The only distro I can find that successfully configures a functioning bootable GRUB on this (bastard) machine is Nobara, which looks very cool but is way too heavy! Some things are glitchy; attempting tab completion seems to freeze Konsole for ~5 seconds and does not complete the command as expected. We’re working with an Intel Atom [email protected] and 2GB RAM here.

How can a noob figure out what it’s doing differently so I can apply that to Linux Mint Debian Edition or Crunchbang Plus Plus?

The weird thing is that once the system is installed, it does not seem to have what I think are the required packages for GRUB to be set up correctly with this type of UEFI.

nextbook@nextbook:~$ sudo grub2-install /dev/mmcblk

grub2-install: error: /usr/lib/grub/i386-efi/modinfo.sh doesn't exist. Please specify --target or --directory.

    • @[email protected]
      3•7 months ago

      Grub can be installed automatically via a GUI distro installer. eEFInd is well at another level of difficulty

  • monovergent 🏁
    5•7 months ago

    I also had a netbook with an Atom Z3735F and 2GB RAM, albeit an Ideapad 100s. The 32 bit versions of Debian Stable 11 and 12 worked out of the box for me.

    If you are at the terminal, try running apt install grub-efi-ia32-bin before installing grub.

  • @KISSmyOSFeddit
    5•7 months ago

    The only distro I got to run on my 32bit UEFI netbook was MX Linux, cause it supports 32bit, UEFI, and also ships with the necessary non-free firmware and drivers.
    And I’ve tried a lot of others.

    • @[email protected]
      2•7 months ago

      It was the only one I managed to install too. I recommended it, because it’s easier for beginners and comes with a few optimizations for low end hardware.

  • @[email protected]OPEnglish
    3•7 months ago

    Thanks for replying, everyone! This project is temporarily on hold; downloading and sha256sum-ming some different isos led me to discover that my main system has a RAM issue. 🤦

    I just learned to not trust motherboards’ automatic RAM voltage setting; only one of four sticks seems to be sensitive to the apparent undervoltage that it was running on.

    Edit: I hope that whoever designed the style of RAM slot that has a latch on only one side stubs their toe every day for the rest of their life.

  • @[email protected]
    2•7 months ago

    X86 uefi and amd64 CPU is a really hard combo to find support for. Your best bet is to use an x86 distro, it will also probably be lighter. The other option is to modify the iso, but I haven’t ever done that.

    which looks very cool but is way too heavy!

    Replace KDE with LXQT/LXDE or a lightweight wm

  • @[email protected]
    2•7 months ago

    Came here to recommend Antix or DSL 32 bit. Others have done that already.

    Another option that Lemmy introduced me to just recently is Q4OS and the 32 bit Trinity Desktop version.

    These are all Debian based ( DSL is basically Antix+ now ).

  • Dr JekellEnglish
    1•7 months ago

    To be brutally honest about this, your best bet is to recycle the unit.

    The problems of trying to get a distro to install properly, have all the hardware working right and have a usable experience are not worth the minimal upsides.

    I have an ASUS X205TA which is a similar unit and after trying for countless hours to get a usable device out of it was not going to be worth the headaches plus if I was getting paid for the time I spent on it I could have brought an off lease laptop with better specs.

      • Dr JekellEnglish
        1•7 months ago

        I have had several distros working on the X205TA (I even had a how to guide written up on reddit years ago).

        But I was not able to get a usable system (i.e. being able to use the system without waiting on average 20-120 sec for the device to process an action).

        Life has gotten to the point that the effort to do so is better directed into activities that I would enjoy.