x205ta

Arch linux installation instructions for Asus X205TA

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X205TA

standard-readme compliant

Arch linux installation instructions for Asus X205TA

                   -`                    meyer@x205ta
                  .o+`                   ----------
                 `ooo/                   OS: Arch Linux x86_64
                `+oooo:                  Host: X205TAW 1.0
               `+oooooo:                 Kernel: 5.14.12-arch1-1
               -+oooooo+:                Uptime: 38 mins
             `/:-:++oooo+:               Packages: 455 (pacman)
            `/++++/+++++++:              Shell: bash 5.1.8
           `/++++++++++++++:             Resolution: 1366x768
          `/+++ooooooooooooo/`           WM: sway
         ./ooosssso++osssssso+`          Theme: Arc-Dark [GTK2/3]
        .oossssso-````/ossssss+`         Icons: Arc [GTK2/3]
       -osssssso.      :ssssssso.        Terminal: alacritty
      :osssssss/        osssso+++.       Terminal Font: Hack
     /ossssssss/        +ssssooo/-       CPU: Intel Atom Z3735F (4) @ 1.832GHz
   `/ossssso+/:-        -:/+osssso+-     GPU: Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display
  `+sso+:-`                 `.-/+oso:    Memory: 220MiB / 1906MiB
 `++:.                           `-/+/
 .`                                 `/

This is supposed to be a tutorial, in the most straightforward way possible, on how to install Arch Linux on an Asus X205TA. This was quite a saga for me to get it done in 2021.

Table of contents

Getting started

You will need:

Older images did not have WIFI or sound working out of the box. However, newer images are working correctly. There are still some quirks to deal, however.

Pre install

bootia32.efi

First of all, you will need to create a bootia32.efi for yourself. You’ll neeed a new grub.cfg file. Luckily, I have one, copied from this blog and it is included in this repo.

You MUST change the ARCH_YYYYMM label in the grub.cfg file to match the ISO you have just downloaded. To get the correct label for the ISO you just downloaded you can execute the following (line breaks added):

$ file archlinux-2021.10.01-x86_64.iso
archlinux-2021.10.01-x86_64.iso:
    ISO 9660 CD-ROM filesystem data (DOS/MBR boot sector)
    'ARCH_202110' (bootable)

After you have updated the grub.cfg file to match your ISO, you can execute the following:

$ grub-mkstandalone -v \
    -d /usr/lib/grub/i386-efi/ \
    -O i386-efi \
    --modules='part_gpt part_msdos' \
    --fonts=unicode \
    --locales=uk \
    --themes='' \
    -o ./bootia32.efi \
    /boot/grub/grub.cfg=./grub.cfg

This will generate a bootia32.efi file on your current directory.

Booting USB

This step is very easy. We are just going to copy all files from the ISO to a USB flash drive and add our bootia32.efi file. First, format it using vfat and set the label of the drive to match the Arch Linux ISO label. In our example, it was ARCH_202110.

$ mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdc1 -n ARCH_202110

Mount it, so we can copy files to it:

$ mkdir /tmp/usb
$ mount /dev/sdc1 /tmp/usb

Mount the ISO file as well, so we can copy its files:

$ mkdir /tmp/iso
$ mount archlinux-2021.10.01-x86_64.iso /tmp/iso -o loop
mount: /tmp/iso: WARNING: source write-protected, mounted read-only.

Copy all files from ISO to USB, add our bootia32.efi as well:

$ cp -rv /tmp/iso/* /tmp/usb
$ cp -v bootia32.efi /tmp/usb/EFI/BOOT/

Clean up after yourself:

$ umount /tmp/iso
$ umount /tmp/usb

You have a bootable USB!!

Install

To boot into the USB media just press ESC, or F2 multiple times while the computer is booting. Make sure you have “secure boot” deactivated in the BIOS.

Newer versions of arch linux installation medias come with a very handy script that helps with the installation process. First, connect to the internet using iwctl:

$ iwctl
[iwd]# station wlan0 scan
[iwd]# station wlan0 connect YOUR_WIFI
[iwd]# exit

Here I show the summary of my installation, which worked. You can modify it to better suit your case.

$ archinstall
Select one of the above keyboard languages: us-acentos
Select one of the above regions to download packages from: United states
Select one of the above disks: /dev/mmcblk2
Found partitions on the selected drive: Format entire drive and setup a basic partition scheme
Select which filesystem your main partition should use: ext4
Enter disk encryption password (leave blank for no encryption):
Would you like to use GRUB as a bootloader: y
Desired hostname for installation: x205ta
Enter root password:
Enter a username: meyer1994
Password for user meyer1994:
Should this user be a supeuser: y
Enter a pre-programmed profile name: minimal
Choose which kernels to use: linux
Write additional packages to install:
Select one network interface to configure:
Enter a valid timezone: Brazil/East
Would you like automatic time synchronization: y

Wait for it to finish but do not restart.

Post install

After you finished the installation process, while still in using the bootable USB, chroot into the system. Usually, the system will be mounted in /mnt. If not, mount them first and then chroot into it:

$ mount /dev/mmcblk2p2 /mnt
$ mount /dev/mmcblk2p1 /mnt/boot
$ arch-chroot /mnt

Install grub

We need to install a correct version of grub into this system.

$ grub-install \
    -–target=i386-efi \
    -–efi-directory=/boot \
    --bootloader-id=grub_uefi \
    -–recheck
Installing for i386-efi partition
Installation finished. No errors reported

Generate grub.cfg

And generate its configuration:

$ grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Generating grub configuration file
...
done

Audio

Audio was a known issue with this machine. However, it seems to have been resolved in newer linux kernel versions. To make it work, I just installed pulseaudio and rebooted the computer.

$ pacman -S pulseaudio

Thanks