Database Info

[Q] Syncables 360

I'm looking for a synchronization solution that will allow me to synchronize files between my Windows 7 Pro desktop, Windows 7 Pro Netbook and my WinMo 6.5 HD2. The limitations of the Windows Mobile Device Center in only being able to synchronise to the phone main memory is a major shortcoming IMHO and I really need to be able to utilize the extra storage capacity of an SD card. I will need to be able to synchronise different files between say my desktop and netbook than I would between my desktop and HD2, so any software I use will need to support profiles.
I've had a quick Google this morning for third-party apps to do this and found Syncables 360 which gets good reviews and seems to cover everything that I need.
Anyone here used it or have experience of it, good, bad or otherwise?

Well to answer my own thread, I took the plunge and bought this software. I can now understand why they no longer offer a trial version...
Initially I had problems installing this software on my Windows 7 desktop PC with the installer saying I didn't have the Adobe Flash player installed. I did have the latest Player version and this was confirmed to be working via Adobe's online diagnostics. I got around this problem by downloading & installing the latest Beta of the Flash Player. Now any software that is reliant upon third-party plugins such as Adobe Player worry me, but I had already paid for the software licence and the specifications of the software looked very promising.
So on to actually running up the software...
Next worry - it's a Java app. and from experience I know that any Java app that has to make calls to hardware as this software will need to do, is likely to to have issues with access permissions and operating system-level security software. That said, the software ran up fine and apart from a couple of rendering issues with the screen dialogues text (I've set my system to a slightly lager font than default) all seemed to be good to go. So, now to set-up my first sync profile...
Well you can't set up a profile unless you register an online account with the developer. Why? If I setup a profile to synchronise my data then I'd like that profile to be retained on my computer not on some third party's server. Why do they need to retain control over what I choose to synchronise? Anyway, an account was setup and a basic sync profile was established between my computer and a USB2 external hard disk. So I start the profile with just a few meg of basic file types to transfer (xls, doc & jpg), it appears to start OK but then it slows but the computer hard disk light is going full blast and the whole computer grinds to a near halt (Quad Core CPU with 4GB RAM). I manage to get Windows task manager up after much wait and sure enough the CPU is running at 100%. I manage to force a shut-down via task manager and the system shuts down.
OK, let's restart check the event logs and see what might have gone wrong. No chance! My once reliable system now Blue Screens with "IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL". Nothing I could do could get it past this point and Windows 7 repair declares there are problems with the file system which after 10 minutes or so appear to have been fixed by chqdsk. Nothing would make the computer boot again, last know good, safe mode, Windows repair... nothing. The system would blue screen no matter what.
Eventually the only option left was to do a full system restore to before Syncables was installed. After a further chkdsk the system reboots and all is again well. I run hard disk and hardware diagnostics to make sure the system is healthy and not suffering from a failing hard disk, system bus error or faulty RAM modules - all test 100%
In fairness to Syncables they did offer to do remote support, but I declined and said I needed a robust system and had no confidence in the Syncables after it all but trashed my whole system. Thankfully they did agree to a full refund.
It's probably unfair to judge this software based upon my experience alone, but it does make you wonder why they no longer offer a trial version for download.
On paper this software looks to be an excellent all-round synchronisation solution, but sadly an implementation based upon Java & Adobe Flash Player is unlikely to ever be as robust as a system-level coded solution.

