Windows RT - Eee Pad Transformer Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Will we ever get a Windows RT Port? Is the transformer drivers as easy and clear to the developers here so that something like this can one day be possible?
http://wmpoweruser.com/htc-hd2-wp8-port-leads-to-windows-rt-on-the-htc-hd2/

Asus provide the kernel source so it's probably doable. Will someone have big enough balls to start development? That's another question...

Microsoft themselves has said that Windows RT wont be supported on Tegra 2 devices.
Not saying it can't be done, but it wont be something which will be done easily.
And given how little the TF101 dev-community is these days, coupled with the absolute lacking enthusiasm for Windows RT, I doubt it'll ever happen.
But feel free to prove me wrong

josteink said:
Microsoft themselves has said that Windows RT wont be supported on Tegra 2 devices.
Not saying it can't be done, but it wont be something which will be done easily.
And given how little the TF101 dev-community is these days, coupled with the absolute lacking enthusiasm for Windows RT, I doubt it'll ever happen.
But feel free to prove me wrong
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wikipedia says it works on Tegra2.
"Microsoft officially announced support for ARM chipsets in the next version of Windows at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show. An early port of Windows on ARM running on devices with Qualcomm Snapdragon, Texas Instruments OMAP, and Nvidia Tegra 2 chipsets were demonstrated by Steven Sinofsky; showcasing working ports of Internet Explorer 9 (with DirectX support via the Tegra 2's GPU)"
But I guess that's old and could be outdated.

Seems the internets disagree with what was the consensus last time I checked.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Wind...an-NVIDIA-Tegra-2-chipset-Intel-sighs_id18133
So who knows. Might be possible if you find someone who'll bother to do it.
Personally I run Windows 8 on my laptop and I'm not very eager on getting on my transformer. I much prefer Android for most things.

Related

[Q] Windows on Gtab?

Will it be possible to put a version of windows on the gtab? I know they are working on linux with a distro of ubuntu, does anyone know if it is possible?
Dont get me wrong i love android but this is a powerful device and id like to squeeze all i can out of it
acuralegendz said:
Will it be possible to put a version of windows on the gtab? I know they are working on linux with a distro of ubuntu, does anyone know if it is possible?
Dont get me wrong i love android but this is a powerful device and id like to squeeze all i can out of it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Considering that the Tegra 2 is a RISC CPU and to my knowledge the only Windows version that is written for RISC CPUs is WinCE I'm guess the answer to your question is yes and no. Yes technically an OS made by MS in the Windows "family" (WinCE) could be ported to the gtab but realistically the kind of windows variant that I think you're looking for (XP/Win7) no. And you're right this is a powerful piece of hardware... way more that is necessary for WinCE so on al counts it's doubtful that windows will ever make it onto the gtab.
Actually I believe if someone can rip the proper files from the dual booting 10" viewsonic this might be possible. I would have to look at the internals, but I would assume they are the same. I know it is running win7 starter and I believe Android 1.6. I was actually gonna look at that this weekend. Problem is with the small internal memory might be worth it to invest in a 32gb chip.
romanrish said:
Actually I believe if someone can rip the proper files from the dual booting 10" viewsonic this might be possible. I would have to look at the internals, but I would assume they are the same. I know it is running win7 starter and I believe Android 1.6. I was actually gonna look at that this weekend. Problem is with the small internal memory might be worth it to invest in a 32gb chip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually there is a reason that it is running android 1.6. 1.6 has a compiled version that runs on x86 architecture.
No dice on win 7 on this puppy sorry
Scratch that. I just looked at the specs and they are not even close other than the screen. Well it was a thought.
romanrish said:
Scratch that. I just looked at the specs and they are not even close other than the screen. Well it was a thought.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The other tablet is uses Intel Atom CPU, hence why it works, would have been nice if that tablet had Android 2.2....but who wants Win7 when you got android....hahaha
I agree about android over win, but I always like to have the ability to. I have my linux box w/ a tiny Win7 partition. Course every time I log into it. I remember why I stopped using windows
Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk
The VS 10" multi-boot tablet has an Atom (x86) CPU and dual boots Windows 7 and Android 1.6 (IIRC).
The only thing vaguely like Windows that you MIGHT be able to get on the gTab will be some version of wince(and I do -- they're trying to call it Windows Mobile now since wince was so awful, but it sounds like it hasn't helped).
I'd actually like to see how well WinMo 6.5, like my old touch pro had, would run on a g-tab. I really enjoyed that old phone.

Meego 1.2 Released!

