where the UEFI firmware is crippled, but I was able to turn off secure boot in the settings, and in Windows disable quick start, and then it was able to see the EFI partition (GPT table only) and boot off that.. but only the primary memory card slot or a USB thumb drive in the dock, and not the card slot in the dock.

[JohnLinford]

Some progress with HP Envy x2 12-e011nr. I used Etcher to make a bootable USB of https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/arm64/iso-cd/debian-9.4.0-arm64-netinst.iso.  Power on the machine and repeatedly tap ESC to get to the boot menu.  I see the USB drive as a bootable option, but get "image failed to authenticate".  Reboot and tab ESC, go into BIOS settings and disable secure boot.  Now when I try to boot the USB the system appears to hang.  Black screen, keyboard light is on, but nothing else.

Ubuntu Cloud via https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/xenial/current/xenial-server-cloudimg-arm64-uefi1.img gives the same results.

I am NOT able to create bootable USB drives for the Ubuntu Server or RHEL 7.4 images with Etcher.  Not sure what's different, but it doesn't work.

Has anyone successfully booted Linux on an HP Envy x2 12-e011nr?

[JohnLinford]

Update: I'll be meeting some folks from Linaro and possibly Qualcomm at ISC'18 in Frankfurt to maybe get some progress on this, but don't get your hopes up.

From conversations with Linaro and Qualcomm it sounds like there are some pretty big holes in Linux support on this device.  The Snapdragon 850 is a varient of the 845, which Linaro is doing upstream work for, but there is no open source for 850 so Linaro can't discuss it.  Furthermore, the HP Envy x2 12-e011nr uses ACPI, which is neither used nor supported in the embedded/mobile Snapdragon.  That explains the black-screen hang I'm seeing.  So, there is likely a significant ammount of work required to get Linux to boot on this device, let alone run.

If someone wants to make it happen they'll have to reverse engineer Qualcomm's boot process, implement ACPI support, and upstream it to the open source.  Legal problems asside, this is a huge effort and there's no market case for Linux on this device so you won't get support from the commercial sector.  

My next question: can somebody please port VirtualBox to Windows 10 Arm64?  That would be a much easier way to install Linux on an Envy x2.

[speculatrix]

Isn't the x86 support for legacy Windows programs limited to 32 bit? I wouldn't be surprised if the x86 emulation is so limited that it would entirely prevent virtualbox from being able to do any kind of virtualisation.

I think you're more likely to see WSL being implemented which would give you a linux shell, and it would have to be a native Arm build of linux it would run.

[JohnLinford]

WSL would be awesome, yes.  VirtualBox is open source so maybe a bit easier?  But you're right, performace will be terrible.

[RusNeuroMancer]

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@JohnLinford wrote:

but there is no open source for 850 so Linaro can't discuss it.

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Maybe you mean 835?

[speculatrix]

I think there's hope that you'll be able to use the kernel from the "Cheza" chromebook with the Envy X2.

https://www.xda-developers.com/snapdragon-845-chromebook-project-fi-ufs/

OTOH, might be easier to simply sell the Envy and buy the Chromebook and use the linux support that these offer. And if you need Windows, rent a Windows VM in Azure Cloud?

[RusNeuroMancer]

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@speculatrix wrote:

https://www.xda-developers.com/snapdragon-845-chromebook-project-fi-ufs/

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I don't think this one have drivers for 835 board.

[Wolf665]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but Snapdragon 835 has semy custom Cortex architecture means non-standard means BS means nobody will create distro for it,

on the top of that its old now I would sell the HP and get something standard new based on new ARM chip

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbaptiste/2018/08/22/how-arm-just-ruined-the-launch-of-qualcomms-win...

[richardh4]

Wolf665: Your conclusions are somewhat speculative, and I think it is premature to write off linux on this platform.

Typically, major operating system vendors do not like to make their platform work with 'non-standard' architectures. This should be an indication that the platform appears to the OS to be somewhat 'standard' AArch64. There is an initial ram disk is apprently being developed here:

https://github.com/aarch64-laptops/linux/tree/laptops

Full disclosure: I'm an Arm guy.