Server 2012 on Surface Pro

Pictures can be found in my album. I will work on this post more later, just wanted to get something up before I went to bed.
[See Picture 1]
I purchased a 128G Surface Pro and Touch Cover a few days ago. I backed up the recovery partition, and made a clone with Acronis so I can always put it back to how it was the day I pulled it out of the box. I did the firmware update, then wiped out Windows 8 and replaced it with Server 2012. This is my experience with it...
[See Picture 2]
It took a few tries to get the Surface to boot off a USB stick, but after formatting it to FAT32 and copying the Server 2012 files from the ISO, the install started right up. The install was fairly quick! I didn't time it, but it didn't seem like it took more than 20 minutes (could have just been that "new toy" excitement).
If you have a ".edu" address, you can get Server 2012 and other products (depending on your school) for free from Microsoft by creating an account at DreamSpark
Since Server 2012 is based on Windows 8, this provides me with a lot more functionality, while not losing much in terms of the features from Windows 8. I installed Windows Deployment Services (WDS) so that I can install different versions of Windows over the network without burning ISOs or carrying CD binders. This does eat up some space, but I think it is well worth it.
[See Picture 3]
I then installed Hyper-V so that I can create virtual machines to test the deployments. I created a basic machine with no hard drive and set it to boot off the network.
[See Picture 4]
Sure enough, it booted from WDS. I have a bootable version of Acronis so that I can clone a customer's computer before I wipe it out. This Acronis image lets me save to a network share, which I created on a external USB drive plugged into the Surface. For the Windows Setup option, I just picked the 32-Bit boot.wim from the Windows 7 DVD (I know the screenshots show Win 8, I went back and changed it). You can use a boot.wim from any Windows disk, I just like the 7 start animation better.
[See Picture 5]
A boot.wim from a 32-Bit disk will show list both 32-Bit and 64-Bit options, whereas the boot.wim from a 64-Bit would only show 64-Bit options. You can see both listed under the "Architecture" column.
[See Picture 6]
I then created a share on the Surface for common programs that I usually install after a computer is reloaded. I only selected the top and bottom two because the middle three are empty placeholders at the moment.
[See Picture 7]
So with all of the images I added to WDS, and the Hyper-V virtual machines, I still have 75gigs of free space!
[See Picture 8]
I didn't look to see how much free space I had before I started, but according to this website, out of the box it has 83gigs free. For all the features Server 2012 provides over Windows 8 and what I have loaded on it... I am perfectly happy with only using 8 more gigs.
There were a couple issues that I ran into... Anyone who works on servers or uses a computer that is connected to one knows that you have to do the three fingered salute (Ctrl + Alt + Delete) to login. Well, what if I don't always have my Type Cover handy? You can click on the "Ease of Access" button and bring up the tiny Windows On-Screen Keyboard (not the large Surface keyboard that takes half the screen), or you can disable that "security feature" (read: annoyance) in Group Policies.
[See Picture 11]
Another thing I noticed is that when I pressed the power button, nothing happened. Well, I wanted it to sleep or at least turn off the screen. So looking at the Power Properties, the only options are "Do Nothing" and "Shutdown". Well, thankfully Group Policies saved me again...
[See Picture 13]
The only issues I have remaining is that the orientation sensor isn't working, which isn't a big deal for me, but I am still going to try and fix it. Same thing with the light sensor that automatically controls the brightness.
Some notes...
I really liked the quick boot time, and wanted to try and avoid installing Active Directory. I did all the above while keeping the server on a workgroup and not making it a Domain controller. It still goes from off to Lock Screen in under a minute.
I set the Hyper-V and WDS services to Manual and just turn them on when I need them. This reduces processor and ram usage.
I still wanted to be able to use this as a tablet for class, so I installed the "Desktop Experience" feature and created an account for me so I'm not always running on Administrator. This provides extra security by prompting for the Administrator password if someone attempts to change settings or install a program. This also lets me install applications from the Store (running Store under Admin gives a error message).
You'll see Internet Information Services (IIS) installed in the screenshots. I have not done anything with this yet, but I might make another post about what I'm doing with it later ^__^

Future

Future 2

Future 3
Last one

For what it's worth, you can get Hyper-V on Win8 (Pro or Enterprise); you don't need Server anymore. Still, there are a lot of other things that server grants, although most of them aren't much use on a personal machine.

8.1 Jailbreak (not typical)

Salutations folks,
Before you get ready to get your flame on, I'm NOT asking about the STATUS of a RT Windows 8.1 Jailbreak. I'm posting about jailbreaks in general. I'm from a linux/android background. I got an Asus Vivotab RT LTE (AT&T version) for a steal off 1Sale. Before I even looked into doing anything with my tablet, I updated it to 8.1. Then I finally got around to looking into running desktop apps on Windows RT (not knowing how it all worked with RT vs desktop), I ran into the issue of not being able to run them (duh, right?). Then I found out about jailbreaking. So.. do you HAVE to jailbreak to run desktop apps? As I understand it, we currently have to run 8.0 to jailbreak/run desktop apps, yes? Well.. I obtained the Asus recovery files to downgrade my 8.1 to 8.0. On a whim, I updated my 8.1 with the 8.1 big spring update (basicly 8.1.1). I seem to be able to run some of the ported desktop apps without any problem. Am I missing something? How'd my tablet manage that without having run the jailbreak? And jailbreak doesn't work on 8.1 anyways? Before anyone says I'm full of it.. (you can click the thumbnail for full pic)
(windows rt 8.1 with 8.1 spring update installed)
(windows rt 8.1 running desktop 7zip)
(windows rt 8.1 running desktop putty)
(windows rt 8.1 running desktop notepad++)
Can anyone clarify if I'm missing something or I've come across an anomaly or even a blessed relief?
Thanks.

This is sure amazing
1. Can you run *any* unsigned application or only a few work (and the rest throw signature errors?)
2. Check the status of Secure Boot in PowerShell. Run as admin, "Get-SecureBootPolicy", press enter (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj603043.aspx)
3. Could you detail exactly your process? I understand that you did the following:
(On 8.1) Run unsigned desktop app, fail with digital signature error.
(Downgrade) Downgrade to 8.0 -> (On 8.0) Run Jailbreak -> Run Desktop Apps and they work.
(Upgrade) Upgrade to Windows RT 8.1 (via Store?) -> Upgrade to 8.1.1 (Spring Update) via Windows Update -> Run Desktop Apps and they work (partly or all of them?)
4. I'm not sure if it'd be any useful, but perhaps you could look in your EFI system partition (mountvol S: /s) as there has been a previous report of Asus leaving debug tools in VivoTab RTs before (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2477285). If you could retrieve a "debug" version of Secure Boot Policy from your EFI partition then it means that Secure Boot has just disabled itself on your tablet. It's highly unlikely, however, since you weren't able to run desktop apps in your original 8.1 install...