Meego 1.2 was just recently released. I was curious to see if I could run it on my G-Tablet and found that there is a currently a port being worked on of Meego to Tegra 2 chipset. The Meego wiki even explicitly mentions the G-Tablet relating to the Tegra 2 port. I look forward to trying Meego out even if I don't end up using it. More options is always a good thing!
Personally, I don't like using mainstream OS's and we all know how popular Android has become. Additionally, Meego also has the capability of running XBMC natively which is very cool and makes me wonder what other awesome Linux applications are possible to run on Meego. I get the impression that Meego is much closer to Linux than Android since it also runs Chromium browser. What do you think? Any input is appreciated
I too wanted to install a Linux distro. So much I bought a second g-tablet from Woot.
Unfortunately, about the same time, nVidia removed it's Linux drivers from it's download page. They say that they will return after they update them, but they have moved Linux for Tegra to the unsupported section.
Without Tegra drivers, Linux isn't really viable on the g-tablet. I hope they do release newer drivers, my second g-tablet is getting lonely from lack of use.
From my understanding Meego has a different ABI then what the L4T is compiled with. Its kind of a apples and oranges issue. The precompiled portions of L4T are not compatible with a Meego install.
Wi-Fi
Who knows how to set up Wi-Fi on Linux.
Shall describe the step by step please.
Wow, that's too bad about the Tegra support being pulled. Hopefully something gets released soon.
@slysecretspy, what you said is **way** over my head. Sounds bad tho...

Windows 8 ARM on current Transformer?

I've been thinking of buying the Eee Pad Transformer for the past month or so. I absolutely love the device, but still can't decide whether it's worth it and whether I would really use it that often.
Anyway, a thought has come to my mind - will it be possible to install Windows 8 (ARM version) on this device? I think there's really no reason why it shouldn't be possible, is there?
Cheers!
Maybe, or maybe not. Tegra cpu is one of several arm-based socs used by msft in developing windows 8 arm, so since our tf101 has tegra 2 soc, there is a chance that win8 arm may run in it.
However, as of late, msft has been supporting oems in implementing unified extensible firmware interface (uefi) in lieu of the simple bios in x86 machines. It is possible that uefi may be used in arm-based windows 8 when it is published. I think an uefi implementation will require hardware/firmware that the current tf101 may not have, so no dice for windows 8.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface
order it from HSN they have a 30 day return policy. no hassle
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Keen to see if Windows 8 will work on the TF101, but lacking the technical ability to attempt to install it, I'm wondering if anyone here has attempted to run the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on their transformer?
If so, how did you do it and did it perform?
Consumer preview is 32 and 64 bit not arm so it will not run
Microsoft also said that the bootloader on arm devices will be locked so you will only be able to get windows 8 arm on devices that come with it
I saw on a reputable website a picture of Windows 8 running on a tegra 2 tablet with 1gb ram. So hardware wise, TF101 might be capable.
horndroid said:
I saw on a reputable website a picture of Windows 8 running on a tegra 2 tablet with 1gb ram. So hardware wise, TF101 might be capable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats right microsoft demo'd windows 8 on arm using a tegra 2 tablet with one gig of ram
they showed it when they first showed windows
Thanks all, there is a glimmer of hope it seems!
farr3ll said:
Thanks all, there is a glimmer of hope it seems!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really. Windows 8 for ARM will not be available to buy separately. It will only come pre-installed on devices.
Perhaps someone skilled will be able to get it to work in some highly unofficial way but they'd have to find a way around the secure bootloader requirements and also figure out how to get hardware drivers for the device in that Windows 8. Unlike Android, Windows 8 isn't open source so 'hackers' will have a harder time getting it on different devices.
Tablets are not like PC's with fairly long upgrade paths available. You buy it as it is and hopefully the manufacturer will keep supporting it for a while with upgrades.
Asus/Microsoft will prefer you to buy a new tablet with Windows 8 pre-installed when it becomes available.
I am not even sure I want to run Windows 8 on a tegra 2 tablet.
Maybe it's just me but tegra 2 already feels pretty slow.
Or you have this for have a windows 8 theme http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1555220

Voice of confidence.!

