Need help getting past the GNU Grub menu on a tablet

Questions about Grub, UEFI,the liveCD and the installer
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danworsley301

Need help getting past the GNU Grub menu on a tablet

Post by danworsley301 »

Hi

I'm currently trying to install Mint 19 on an old Panasonic tablet I have kicking around. Iv made up a LiveUSB which I have tested on another PC to make sure it works, but on the tablet when the Grub menu appears on boot I can't select any options to start Linux, nor does the menu have a countdown for automatic boot. The tablet doesn't have a keyboard and it only has one USB port so no option for a usb keyboard.

Iv tried the hardware buttons such as volume etc. but nothing works. Is there a way I could modify the grub.cfg on my LiveUSB so it will boot straight into Linux without having to choose an option on the Grub menu? I'm struggling to find any other topics relating to doing this on a LiveUSB, only installed systems which is totally different.

Many Thanks
Dan
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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danworsley301

Re: Need help getting past the GNU Grub menu on a tablet

Post by danworsley301 »

Anybody???
rickNS
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Re: Need help getting past the GNU Grub menu on a tablet

Post by rickNS »

It's saturday, and only a handfull of ...

EDIT, thanks to Jerry's post below, I didn't notice "tablet" in the title of your post.
So I don't know how "touch" works, or if your processor is even compatible with Mint, probably not.
Sorry.
Last edited by rickNS on Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:53 am, edited 2 times in total.
Mint 20.0, and 21.0 MATE on Thinkpads, 3 X T420, T450, T470, and X200
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JerryF
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Re: Need help getting past the GNU Grub menu on a tablet

Post by JerryF »

Hi Dan,

You must give members a chance to read posts. It was only 2 hours when you bumped the post. There are days, especially on the weekend where viewing by other members is more scarce.

Now, can you tell us a little more about this Panasonic tablet? What kind of processor does it have? Memory? Storage space?
rickNS
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Re: Need help getting past the GNU Grub menu on a tablet

Post by rickNS »

JerryF wrote: Sat Oct 13, 2018 6:32 pm Hi Dan,

You must give members a chance to read posts. It was only 2 hours when you bumped the post. There are days, especially on the weekend where viewing by other members is more scarce.

Now, can you tell us a little more about this Panasonic tablet? What kind of processor does it have? Memory? Storage space?
Thanks Jerry...I did not read the title carefully enough.
Mint 20.0, and 21.0 MATE on Thinkpads, 3 X T420, T450, T470, and X200
kukamuumuka

Re: Need help getting past the GNU Grub menu on a tablet

Post by kukamuumuka »

Actually you do not need mouse, so use keyboard and keyboard-commands. Alt F2 starts a dialog box, where you can launch programs like:
x-terminal-emulator as Terminal
ubiquity as installer
AltF2.png
Of course you can install and use virtual keyboard like onboard

An another option is to use USB-hub.
https://www.google.fi/search?q=USB-hub& ... 80&bih=573
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BG405
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Re: Need help getting past the GNU Grub menu on a tablet

Post by BG405 »

administrollaattori, the OP said he is unable to connect a keyboard at present.

What I'd suggest is getting an OTG hub. That way, you should be able to power the tablet and also connect both installation USB stich and a keyboard (& mouse) at the same time. This worked with my Linx tablet & cost around £7 from an eBay seller; has a lead one end which plugs into the tablet & a USB socket to connect the power to, plus three standard-sized USB ports.

You'll probably have to experiment with the switch settings on the hub itself to get both data and power working simultaneously.
Dell Inspiron 1525 - LM17.3 CE 64-------------------Lenovo T440 - Manjaro KDE with Mint VMs
Toshiba NB250 - Manjaro KDE------------------------Acer Aspire One D255E - LM21.3 Xfce
Acer Aspire E11 ES1-111M - LM18.2 KDE 64 ----Two ROMS don't make a WRITE
PussyCat

Re: Need help getting past the GNU Grub menu on a tablet

Post by PussyCat »

I have a tablet with Android and Win8.1 pre-installed. Using the latter as touchscreen only can be very frustrating so tried one of my wifi keybourd+mouse which share a single dongle which works very well as it does with pcs,smartphones and also with a Raspberry Pi. However, in all cases it did not need another usb port for the o/s.

So as BG405 advises, an OTG Hub could be a solution with the reservation that I would avoid a powered one if possible as the power demands on the tablet should be minimal - and I once had the annoying experience of a powered hub sending the current the wrong way and blowing the usb port it was attached to on a laptop (not a good risk with your tablet which only has one usb port to play with)!

For the hub, perhaps something like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-in-1-Micro ... :rk:2:pf:0

And keyboard mouse https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wireless-Key ... :rk:2:pf:0

BTW Not sure how good touchscreen support is in LM but reckon you might quite quickly welcome the latter (at the cost of portability if that's the aim!).
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BG405
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Re: Need help getting past the GNU Grub menu on a tablet

Post by BG405 »

PussyCat wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:33 pm However, in all cases it did not need another usb port for the o/s.
With a preinstalled OS, certainly. But In the OP's case, the issue is booting from a USB to do the install.

I'll have to get a copy of LM19 & have a look at its GRUB configuration. I haven't done much in the way of modifying ISOs but one of those occasions was indeed to get it to boot on a tablet .. but for a different issue in my case; I needed to add the bootia32.efi as it has a 32-bit EFI. Looks like yours either has straight (64-bit) EFI or is legacy as it does get to GRUB, but to help clarify, could you list the exact model please?

For modifying the ISO, tools such as "Iso Master" should do the job.

As for touchscreen support, that's been present, at least to some extent, at least as far back as Mint 17.3. Hopefully it will have improved by now i.e.working screen rotation.
Dell Inspiron 1525 - LM17.3 CE 64-------------------Lenovo T440 - Manjaro KDE with Mint VMs
Toshiba NB250 - Manjaro KDE------------------------Acer Aspire One D255E - LM21.3 Xfce
Acer Aspire E11 ES1-111M - LM18.2 KDE 64 ----Two ROMS don't make a WRITE
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