jimmielin said:
This is sure amazing
1. Can you run *any* unsigned application or only a few work (and the rest throw signature errors?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only grabbed the ported Putty, 7zip and Notepad++ desktop apps as those were the only ones that I was needing.. Oh I recently grabbed the FileZilla one too. All ran without any problems and never got any signature errors. Hell.. even my 7zip integrated into the shell and replaced archive icons with 7zip archive icons and opens my archives by default with the desktop app. Were there any particular applications you wanted me to try so that I can see if I can replicate any signature errors?
jimmielin said:
Check the status of Secure Boot in PowerShell. Run as admin, "Get-SecureBootPolicy", press enter (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj603043.aspx)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SecureBoot is enabled and it displays a Publisher GUID. Confirm-SecureBootUEFI confirms SecureBoot is enabled too.
jimmielin said:
3. Could you detail exactly your process? I understand that you did the following:
(On 8.1) Run unsigned desktop app, fail with digital signature error.
(Downgrade) Downgrade to 8.0 -> (On 8.0) Run Jailbreak -> Run Desktop Apps and they work.
(Upgrade) Upgrade to Windows RT 8.1 (via Store?) -> Upgrade to 8.1.1 (Spring Update) via Windows Update -> Run Desktop Apps and they work (partly or all of them?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm
- Received clean OEM install Vivotab RT LTE with RT 8.0
- Upgrade to Windows RT 8.1 via Store
- (attempted to run some ported desktop apps, received error)
- was going to downgrade back to 8.0 after getting Asus recovery files but instead..
- Upgrade to RT 8.1.1 (Spring Update) via Windows Update
- (attempted to run some ported desktop apps, ran successfully, no errors)
NOTE: Not once had I ever gotten around to downloading or installing the Jailbreak. Is there some way to confirm if I have the jailbreak installed at startup or something?
jimmielin said:
4. I'm not sure if it'd be any useful, but perhaps you could look in your EFI system partition (mountvol S: /s) as there has been a previous report of Asus leaving debug tools in VivoTab RTs before (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2477285). If you could retrieve a "debug" version of Secure Boot Policy from your EFI partition then it means that Secure Boot has just disabled itself on your tablet. It's highly unlikely, however, since you weren't able to run desktop apps in your original 8.1 install...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I copied a SecureBootDebugPolicy.p7b (dated 02/13/2014 @ 3:19PM) file from there. From what I was reading, I take it that's a good thing? (click thumbnail for full pic)
SecureBootDebugPolicy in the certificate manager tool

what is the icon that next on the left of action center (bottom-right, triangle flag) and at the right side of OneDrive?

hisoft said:
what is the icon that next on the left of action center (bottom-right, triangle flag) and at the right side of OneDrive?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
USB/SD eject (I have SD card I keep in the slot for extra storage)

thesawolf said:
USB/SD eject (I have SD card I keep in the slot for extra storage)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good job ASUS :good:

If you were able to retrieve a SecureBootDebugPolicy.p7b that is functional, it probably means that there was a Debug policy on your device at some point? (ref. Original Thread on ASUS). I've just looked into my Surface RT and there's a file with that name too, but it cannot be opened (it's simply an empty 0-byte file) and probably you're another lucky one who has a debug policy. (However it can't be explained why Get-SecureBootPolicy shows that you're using a production policy? Does it show the production policy GUID that TechNet says is normal, or something else? Policies don't disable secure boot, Confirm-SecureBootPolicy showing true is perfectly normal even in debug.)
Would it be possible to share this SecureBootDebugPolicy.p7b and then we'd able to see if there is someone else with a VivoTab RT that could test it? I assume it's locked to your device but it's always worth a try.
Could anyone else with experience working with Secure Boot look into this? While it's probably a lucky isolated case, it's nevertheless promising...

Just to double check: does anybody else have a Vivo Tab RT with 8.1u1 they could check this against? It would be amazing / hilarious if the update disabled signature enforcement. The question would then be whether that was Microsoft's idea or Asus's...
Oh, and one other quick test: grab a built-in program (CMD.EXE or Notepad.EXE, for example) and make a copy of it to somewhere you can edit it (like the desktop). Open the file in a hex editor (if needed, copy it off the tablet first) and change something unimportant, like a few characters in a string (not a file path, more like "is not recognized as an internal or external command..." or some such thing) to some other value that has the same number of characters. Save the file and try running it on the tablet again. The idea is that this will be an EXE with an *invalid* signature (as opposed to just being unsigned) and that would be very surprising if it works... but this whole thing is surprising!

GoodDayToDie said:
Just to double check: does anybody else have a Vivo Tab RT with 8.1u1 they could check this against? It would be amazing / hilarious if the update disabled signature enforcement. The question would then be whether that was Microsoft's idea or Asus's...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried it on a VivoTab RT LTE (AT&T) with u1 -- ran 7z ARM and it failed on signature verification.

