Linux on the HP Stream tablet

[streamerbobcov]

I have tried a number of builds, all of them recommended and I have also tried various creation tools for the USB boot stick, turning off persistence as recommended in some threads.  When I select install, I get the lubuntu screen for a few minutes, but then it drops to "initramfs unpacking failed decoding failed and leaves me at a initramfs prompt. 

I have seen some things which say this indicates the install is unable to alter the tablet's hard drive.  Anyone have any ideas for me to try? This is a stream 7. I am using a mac keyboard as a usb hub powered by 2 amp power supply feeding into the table by a Y OTG cable. And as I type this, maybe that is the problem. I just tried the caps lock on the keyboard...no LED.  So, maybe no 5 volts to the keyboard? But it seems to run the USB stick just fine otherwise, how could it get this far? Oh, also sometimes I also get "unable to find a medium containing a live file system"

[kyle_b]

It sounds like you are getting pretty far into the boot sequence, the problem might be your OTG adapter since you are getting varying errors, you might want to try another one.  I have one or two that do not work on my Stream 7 for some reason.  Also, if the Mac keyboard is not actually functioning as a powered hub, there might not be enough power to read the USB reliably. I'm not sure if a Y cable would work to conduct the power, I have read about problems with the Y cables and the Stream. To test the keyboard, hit the F9 key when powering up to see if it selects the boot option menu, if it does, it is working okay. 

You didn't mention which version of Lubuntu you are using or if you tried running Lubuntu live without installing.  Lubuntu should work but I have been testing mostly with Xubuntu lately so you might try that following the instructions at the top of this thread using UNetbootin to create the Live USB.  Or try Debian 10.2.0 32-bit using whatever creation tool you want since modifying the Live USB is unnecessary.  Good luck.

[streamerbobcov]

Hi, I always use F9 to start the process, but as I mentioned, there is no power to light the capslock led, so that could be an issue.

There is no option presented to try the distro, only to install or test memory.  That is something I find odd. I used the Lubuntu versions mentioned in the how to guide. I think I tried a 32 bit version, but I will try again since I dont remember exactly what the error was. I also think it is time I try another boot device. It might be that the usb stick is USB3 certified and maybe there is something about it not being addressed correctly by the drivers that take over the next part of the install process.

[kyle_b]

If this helps, the version of Lubuntu I tested lately was 19.04 and it had "Start Lubuntu" and "OEM install (for manufacturers)" options at the grub menu.  I found I had to select "Start Lubuntu" to boot to the desktop and then connect to the internet and then click the "Install Lubuntu 19.04" icon on the desktop.  The OEM install from the grub menu did not work for me. 

I have used USB 3.0 drives for installs so I don't think that should be the problem, they were backwards compatible to the Stream's USB 2.0 port.

If you continue to have a problem, I would suspect the Mac keyboard/Y cable arrangement.  Try it with a OTG adapter and powered USB hub.  If you don't have a powered hub, a non-powered hub might get you through the installation but it will read the USB slowly and might fail to read it at some point.

[kyle_b]

FYI, I updated the installation instructions at the top of the thread for Ubuntu 20.04.  A new grub installation error was introduced when doing a fresh install that can be fixed by deleting all partitions from the eMMC drive before starting the installation.

[geolaw]

Confirming the Xubuntu 20.04 + fedora 29 efi process is working.

I used the fedora 29 net install iso for its EFI directory.

I really had to dig for the fedora 29 link - latest version is fedora 32 and I think they

dropped 32 bit support with fedora 31.

I can drop a zip file up on my website with the EFI directory off my thumb drive if that's acceptable here.

I do not see an option to attach a file directly to the thread.  As new version of fedora is released, it may

be easier to have a preconfigured EFI directory to just drop in instead of having to download another ISO.

[kyle_b]

@geolaw, thanks for the heads up.  When I just checked however, I am not actually seeing a change to Fedora 32, at least not for the full 2GB Fedora 32: x86_64 DVD ISO file available on: https://getfedora.org/en/workstation/download/.  I see the same /EFI/BOOT directory structure and grubia32.efi file as Fedora 29.  I just used version 32 to modify my Xubuntu 20.04 Live USB and it booted okay. 

I haven't used the net install iso before, maybe just that changed and not the full ISO?

[rossmort]

I loaded Debian and it has been working great. Thanks for continuing to give little updates. Fun to continue to play with this little tablet for some reason I don't fully understand!

[RusNeuroMancer]

In case anyone missed this - you don't need to limit yourself to XFCE to get usable Linux installation on 1GB RAM device, such as HP Stream 7 Tablet.

For instance I been using vanilla-gnome-desktop (with vanilla-gnome-default-settings) on regular Ubuntu 20.04 amd64 installation, with all benefits of Gnome's touchscreen support (touchscreen multitouch gestures, Nautilus and GEdit touchscreen support, on-screen keyboard, etc.) and Wayland support, such as working H.264 video decoding in Firefox (implemented only for Wayland, so don't forget to put "MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1" into /etc/environment).

Specifically I tested video decoding with Linux 5.7.0 from mainline PPA (Linux 4.12-5.4 have issue with swapping that could cause I/O stuck if you launch few apps or heavy web pages at the same time, so you actually need at least Linux 5.5+ to avoid this issue) and Firefox 78 from Firefox Next PPA (Firefox 77 lack stutter/jitter fix for VA-API) and it works just fine on HP Stream 7 Tablet, albeit YouTube interface is a bit slow, but hardware video decoding works. For better performance set following options on Firefox about:config page to true:

layers.acceleration.force-enabled

gfx.webrender.all

gfx.webrender.compositor

gfx.webrender.compositor.force-enabled

widget.wayland-dmabuf-vaapi.enabled

widget.wayland-dmabuf-webgl.enabled

To switch YouTube from unsupported (by BayTrail's GPU) VP9 and AV1 video codecs to supported H.264 use this extension with default settings: https://addons.mozilla.org/ru/firefox/addon/enhanced-h264ify/

To free RAM on boot disable Gnome Tracker and Gnome Software autostart, and also uninstall snapd package.

[LukeZGD]

Here's how I installed Lubuntu 20.04 on my HP Stream 7

- Ubuntu image: I used the Lubuntu 20.04 Atom image from Linuxium (linuxiumcomau) and flashed it to a USB drive with `dd` (balenaEtcher or Rufus should also work)

- Booting:
1. Connect the USB drive and keyboard (mouse is optional as touch works fine) to the HP Stream with a USB hub
2. Hold the power button on the HP Stream and F9 on the keyboard
3. Select the USB drive from the boot menu

- Setting up: Connect to the Internet and open Terminal

- Partitioning: Run `sudo gdisk /dev/mmcblk1`

Erase: o, y
Create boot: n, defaults, last sector +200M, type EF00
Create swap: n, defaults, last sector +2048M, type 8200
Create root: n, defaults
Check and write: p, w, y

- Update partition table: Run `sudo partprobe /dev/mmcblk1`

- Formatting: Run these commands

sudo mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/mmcblk1p1
sudo mkswap /dev/mmcblk1p2
sudo swapon /dev/mmcblk1p2
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk1p3

- Install GRUB from APT: Run these commands

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y grub-efi-ia32
sudo apt purge -y grub-pc-bin

- Installation:
1. Run the Lubuntu install
2. On the "Partitions" section, select "Manual partitioning"
- `/dev/mmcblk1p1` mount point should be `/boot/efi`
- `/dev/mmcblk1p3` mount point should be `/`

- The installation should go smoothly