32 or 64 bit advice

[firenice03]

I agree on the 32/64 bit - its going to come down to preference.. Whether there is a noticeable difference in performance or if you prefer Chrome vs Chromium - again research in the live environment (I myself have both now)

I wasn't sure how new the hardware was; on my 1 set up I needed a 4.x kernel

Two things to take away from the 2nd link I provided..
WiFi may require updates - Commands will be ran in terminal
Trackpad  "in order to make it work properly under Linux, we need to change a couple of things."

These are a couple things that may require modification after an install - then again they may not...  This was from a year ago and on Mint...
Knowing Colin's track record  (please no offense) I'm only offering insight for a preparedness should something arise...

[Colin23erk]

the wifi /bluetooth is --Realtek RTL 8723 BE 802.11b/g/n (1x1) and Bluetooth 4.0 combo


Knowing Colin's track record  (please no offense) I'm only offering insight for a preparedness should something arise...

Are you suggesting that problems wait around every corner till they see me coming - sounds about right -- LOL

[firenice03]

Are you suggesting that problems wait around every corner till they see me coming - sounds about right -- LOL

LOL..
You're a lucky one  ;D

[Wirezfree]

@Colin23erk.

A friend with a Stream11/Win10 in a box doing nothing, because he said it ran like syrup and was like watching paint dry...
Well it runs pretty good with LL 2.8 64bit, he's impressed and want's to keep it..??
Not 100% straight forward, mainly because it's WiFi only, and the WiFi didn't work out of the box, it's Broadcom on this one.
Will post details later, a few tweaks to make, and an occasional flash on some screen changes, will try a new kernel, still on 3.19.




With Chrome & 7 tabs open, Skype running using @ 1GB of mem, so for day to day use it's fine.
It's been running over 9 hours and 15% battery left, now that's good. tlp may extend even further...

[n1ksn]

Wirezfree,

Nice, nice, nice!  I look forward to your details on getting wifi working.  I had a similar experience bringing new life to a Gateway LT40 using LL.  No hiccups whatsoever (except forgetting about Numlock at first).  Very satisfiying.

This may inspire me to go back to the pawn shop and rescue a low-end machine.  (Although I have mixed feelings about benefitting from the problems of others.)

Cheers,
Andy N1KSN

[Wirezfree]

Although I have mixed feelings about benefiting from the problems of others

Cheers,
Andy N1KSN

Yes a dilemma, but they did at least get something...

I will write something up shortly, Bluetooth is still a challenge... It worked once.. But no more

[Wirezfree]

Stream11 & LL 2.8 64 bit

After lot's of googling and making notes.

First, If you have been using the Stream and have docs/files on it, Back those up.
You will need to remove Win10,
So use the Win8/10 "create recovery disk" to create a bootable USB recovery stick(16GB).
That way you can always get back to a "Out Of The Box"(OOB) clean new install.
=========================================================
You will need:
- A bootable LL 2.8 64 bit install USB stick.
- A USB WiFi stick, the inbuilt Broadcom device does not work at first. (I had this one, seems to work O.K)
- or a USB Ethernet adapter and cable to plug on you modem/router. (I do not have one, but should work)

Then:
- Plug in install USB stick in left side(USB2) and WiFi/Ethernet Adapter in the right side, connect network cable if using one to your modem/router. (I read using right(USB3) for install can fail)
- Switch on Stream 11 and keep tapping the Esc key till a mini menu appears.
- Press F10 , Then using right arrow key move to "System Configuration".
- Use down arrow to go to "Boot Options" and hit "Enter"
- Use down arrow to go to "Legacy Support" and hit enter, select "Enable" enter,
- Use down arrow to go to "Secure Boot" and and hit enter, select "Disable" enter,
- Use down arrow to go to "Legacy Boot Order"
  >>> Then use up/down & F5/F6 to make "USB Diskette / USB Hard Drive" First , and "Notebook Harddisk" Second , then press Esc
- Using right arrow key move to "Exit" , Use down arrow to go to "Exit Saving Changes" , Press "Enter" and confirm "Yes" to Save
- PC will re-start, LL should now start to load.
  >>> You may get white lines/and some garbage, but it should eventually get to the Desktop.
- If you used a WiFi adapter, connect to your network and enter your key, if Ethernet it should connect automatically.

Then:
- Menu, start typing gpart and select Partition Drives.
- Using gparted remove "all" the partitions on the drive [/dev/mmcblk0 29.12GB]. (The drive is eMMC , it actually presents like a SD Card.?) exit gparted.
  (I partitioned the drive, but given it's size, it up to you.? a 10GB / a 10GB /home and a 4GB swap )
- Now install LL either with, use all disk or Other, if you want to, and select the partitions previously created.
- When the install is complete, Use the continue using option, but then immediately Shut Down.
- Unplug the install stick, but leave in the WiFi or Ethernet adapter.
- Then switch it back on, If all went well, it should now re-boot into LL.

Now some setup/config:
The LL Driver search did not find anything for the Broadcom devices, so this worked for WiFi, not Bluetooth though.

Code:

sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source

reboot, then:

Code:

sudo modprobe wl

You should now be able to connect to your WiFi.

The hard keys for Volume & Brightness worked in jumpy steps, so based on a previous experience with another HP, I did.

Code:

gksu leafpad /etc/default/grub

Then edited the line:

Code:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

To:

Code:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_osi=linux acpi_backlight=vendor"

then saved it, and a:

Code:

sudo update-grub

Controls are more granular, BUT brightness is at MAX. That can be fixed with xbacklight at some stage.

Installed SKYPE, webcam & Audio working.
Installed Chrome, that's working, occasional jump on some screen changes, it's the same with kernel 4.5.0

But for a day to day little device it seems to work 10X's better than Win10

Forgot, Boot Time:
Power On to grub @ 2~3 secs, and from grub to Desktop @ 12~13 secs.

[Colin23erk]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement -- It looks as if it should work

All I need is the courage to get down to giving it a try . but with my track record if there is a snag it will find me --- LOL

Another concern of mine is the need to update the Kernal is it a straight forward job. I thought LL used a specific Kernal  . Does updating the Kernal  update the drivers to the newest available for Linux

Not 100% straight forward, mainly because it's WiFi only, and the WiFi didn't work out of the box, it's Broadcom on this one.

Is it usual for the same model of Computer to to have different Wifi makes as all the components are part of the motherboard these days

Colin

[Wirezfree]

It appears there are variants of the Stream 11, inc one with a N2840 vs N3050 slightly better CPU, but it consumes slightly more power.
I did the 2.8 64 bit install which comes with Kernel 3.19. I installed 4.5.0 which appears to have resolved some random video artefacts.


Here's a thread on the LL Kernels, Jerry post updates when new one's are available, the most recent being 4.5.0

G.L

[n1ksn]

Thanks for all the details, Wirezfree.  I've had similar experiences with my Gateway LT40 notebook with distributions other than LL when distro browsing.  If I make another trip to the pawn shop, I'm going to look for something smallish (like 13 inches), but with an Ethernet connection like the LT40, although I suppose the USB wifi sticks aren't that expensive.

Andy