I would never run another update on that device. Don't want to patch up the botched update.
Sent from my Z10 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I wonder if there's some way to take a full image of your current installation (possibly using a backup utility?) that can be restored onto other peoples' tablets. Even better would be if the relevant bits could be extracted from your image and carried over to other tablets (such as Surface RTs, Surface 2s, Lumia 2520s, etc.) but that may be harder. Still, worth investigating more...

Was it new or used when you got it? And if it was used, is it possible the original owner JB'd it and it stuck through the update?
Sent from my HTC6600LVW using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

GoodDayToDie said:
I wonder if there's some way to take a full image of your current installation (possibly using a backup utility?) that can be restored onto other peoples' tablets. Even better would be if the relevant bits could be extracted from your image and carried over to other tablets (such as Surface RTs, Surface 2s, Lumia 2520s, etc.) but that may be harder. Still, worth investigating more...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should be able to use dism.exe. Not sure if it will capture the online image, but you can definitely use it in recovery mode. Should be able to capture with new-windowsimage too. Going to try it out real quick and report back... I would choke puppies for this image.
---------- Post added at 11:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:35 AM ----------
Okay it you can't capture the online image. You'll need to have a USB drive with enough space to capture the whole thing. Make sure you either suspend bitlocker or make sure you have a copy of the recovery key handy (It's 48 decimal digits).
Boot to the recovery partition (it doesn't matter if it's on the local storage or a USB key - it can even be the same USB key you will copy the disk image to if you have enough free space).
Choose language, troubleshoot, advanced, command prompt (I think - point is, you want a command prompt).
Verify the drive letters are what you expect them to be (internal storage is c, usb disk is d, ramdisk is x).
run: dism /capture-image /ImageFile:d:\winrt81u1.wim /CaptureDir:c:\ /Name:WinRT81U1vivotab
Let it finish. It will take a while. Probably a long time since it's writing to USB 2.0 flash storage. Bet on an hour. You probably want to make sure it's plugged in to power (but you're not writing anything to the local storage, so you won't break anything if it goes dead).
Upload that wim file to skydrive and share it with me!

Sjflowerhorn said:
Was it new or used when you got it? And if it was used, is it possible the original owner JB'd it and it stuck through the update?
Sent from my HTC6600LVW using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is impossible, the 8.0 jailbreak was performed in memory and it not written to the disk.

Toxickill said:
That is impossible, the 8.0 jailbreak was performed in memory and it not written to the disk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gotcha, I haven't JB'd mine yet, so I have no idea how it works. Apparently I'm Windows ShmeShmarted and can't make a bootable flash drive that contains the rollback. And coming from android devices where everything sticks except for some very select mods/devices I just figured it might be possible.
Sent from my HTC6600LVW using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Sjflowerhorn said:
And coming from android devices where everything sticks except for some very select mods/devices I just figured it might be possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Believe me, that's what all RT owners would WANT to have. Although there's many reasons to jailbreak a device, I personally prefer feeling like I've gained full control of hardware I own. The in-memory jailbreak was good, but it didn't have that satisfying feeling of permanence you often get with an Android rooting / OS replacement.

southbird said:
Believe me, that's what all RT owners would WANT to have. Although there's many reasons to jailbreak a device, I personally prefer feeling like I've gained full control of hardware I own. The in-memory jailbreak was good, but it didn't have that satisfying feeling of permanence you often get with an Android rooting / OS replacement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Until the carrier gets to your device and locks the bootloader (AT&T)

I actually preferred the in-memory jailbreak in many ways. It meant we couldn't modify system files or run unsigned code for a couple minutes after boot, but it also meant we could trivially easily "un-jailbreak" and we could install updates with no fear of them destroying anything. Even the huge 8.1 update, which broke the jailbreak *process*, could be started on a device which was already jailbroken without causing any harm (unlike, say, many iOS jailbreaks).

I agree. I liked that the 8.0 jailbreak wasn't permanent but also exceedingly simple to install at boot. It meant that sending my Surface RT back to my Microsoft under warranty had no problems at all.

Lumen_Melano said:
I agree. I liked that the 8.0 jailbreak wasn't permanent but also exceedingly simple to install at boot. It meant that sending my Surface RT back to my Microsoft under warranty had no problems at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The in-memory Jailbreak is great when you hard brick your Surface and take it to the Microsoft Store. They just gave me a new one with no problems at all.

