Installing Lubuntu 17.10 on the Lenovo Miix 320-ICR
After using this tiny 2-in-1 for about 3 months I've come to these conclusions:
- This is a BAD tablet, but a really good tiny laptop or netbook
- Windows feels a bit off and is a huge resource hog
Here is a small guide on how to make Lubuntu 17.10 work on this tablet
Installation
- Download the official 17.10.1 amd64 ISO from https://lubuntu.net/downloads/
- To create a bootable USB stick use the default startup disk creation app that comes with Ubuntu
- To boot from it, first turn the tablet off, then connect the USB stick to its USB Type-C port via an adapter (the ports on the keyboard are only USB 2.0)
- Turn the tablet on while holding the volume-up button
- A menu will show up, first select 'Boot Menu', then your USB stick
- In the GRUB menu, do not change anything, just let it boot
- If your screen just turns off and you see nothing, do the following: wait for about 30s, press 'Ctrl-Alt-Fn-1', close the lid, wait for another 30s, open the lid, press some random keys on the keyboard, wait until the screen comes on, then press 'Ctrl-Alt-Fn-7' to switch to the regular GUI
- It will be in landscape. To fix it, open the terminal by pressing 'Ctrl-Alt-T', and run "xrandr --output 'DSI-1' --dpi 144 --rotate right" (without the double quotes)
- Install it the usual way (remember to install the updates)
- Reboot
Fixing stuff
After the reboot, if your screen is blank, repeat the step 7 to turn it back on, then log into your brand new system
Repeat step 8 to fix the rotation
Now, you will find that
- Everything is too small
- The screen is in landscape mode again
- You cannot control the sound volume with the function keys
- You cannot control the screen brightness at all
- The battery gauge does not work
- The screen turns off during the boot process
- Awful tearing
Fixing the backlight and the blanking during boot
This is a bug in the i915 graphics driver https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=96571
However, there is a workaround, yay
Open the terminal
cd /etc/initramfs-tools
sudo nano initramfs.conf
Change the line that says MODULES=most to MODULES=list
Save the file and exit, but do not close the terminal
lsmod | cut -d ' ' -f 1| sudo tee -a modules
Notice the space between the quotes
sudo nano modules
Remove the line that says 'Modules'
In its place, add a line that says 'pwm-lpss' (without the quotes)
Find a line that says i915 and remove it
Save the file and exit, but do not close the terminal
sudo update-initramfs -u
After the reboot, everything the screen won't blank and the backlight controls will work
Fixing everything being too small, the rotation and the tearing
Open the terminal
cd /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/
sudo nano 11-miix320.conf
Copy the raw contents from the corresponding file from here into the terminal, and save it
Continuing to fix the tearing
Open the terminal
sudo apt install compton
Then, open the 'Start Menu' -> Preferences -> Default applications for LXSession
Go to the 'Autostart' tab
Type 'compton' (without the quotes) into the box under 'Manual autostarted applications' and click '+ Add'
Close the window
Fixing the battery gauge
This is not a fix, but rather a shitty workaround, but it works
Open the terminal
sudo apt install i2c-tools
Then download the axpd.sh script from here and make it executable
Now, when you this script as root, the battery gauge will work as long as it's running
I usually run it with nohup so it will continue to run even after I close the terminal window
As I said, kinda shitty, but it works
Fixing the volume controls
Open the 'Start Menu' -> Preferences -> Setup Hot Keys
Open the 'Programs' tab
Remove the lines with
XF86AudioRaiseVolume
XF86AudioLowerVolume
XF86AudioMute
in them, SAVE, then close the window
Open the terminal
sudo apt install xfce4-volumed
After the installation finishes, open the 'Start Menu' -> Preferences -> Default applications for LXSession
Go to the 'Autostart' tab
In the 'Known Applicaions' part, put a tick near the 'XFCE Volume Daemon'
Close the window
After that you can reboot and check your new and not-so-crippled system (just remember to run the battery gauge script again)
If you have any questions or suggestions left
Feel free to ask me on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/x0wl
On Telegram: https://t.me/x0wllaar
Or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/x0wllaar