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I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

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Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#171

Post by exe34 »

dakolli wrote: post #120
exe34 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are things I will just not bother to learn. I can either not do them, or let AI do them for me. There are things I can do for myself, but can't be bothered. I can either not do them or let AI do them for me. I prefer spending my time doings I actually want to do. Let the machine do the boring things.

I prefer not letting my brain rot. You do you though.

I bet you don't understand any of the maths/physics that I work with. You see, I prefer not to waste my time with things that machines can do faster. Some people like the illusion of mastery though.

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#172

Post by exe34 »

exhilaration wrote: post #133
exe34 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine is a 2012 mac book air, I've replaced the battery early this year, and last month I upgraded the ssd to 1tb. I expect this computer will be a family heirloom after the apocalypse.

I'm curious, how much to replace the battery? I bought my kid a used 2015 MacBook Air like 5 years ago and it needs a new battery, otherwise it's totally fine.

£24 on ebay - it wasn't an authentic apple battery or anything. At this point, as long as it doesn't burn down the house, it's fine if it destroys the laptop.

You need to make sure you look at the model and the emc number and check that they match the battery you're buying. (Same for SSD upgrades).

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#173

Post by exe34 »

nubinetwork wrote: post #51
exe34 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have 8GB, which I've had since 2012. Never had a problem - I run a lean Nixos with just xmonad and dmenu, chrome, emacs, and about a dozen open pdfs and video tutorials.

Opening Chrome, Firefox, discord or Spotify instantly takes up 1gb on my laptop... so that already puts me at 3-4gb... someone needs to find out why kwin leaks so much shared memory, after a week of running that alone can take up a few gigs as well. My next laptop has 32gb at the very least.

Try xmonad.

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#174

Post by tech4bot »

tomaskafka wrote: post #167

This is exactly what I want from the iPad Pro. Unlock the virtualization support to let me have a debian/ubuntu VM with a complete development environment that I could take for holiday to make emergency fixes, and leave the precious MBP at home.

Exactly. The hardware is already powerful enough. An iPad Pro with unlocked virtualization and a proper Linux VM would be an amazing travel dev machine. This is the reason I made this project, and I am still exploring for other tablets with better resolution and more resources.

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#176

Post by epiecs »

Barbing wrote: post #96
roryirvine wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Browsers and anything electron-based are your enemy. Firefox is actually pretty good in low-memory situations, silently discarding tabs when under memory pressure, but the main benefit comes from being able to run proper adblocking. Chromium-based browsers just can't compete these days. Otherwise, a bog standard Gnome-based Debian Trixie desktop should be pretty doable. I'm currently using an 8 GB machine with 3.7 GB…

>[Firefox runs] proper adblocking. Chromium-based browsers just can't compete Any familiarity with Safari and blocking performance? uBlock Origin Lite is a simple option, AdGuard can do more (injection?) though uBO feels more trustworthy still…

A free option worth checking out: https://github.com/0xCUB3/wBlock . I have been using it on my mac and my mobile devices and it syncs up nicely and seems to perform well :)

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#177

Post by not_your_vase »

elch wrote: post #93
not_your_vase wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't speak for OP, of course. Some time ago I got myself a similarly priced x86-64 Windows tablet on Amazon (Celeron N4020 + 4 GB RAM). I installed Linux Mint on it with a slightly customized kernel (some extra quirks were needed). I connected an old SSD to it with a SATA2USB adapter, and I use it as a home file server and HTPC. It has a micro HDMI output, and it is connected to my TV. During the day it is playing m…

Does it boot from the card? Is there an installation guide available somewhere?

I find this to be a bit strange question considering that I haven't mentioned the tablet model... but incidentally the answer is "yes" to both questions - it can boot from sd card also (beside eMMC), and there is a setup guide available: https://github.com/biolds/tibuta-w100/ (somewhat similar to the OP one)

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#178

Post by pjmlp »

Fnoord wrote: post #165
pjmlp wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I originally ran Slackware 2.0 with 32 MB on a Pentium 75 Mhz. So the software does exist, plus for the TUI and CLI folks, that would be plenty of space.

We also had a Pentium 75 MHz IIRC, but IIRC it came with 8 MB RAM. It came with OS/2 Warp. Running DOS on top of it was too limited, performance wise. Running MSDOS directly however, was amazing. The machine would run all the software I wanted. Apps and games. It also ran Windows 95, but the learning curve and speed. I was used to MSDOS.

OS/2 Warp was at the same level as running Windows NT in hardware requirements.

When I bought my 386SX 20 Mhz with 2MB, 40 MB HDD, that came with DR-DOS 5 and Windows 3.1, I could have bought a PC with OS/2 2.0 instead, in today's money that would have bumped my credit request in an additional 1000 euros, for the additional hardware.

So DR-DOS + Win 3.1 it was.

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#179

Post by raihansaputra »

mewse-hn wrote: post #134
NoboruWataya wrote: post #14

Since it seems AI is pretty good at reverse-engineering stuff like this, is there any educational material on how to use it for that purpose? Seems like it could really help port things like postmarketOS to new devices (and improve support on existing ones)?

I have claude code hooked up to deepseek, I hooked up my spare cheapo android tablet, installed adb and fastbook with my package manager and asked the AI to jailbreak the tablet. It discovered the tablet was running a unisoc t606, found a CVE from a couple years ago, and unlocked the bootloader for me. I was the meat puppet holding the "volume up" button and plugging in the usb cable a bunch of times. Like most of my…

So this is using deepseek-v4-pro / flash and using claude code as the harness right? That's really good that it works. I'm pretty impressed with how v4-pro is doing, sadly there's no subscription packages so I'm not using it too much. (Wafer used to offer it but now they don't).

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#180

Post by kokada »

tech4bot wrote: post #174
tomaskafka wrote: post #167

This is exactly what I want from the iPad Pro. Unlock the virtualization support to let me have a debian/ubuntu VM with a complete development environment that I could take for holiday to make emergency fixes, and leave the precious MBP at home.

Exactly. The hardware is already powerful enough. An iPad Pro with unlocked virtualization and a proper Linux VM would be an amazing travel dev machine. This is the reason I made this project, and I am still exploring for other tablets with better resolution and more resources.

That is also my dream, iPads Pro are very expensive but the hardware is so good (that is including the Magic Keyboard).

BTW OP, have you ever tried a hybrid Chromebook tablet like Lenovo Duet 3? This is my favorite device for travel exactly because it is so good as a small Linux machine. Crostini fits the "I want to run a Linux VM". You can even use postmarketOS if you want an even more "traditional" Linux experience.

I wrote about it here :

- https://kokada.dev/blog/my-favorite-device-is-a-chromebook/

- https://kokada.dev/blog/my-favorite-device-is-a-chromebook-w...

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