Playing with Produtct Policy - My XPS10 just joined AD domain

Inspired by this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1885399&page=22
I wanted to play a bit to join my XPS10 to my home domain. But
Check that the process is working on RT - a provided .NET program obviously would not work, so you should do the same manually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... it's for .net 4.0, AFAIR we have only 4.5, yep (?) And I was to lazy to read sourcecode.
So I loaded project into Visual Studio, changed target to 4.5 Any CPU. After that:
1. Took ownership of c:\windows\system32\sppsvc.exe and removed all rights (so noone, even system can execute it)
2. Created a copy of runJailbreak.bat and removed all exit commands in it (as a workaround for closing cmd - that will be needed later)
3. Added in registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup
SetupType=1
CmdLine="cmd.exe"
4. Reboot
After reboot I got cmd window on bootscreen background. Somehow, mouse cursor disappeared even with USB mouse.
5. Started jailbreak by running modified .bat
6. Started attached ProductPolicyEditor, enabled WorkstationService-DomainJoinEnabled policy, wrote changes to registry
7. Closed PPE, cmd, system self restarted in normal mode
8. Connected to domain as usual.
Proof - screenshots attached
After this RT went to not activated state. But when already connected to domain, I reverted changes I done (changed policy to 0, restored sppsvc rights), activated it again - everything works, computer is still in domain, only change is that in system properties I can only leave it, not change to another one.
This method may be used to exploit more hidden RT features.

kitor said:
Inspired by this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1885399&page=22
I wanted to play a bit to join my XPS10 to my home domain. But
Well... it's for .net 4.0, AFAIR we have only 4.5, yep (?) And I was to lazy to read sourcecode.
So I loaded project into Visual Studio, changed target to 4.5 Any CPU. After that:
1. Took ownership of c:\windows\system32\sppsvc.exe and removed all rights (so noone, even system can execute it)
2. Created a copy of runJailbreak.bat and removed all exit commands in it (as a workaround for closing cmd - that will be needed later)
3. Added in registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup
SetupType=1
CmdLine="cmd.exe"
4. Reboot
After reboot I got cmd window on bootscreen background. Somehow, mouse cursor disappeared even with USB mouse.
5. Started jailbreak by running modified .bat
6. Started attached ProductPolicyEditor, enabled WorkstationService-DomainJoinEnabled policy, wrote changes to registry
7. Closed PPE, cmd, system self restarted in normal mode
8. Connected to domain as usual.
Proof - screenshots attached
After this RT went to not activated state. But when already connected to domain, I reverted changes I done (changed policy to 0, restored sppsvc rights), activated it again - everything works, computer is still in domain, only change is that in system properties I can only leave it, not change to another one.
This method may be used to exploit more hidden RT features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confirmed working on Surface RT :good:

Wonder what happens if you then upgrade the device to win rt 8.1...

I did this on my Surface RT running 8.1 the other day, Nil issues..
jordanmills said:
Wonder what happens if you then upgrade the device to win rt 8.1...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I wonder whether this technique could also be used to allow incoming Remote Desktop sessions in Windows RT...
Melissa

Myriachan said:
I wonder whether this technique could also be used to allow incoming Remote Desktop sessions in Windows RT...
Melissa
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I spent quite a while trying to get that back when this first came out for 8.0, never had any luck with RDP. The Windows Help remote assistant works alright, though.

Work very fine in windows 10 home single language

You can also get "full BitLocker" from "limited Device Encryption" by changing:
SecureStartupFeature-Enabled-Premium
from 0 to 1
Then you can for example add USB-startup-key to encrypted OS volume by:
manage-bde -protector -add C: -StartupKey
...after changing back to "non-Premium" created start-up key protector will stay (survive),
so instead of nonsence TPM (which unlocks drive everytime unless you rip storage outside TPM chip), you can have fully encrypted and protected tablet.
BTW: @Myriachan: On jailbroken RT, how to get rid of inability to auto-start programs, when OS starts?
Can be system service made, which will only launch EXEs (in TXT list, minimised, maximised, normal) or is there other solution (TaskScheduler method doesn't work in W81RT)?

