Updates: A new one-command installer (SurfUpXplosion) has been developed.
On first boot, allow start-jobs to finish, press Enter
Run "mount /dev/mmcblk1p1 /boot/firmware".
Allow start-jobs to finish by pressing "ctrl+d" and login as "root"
Run the installer with the following command:
"bash /boot/firmware/opt/custom-scripts/SurfUpXplosion.sh"
Follow the on-screen instructions (it's best if you watch the video once).
Intro: In this video, I'll install Vanilla Debian on Microsoft's iconic Surface RT, and perhaps try to further the opensurface project.
Supported features: WiFi, Bluetooth, HWA(almost), Audio Output, VLC, Touchscreen, thermal management, decent battery life, etc.
Overview: I'll assume you've previously installed Golden Keys and Yahallo and won't go into detail here.
However, I'll include their website address and possibly some RU-vid videos to assist you if you haven't already.
Except for the custom scripts (in the opt folder), I do not own any of the files.
You may watch the introduction video in the description below, where I talk about where I got my inspiration and how I got the remainder of the files.
You may notice some flaws here and there because the scripts were developed in a hurry, but I'm always working on improving them. Meanwhile, experiment with it to see what it can do. I even spent some time playing Chocolate Doom.
There are still a lot of modifications that need to be done; I'll locate some of them and publish them on video or text-form.
- Configure xcompmgr to run at boot.
- Execute 'xinput_calibrator' to configure touchscreen calibration.
- Launch and customize Onboard (on-screen keyboard).
- Enable the virtual keyboard for xscreensaver lock (Not yet implemented) The screen can be unlocked without a real keyboard, but if you suspend the system, you'll need a keyboard to unlock it again. :(
- Install libwidevine to see how Netflix functions. (I hope to do that shortly)
Notes:
1. Go to Menu - Internet, open chromium-lightweight, type chrome://flags, and activate GPU rasterization, Zero-copy rasterizer, Vulkan, and other options. Allows Display Compositor to employ a new GPU thread, as well as out-of-process 2D canvas rasterization and shared GPUImageDecodeCache.
I've extensively tuned it to provide the best performance; it runs webpages on the Android 9 platform, which allows it to render them quickly. There should also be a standalone-apps directory in your Desktop, where you can check out the desktop apps, including the updated browser. You may also execute it by typing "chromium-lightweight" without the quotes from anywhere in the terminal. Please let me know how it goes ;)
2. It's ideal to watch films on RU-vid in windowed mode with chromium-lightweight with the default playback quality; it works great and I'm planning on improving it.
3. If video streaming is your sole focus, this may not be the best distro for you, but if it's one of many things you want to do, go ahead and give it a shot.
4. On startup, launch the rt-wifi-client and select 'Auto-connect', then select yes to connect to the internet. If you're a terminal user, you can accomplish the same thing with 'sudo rc-local'.
5. When your default wifi is down or unavailable, use the rt-wifi-client's 'Scan' and 'Connect' options to connect to new wifi ssids. If you're currently connected to a network, tapping on scan once may not bring up other ssids; keep hitting the scan button till you see the ssids appear; while selecting, slam your wifi ssid as well if you don't see 'psk for: your_ssid' appear above the password prompt. When you see it, tap on connect. If the wifi client does not connect you to the internet, restart your computer to see if you can connect regularly.
Links:
Intro + extra infos (on description & comments section):
• Surface RT is Back! | ...
Yahallo & Golden Keys:
jwa4.gitbook.io/windows/tools...
Official Debian 12 (Bookworm) Raspberry Pi Image:
raspi.debian.net/tested/20231...
Boot-files (sRT_Linux_Bootloader + my_custom_scripts):
github.com/DAryanMR/SurfXPiRT
26 апр 2023
