Linux - the Other OS
Last – but definitely not least – let’s have a quick look at Linux on the Miix. TLDR: it just works. CAVEAT: I didn’t spend much time with it.
The test was done with a Ubuntu Linux 16.04 64-bit live “CD” on USB flash drive. There are several media-building tools available but I tend to hand-build mine from within a running Windows. A Ubuntu live flash drive built as below (or with other tools with appropriate options selected) will boot in UEFI + secure boot mode.
As described in In Recovery: launch DISKPART from a Windows elevated command prompt and list disk, select disk, clean, create partition primary, format fs=fat32 quick, assign. Don’t set it active. That can fool some BIOSen into booting it in legacy mode. And be darned sure to select the flash drive before doing the clean or you’ll wipe some other system drive!
Download the live ISO from Ubuntu and extract its contents to the flash drive using an (un)archiving tool like 7zip.
From a fully shut down Windows (SHIFT + shutdown) plug the drive into an available USB socket, press VOLUME UP + POWER simultaneously to bring up the Novo menu, select Boot Menu, then the USB flash drive.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Have you tried upgrading the memory? Is it possible? How about installing a fresh Windows 10 install from a USB? Dual boot? I saw over at Tony mac they are experimenting with loading OSX on this. I have just bought the middle one for 475 on amazon (the 128GB 4GB M5 version) and i have a 512 Samsung m.2 that i am not using. In linux, did you get any of the pen functions to work? Thanks again.
Hi,
I’m not going to be of much help.
The RAM is soldered, so no memory upgrade.
Windows 10 should install just fine from a properly-prepared USB flash drive (FAT32, copy the contents of the install ISO to the flash drive).
I didn’t experiment with pen on the Miix running Linux. Just gave a quick try to the basics.
Is the Wi-Fi card replaceable or it’s soldiered like the RAM? Also do you know if there is “Whitelist lock” in the BIOS to prevent swapping with non-Lenovo parts? I see that you swapped the SSD, but wifi card might be different issue.
Great info, thanks!
The wifi card is a removable item. I believe it’s whitelisted.
Head over to the Lenovo forums, then SUPPORT and enter Miix 700 in the search box. That will pull up appropriate downloads including the Hardware Maintenance Manual.
The HMM shows how to access the wifi card and includes a parts list with the whitelisted FRU numbers.