Chuwi Hi10 Air Linux Installation Guide

Disclaimer: I got this device from the Manufacturer to test Linux on it. The below findings are my own and express my own opinion.
Specs and short review:
Intel Atom x5-Z8350 CPU (4x1,92 GHz)
Intel Integrated GPU
1920x1200 10.1" IPS Screen
4GB RAM
64GB Internal Storage
1 x USB C
1 x USB Micro B
1 x Mini HDMI
Bluetooth 4.2
2.4GHz WiFi
Rotation Sensor
Front and Back Camera
Mico SD Card slot up to 400GB (Website claims 64GB but I sucessfully tested it with an 128GB Card that uses the SDXC Standard)
Headphone Jack
Stereo Speakers
Keyboard Dock Support
Touchpen support
The Chuwi Hi10 Air is a compact 10.1" Tablet running a Windows 10. It has a sturdy Aluminium Body and the overall build quality is astonishing.
The speakers are surprisingly good for a tablet in that price segment. Paired with Bluetooth, a headphone jack and the 1920x1200 WUXGA display it's perfect for all kind of Media Playback. The battery is powerful enough to easily survive a few Movies. The optional detachable keyboard is a welcome addition for when you need to write some text.
The keyboard is nice to type on, but I had cases where it would send keys out of nowhere. I can't guarantee that's not caused by the few drops of water I accidentally spilled on the connection to the tablet at some point. I'm not a big fan of the trackpad, mainly because it's way to small to be usable for me but that might be because I am used to the trackpad on my 15" MacBook Pro.
The Touchpen is very accurate thanks to the digitizer, however the touchscreen does not send different signals for Pen and Finger to the System. That means trying to take notes while resting your hand on the screen doesn't really work.
Sadly, the full Windows 10 install user experience is really impacted by the entry level Intel Atom Z8350. It's just not powerful enough to accomplish any advanced tasks.
However, Chuwi sent me the device to bring linux to it, so that's what I did. This allows us to use lighter Window Managers and therefore more resources for actual tasks, resulting in a better performance.
Install Linux
First of all you need to install Linux on the tablet. That means you will erase your internal Windows installation, so make sure to either do a backup of it, or at least make yourself familiar with how to reinstall Windows in case it's needed.
Please note that you can NOT install Linux on an SDCard because the BIOS can not boot from the SDCard.
Backup
You can find the Hi10 Air Windows drivers here:
https://forum.chuwi.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=6861
And a guide here (applies for the Hi10 Air too):
https://forum.chuwi.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=15&page=7#pid29091
https://forum.chuwi.com/thread-15-1-1.html
Install
Next up, it's time to choose your Linux distro.
I recommend anything that is based on Arch Linux and that uses either LightDM or lxdm, because that is what my guide will be using to setup certain features. Of cause you're free to choosewhatever you want.
That means you could for example use Antergos, an ArchLinux based distro that includes Desktop managers (for Antergos I recommend XFCE), or go the hard way and install ArchLinux from scratch and use lxdm with LXQt. LXQt proved to me to be the best lightweight and yet High-DPI friendly Desktop Environment, so that's what I used.
I trust you will be able to find the guides on how to install either with a quick Google search, so I will not go much further into detail here.
To get into the boot menu, you need to press F7.
After your installation is done most things are already working.
Fixing Remaining Issues
Out of the box, there are a few issues and things that do not work because they are missing drivers or similar.
Automatic Rotation
We're getting started with the most important which is rotation.
As you'll need to enter a couple commands to get automatic rotation working, start off with manually rotating the screen by opening a terminal and run the command
Code:
xrandr -o left
Note: xrandr is part of xorg-xrandr, and you will need that package for autoration to work.
There are a couple solution on how to rotate the screen out there, however I decided to go for the one with least overhead that looked the cleanest to me.
First of all, compile the 2in1screen binary. The sourcecode can be found on my GitHub. Download, compile it and push it to /usr/local/bin.
Note: Make sure to install xorg-xrandr and xorg-xinput for this tool to work.
Code:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Myself5/Chuwi_Hi10_Air_Linux/master/2in1screen.c
gcc -O2 -o 2in1screen 2in1screen.c
sudo mv 2in1screen /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/2in1screen
Now configure the Desktop Manager to start it after login.
LXDE: add
Code:
/usr/local/bin/2in1screen &
to
Code:
/etc/lxdm/PostLogin
LightDM: Place the screenrotate.sh in /etc/lightdm/screenrotate.sh and set
Code:
display-setup-script
in
Code:
/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
to
Code:
display-setup-script /etc/lightdm/screenrotate.sh
screenrotate.sh
Code:
#!/bin/bash
pkill -9 2in1screen
/usr/bin/2in1screen &
Reboot and make sure everything works as desired.
Touchscreen
The Hi10 Airs Silead touchscreen requires drivers that are not bundled with a Linux install. You can download them here: https://github.com/onitake/gsl-firmware/tree/master/firmware/linux
See the Readme on how to install them.
These drivers get loaded by the Linux kernel. I submitted a commit to add support for the Hi10 Air to the Linux Kernel and it has been approved. The commit is merged in the 5.1 (and newer) Kernel. That means you need to update your kernel for a proper touch support.
If you previously used my Kernel you can go back to the official kernel by running:
Code:
sudo pacman -R linux-chewbacca linux-chewbacca-headers
sudo pacman -Syu linux linux-headers
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Now reboot and enjoy your touchscreen.
Audio
If your Audio isn't working, make sure to update the alsa-lib to Version 1.1.7 or above. On Arch that package is in the stable repos so a
Code:
sudo pacman -Syu
will be enough.
Bluetooth
Install blueman and follow the firmware instructions mentioned here:
https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723bs_bt/issues/28#issuecomment-432806835
Which means you need to clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723bs_bt
and run
Code:
sudo cp rtlbt_fw /usr/lib/firmware/rtl_bt/rtl8723bs_fw.bin
sudo cp rtlbt_config /usr/lib/firmware/rtl_bt/rtl8723bs_config.bin
cd /usr/lib/firmware/rtl_bt
sudo ln -s rtl8723bs_config.bin rtl8723bs_config-OBDA8723.bin
General UI
Now, you probably already noticed, everything is a bit small to use your Fingers.
As a browser I recommend Google Chrome as that has a great touchscreen UI already.
For File browsing and reading I suggest using nautilus and evince because of their touch friendlyness.
System DPI
For the whole system, there is a few things you can improve:
First of all, increase the general DPI.
You can do so by adding
Code:
Xft.dpi: 150
to
Code:
~/.Xresources
. If the file doesn't exist, create it.
LXQt Tweaks
Next up a few additional tweaks for LXQt:
First of all increase the Panel bar
Rightclick on the Panel and Press "Configure Panel". Then set the Size to 50px and the Icon Size to 30px.
Next up, Go to the Menu -> Preferences -> LXQt settings -> Appearance -> Font and set the DPI to 96
and finally go to Menu -> Preferences -> LXQt settings -> OpenBox Settings -> Font and increase the individual fonts to get a window title bar to drag/drop as well as hit the navigation with the finger. I set mine to Cantarell 16 and Cantarell 14.
Install OnBoard
Another Handy feature I found myself in need of was an onscreen keyboard. For that I installed OnBoard, and found a very neat feature here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/onboard/+bug/1232107
You can map a button to open/close the keyboard.
I set mine to Super L, which equals the left Windows button and the touch button on the tablet itself.
In the LXQt Settings Menu you can configure Shortcut Keys.
Create or edit the existing shortcut and either map the following DBus Call.
DBus Call:
Service:
Code:
org.onboard.Onboard
Path:
Code:
/org/onboard/Onboard/Keyboard
Interface:
Code:
org.onboard.Onboard.Keyboard
Method:
Code:
ToggleVisible
If your Desktop environment doesn't support DBus calls, use the following command:
Code:
dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.onboard.Onboard /org/onboard/Onboard/Keyboard org.onboard.Onboard.Keyboard.ToggleVisible