I am a beginner on this page. I am writing this to backup the other developers on this form. A lot of people who has been going around on the surface forum repeating over and over fat some functions will never work. I've been around modding phones since when Windows Mobile 3 came out back when I was in middle school. I remember when Windows Mobile came out a website called geekstoolbox.com whats the phone for many modders to build custom firmware for Windows Phones. I remembered and middle school it was difficult to make certain improvements because Windows Mobile phones were close systems. I remember then listen to visit on the forum who actually broken too the phone am I allowed a dump of data to flow in Internet of his phone start new custom ROM custom firmware revolution to begin. Afterwards, I begin saying revolutionary products such as wifi tether, Bluetooth tethering, Mobile sharing, and in custom OS. to those web visiting thi about s forum repeating over and over and over, that there would be no Windows based x86 programs on when does RT we'll be eating crow when it finally does happen within the next few months. I see it being possible when you consider if someone will, compile a virtual machine enabling many features of Windows 8 x86. Furthermore, suppose it becomes like parallels Macintosh. In addition, maybe someone will develop 8 translator package for Windows 82 windows Rt to understand each other's programs. all that I am saying is please do not be downers and out other people expressions about this tablet and is always
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
I meant to end by saying, please do not doubt other people's expressions about this templates capabilities in with the wish to see on this tablet because the possibilities are there and if someone desires it enough it will come to fruition.
Continuously be blessed signing out!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
There are already two x86 emulators (Bochs and DosBox) for Windows RT. Bochs is slow to the point of being unusable, and DosBox is slow to the point of lagging while playing games from 1992.
x86 will likely never run (games) well on Windows RT, but it does in fact already run.
See,! It already possible . I have 1 questions, do they use virtual machines or do they do rely on the Internet
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
befreshshaveivorysalesoap said:
See,! It already possible . I have 1 questions, do they use virtual machines or do they do rely on the Internet
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They use virtual machines, but they're slow to the point of complete uselessness. It takes half an hour to boot XP in them.
befreshshaveivorysalesoap said:
I meant to end by saying, please do not doubt other people's expressions about this templates capabilities in with the wish to see on this tablet because the possibilities are there and if someone desires it enough it will come to fruition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tempered with a dose of reality, when you acknowledge that even a dual core ARM cpu is still very underpowered to emulate a full x86 cpu/environment. If what you want is a good x86 experience, the Surface RT isn't what you want.
That's not saying you can't get a decent toy x86 environment, or really good recompiled for arm desktop apps. Those two work fine.
schettj said:
Tempered with a dose of reality, when you acknowledge that even a dual core ARM cpu is still very underpowered to emulate a full x86 cpu/environment. If what you want is a good x86 experience, the Surface RT isn't what you want.
That's not saying you can't get a decent toy x86 environment, or really good recompiled for arm desktop apps. Those two work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe not the full experience but something like WINE on Linux. Most people who buys the RT version aren't power PC users and don't require much anyhow , except for a few apps
befreshshaveivorysalesoap said:
Maybe not the full experience but something like WINE on Linux. Most people who buys the RT version aren't power PC users and don't require much anyhow , except for a few apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wine on x86 linux isn't emulating the CPU. This is a critical difference.
schettj said:
Tempered with a dose of reality, when you acknowledge that even a dual core ARM cpu is still very underpowered to emulate a full x86 cpu/environment. If what you want is a good x86 experience, the Surface RT isn't what you want.
That's not saying you can't get a decent toy x86 environment, or really good recompiled for arm desktop apps. Those two work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe that all the Windows RT devices are quad core right now.
befreshshaveivorysalesoap said:
Maybe not the full experience but something like WINE on Linux. Most people who buys the RT version aren't power PC users and don't require much anyhow , except for a few apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's really very unlikely that any x86 program bigger than Notepad will ever be usability fast/stable. I'd go read up a bit on emulation and the downsides regarding speed with it. This is the same reason that android tablets, which are quite arguably far more suited for this, can't do anything better than emulate 20 year old OSes, and do that poorly.
netham45 said:
I believe that all the Windows RT devices are quad core right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
d'oh! flip flopping between windows phone 8 and windows RT Yep, 4 arm cores. Still like trying to emulate a V8 with an inline4.
netham45 said:
I believe that all the Windows RT devices are quad core right now.
It's really very unlikely that any x86 program bigger than Notepad will ever be usability fast/stable. I'd go read up a bit on emulation and the downsides regarding speed with it. This is the same reason that android tablets, which are quite arguably far more suited for this, can't do anything better than emulate 20 year old OSes, and do that poorly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of emulating an entire OS, would anyone entertain the idea of a program translator; A program could be build with the libraries of some main OS'es. Within the translator, when an x86 program is called the programs determines what operating systems' library to use. The translator would then render a version of the program Windows with RT can understand.
Couldn't this be likely.
netham45 said:
There are already two x86 emulators (Bochs and DosBox) for Windows RT. Bochs is slow to the point of being unusable, and DosBox is slow to the point of lagging while playing games from 1992.
x86 will likely never run (games) well on Windows RT, but it does in fact already run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe I no what the issue with these are.......... Bochs and DosBox do not allow users to control processing cores for each emulation. These emulators need to be updated to take advantage of this feature, it's a blessing for other OS'es
There's already a translator project much like what you describe, actually. It's early alpha quality right now, only able to run a few apps and those slowly and with stability problems, but it's a very promising proof of concept. The developer is using the DOSBox dynamic recompilation engine, optimized for THUMB-2 (ARM variant that Windows uses) with some hacks in it to remove support for stuff that only the kernel has to care about like page tables and whatnot (these hacks apparently substantially increase speed). The recompilation engine is not currently thread-safe, which means it has to run on a single core (although it's possible that the translated program itself might be able to run across multiple cores; I don't know for sure) but the possibility of fixing that is being investigated.
The project is on the Dev&Hacking sub-forum, and there's a download link for it and a (mostly playable) demo of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 as an example of what it can currently do.
Can someone point me in the duration to learn about building for ARM. I want to see if I can contribute. In school I am only learning about the x86 and x64 architectural
befreshshaveivorysalesoap said:
Can someone point me in the duration to learn about building for ARM. I want to see if I can contribute. In school I am only learning about the x86 and x64 architectural
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently this is the porting method: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2096820&highlight=arm
Requires visual studio to cross compile from a desktop windows machine.

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