I got a Chinese manufactured pad-like device which is supported by the Linux mainline kernel and works pretty well except for the ****ty wifi chipset from Broadcom. That device has z8300 Soc and runs pretty well. I really like the On-The-Go device design as it is easy to carry around. Thanks for sharing!

Does this do a total partition wipe? Can you install to the Android partition and keep windows?

Droid_Nut said:
Does this do a total partition wipe? Can you install to the Android partition and keep windows?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Hi10 Air is Windows only, there's no Android on it.
You could, however, resize the Windows Partition and install Linux alongside it. Generic Tutorials that float around the internet apply just fine here.
For Tablets that have Android and Windows like the Hi10 Plus, I don't quite know how the Android system is setup there. As far as I know you can remove Android entirely though, then you can just follow the procedure to resize Windows and Install Linux alongside.

I would love to get one of these units for review

Myself5 said:
The Hi10 Air is Windows only, there's no Android on it.
You could, however, resize the Windows Partition and install Linux alongside it. Generic Tutorials that float around the internet apply just fine here.
For Tablets that have Android and Windows like the Hi10 Plus, I don't quite know how the Android system is setup there. As far as I know you can remove Android entirely though, then you can just follow the procedure to resize Windows and Install Linux alongside.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I have the Chuwi hi10, dual boot Android and Windows 10. I will have to run live CD and run Gparted and take a look at the Partition Structure. I suppose I will be doing a total backup with Clonezilla before I do anything.

@Myself5 How's the battery life? And I guess, technically it's possible to install Android-x86 on it right?

Droid_Nut said:
Okay, I have the Chuwi hi10, dual boot Android and Windows 10. I will have to run live CD and run Gparted and take a look at the Partition Structure. I suppose I will be doing a total backup with Clonezilla before I do anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds like a good plan. Clonezilla backup is what I went for too.
silv3rfox said:
@Myself5 How's the battery life? And I guess, technically it's possible to install Android-x86 on it right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery life is great, i'd say better than Windows. Can't give you any numbers though because I didn't really pay attention to it yet.
Android-x86 is technically possible and with the Linux drivers even easier but I havn't looked into that yet.

Hey guys happy to see there is interest in this tablet. I do got the dualboot version too.
To install Android i found this:
jonathansblog. co.uk/ factory- restore- android- on- chuwi- hi10
After i personally Installed remix OS
konstakang.com /devices /chuwi_vi10plus /RemixOS/
When I installed Ubuntu, just Ubuntu Started, Android stuck, i found a solution here:
github.com /floe /tuxblet

I Just cant figure out this one:
Unfortunately, this still causes the Android install to hang on boot after Linux has been installed. I was assuming, for a very long time, that this is also an EFI-related problem. However, after multiple factory resets (see https://forum.chuwi.com/thread-2341-1-1.html and https://01.org/node/2463 for instructions), I finally found out that the problem is related to the very eager Ubuntu automounter, which grabs any ext4 filesystem it can find and mounts it read-write.
Of course, this shouldn't be a problem in theory, but this also happens for the Android system/data/etc. partitions, and whatever Ubuntu does to the ext4 FS when it's mounted, causes Android to croak. This means that even just booting a Ubuntu Live System from USB one single time will likely render the Android installation unbootable.
I've finally managed to fix this by setting the respective UUIDs to noauto in /etc/fstab as follows:
# do _not_ automount the Android partitions
UUID=57f8f4bc-abf4-655f-bf67-946fc0f9f25b /none ext4 ro,noauto 0 0
UUID=57f8f4bc-abf4-655f-bf67-946fc0f9f25b1 /none ext4 ro,noauto 0 0
UUID=57f8f4bc-abf4-655f-bf67-946fc0f9f25b2 /none ext4 ro,noauto 0 0
UUID=57f8f4bc-abf4-655f-bf67-946fc0f9f25b3 /none ext4 ro,noauto 0 0
If you look closely, you will notice that entries 2-4 are not actually proper UUIDs, they have an additional digit from 1-3 at the very end. The reason for this is that all the Android partitions (system, cache, data, config) have the same UUID and show up with the extra digit when the automounter grabs them. I'm not sure if this UUID duplication might actually be the root cause...
Unfortunately he does not explain how to no auto mount this partitions without a live CD and / or it is going to work even if Ubuntu installed is.

Hi everybody
Did kernel 5.1 resolve any problem. I use mint 19 but it seems that nothing happened

nikmag said:
Hi everybody
Did kernel 5.1 resolve any problem. I use mint 19 but it seems that nothing happened
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
5.1 includes the touchscreen fix on it's own so you don't need to use the kernel I provided anymore.

Thanks for your reply. I had 5.09 and I installed 5.1 but no touchscreen activation. I had to return to 5.09. Any update for Bluetooth drivers? I installed them manual, it seems to be active but cannot see any Bluetooth device . Also the problem with the bios or boot screen is always in vertical position and not touchscreen or other way to select OS. I use windows 10 and Mint 19.1 Thanks again.

nikmag said:
Thanks for your reply. I had 5.09 and I installed 5.1 but no touchscreen activation. I had to return to 5.09. Any update for Bluetooth drivers? I installed them manual, it seems to be active but cannot see any Bluetooth device . Also the problem with the bios or boot screen is always in vertical position and not touchscreen or other way to select OS. I use windows 10 and Mint 19.1 Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it does work with my 5.09 kernel though, right? Otherwise you'd have forgotten to install the touch drivers (see the OP on how to do that).
Bluetooth works flawless for me on Arch. Maybe Mint has some other packages that don't fully work with the chip yet?
As for Grub: there's nothing we can do about that. As it currently stands grub has no support for touchscreens or screen rotation. You could try different UEFIs (rEFInd comes to mind here) but other than that it's not possible. I thought about possibly mapping the volume buttons to up/down for selection, but that would still leave us without an enter key.
Although, now that I think about it again: it might be possible to register the windows touchkey as "enter". I guess I'll take a look into that

Actually I did not use your 5.09 kernel. I had already done a successful procedure with different kernels before reading your post. Yes probably is Mint issue. I need to find some time to install Arch. If you manage to do something with buttons it will be wonderful. I boot to Mint and then with a command a switch to win10. Are you pleased with the active pen? I really thank you for your support. I would also like to help if I can.

nikmag said:
Actually I did not use your 5.09 kernel. I had already done a successful procedure with different kernels before reading your post. Yes probably is Mint issue. I need to find some time to install Arch. If you manage to do something with buttons it will be wonderful. I boot to Mint and then with a command a switch to win10. Are you pleased with the active pen? I really thank you for your support. I would also like to help if I can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to a quick Google search custom keymapping for grub seems to be harder than expected. rEFInd seems to have touch support for some tablets though. I might look into that instead.
The "active Pen" on Windows is useless because it's not "active". It does get prefered over your hand, but the Hi10 Air doesn't have proper pen support. So the 256 pressure level touchpen they sell you is effectively as good as your finger. There is no pressure sensitivity support. On Linux this get's even worse because the pen is apparently using a different kind of calibration, so if you use it it's horribly offset. I was looking to use it for Notes during lectures, which is impossible to do. Even on Windows it's just not working. I've been in contact with my contact at Chuwi (who also sent me the device) and he just kept on talking around the topic. He never officially claimed the Pen would be supported but also never denied it. All he did was keep on sending me different touch drivers to "make the pen work" (although the definition of the term "work" can mean everything here).
TL;DR: Not pleased AT ALL.
P.S: I just updated the OP. the 5.1 kernel is released and works flawless on my Hi10 Air.

Hey everyone.
Can't make touchscreen work even on 5.1.2
see some screenshots:
https://imgur.com/598zrHM
kernel version:
https://imgur.com/qGtHJoc

heenry20 said:
Hey everyone.
Can't make touchscreen work even on 5.1.2
see some screenshots:
https://imgur.com/598zrHM
kernel version:
https://imgur.com/qGtHJoc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So which tablet do you have? A normal Hi10 Air?

Myself5 said:
So which tablet do you have? A normal Hi10 Air?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, running kde neon.

M5 you are right, the finger is much better than 'active' pen! I bought also nebo app for recognition but the pen is totally invisible. Probably you checked drivers from you know https://forum.chuwi.com/thread-6861-1-1.html. It will be a big help if you manage to do something with rEFInd . Thanks