Distributions

The kernel does not depend on a distribution, and this page is not a list of what is allowed: it records what has been tried. Any arm64 Linux distribution can run on the tablet if its root filesystem has what every root needs; the systems below are the ones that have been built with the scripts in rootfs/ and booted on a TB323FU, each from its own partition through the initramfs's root selection (kernel/initramfs/README.md, tb323fu-ctl boot …, helper.md). "Checked" means seen on the device, not "should work" (labels). Several can live side by side on the card.

¹ systemd-analyze "Startup finished" (kernel + userspace), with automatic login. The time changes with the kernel; these values are not kept up to date.
² graphical.target; "Startup finished" is 15 s while first-boot timer jobs (plocate, fstrim) still run. iSCSI and plymouth are masked (see the builder).
³ Needs the netfilter set in kernel/config/baldur-netfilter.fragment.
⁴ Steam's own client, run with FEXBash -c "~/steam-launcher/steam -no-cef-sandbox"; games not tried yet.
⁵ SteamOS ARM for handhelds v1.3-odin3-beta1 (since withdrawn; the builder now pins v1.3-8elite-beta2); unofficial, not affiliated with Valve. See SteamOS notes.
⁶ Armada, a gaming distribution for ARM handhelds; its device list ends at SM8750, so this SoC is not one of its targets. See Armada notes.

Installing each one#

The guided installer (Installing Linux) builds one system on a PC and writes it to the card; which one is a distribution module. The other builders run on an arm64 Linux machine (normally the tablet itself, running a first Linux root) into a mounted, empty partition, as in Installing by hand, step 5. Each builder lists its options at the top of the file.

What the builders take care of#

Everything a distribution needed on this tablet so far is done by its builder; nothing has to be done by hand after the build. Besides the list in What every root needs:

• Ubuntu: snapd pinned away; droid-juicer and qbootctl masked; gnome-keyring (without it the Wi-Fi password prompt never appears); the GDM hook that ends the boot splash after automatic login; ssh enabled for developer access (Ubuntu leaves it off).
• Arch Linux ARM: the distribution kernel and mkinitcpio removed; the platform files and helper unpacked from the release's .deb files (the same files as on Ubuntu); pacman's download sandbox off while building through qemu (no Landlock there); the image's default user removed; bootmac-bluetooth masked; the platform units and the helper enabled. Sensors need HEXAGONRPCD_FROM= (a root with hexagonrpcd, which Arch does not package); without it the root has no rotation sensor.
• Fedora: kernel, bootloader, linux-firmware and Qualcomm firmware packages excluded from dnf (they would shadow the device firmware); snd-pcm loaded without snd-seq (the distribution's ALSA config otherwise leaves no sound card); iSCSI and plymouth masked (22.9 s → 7.5 s to the desktop); SELinux permissive (not in this kernel); hexagonrpcd and an iio-sensor-proxy with the SSC backend from another root (*_FROM=); FEX set up to read its x86-64 root through erofsfuse (no EROFS in the kernel).
• NixOS: no initrd and no bootloader (our initramfs starts stage 2); the flake copied to /etc/nixos with a configuration.nix of your own; a kernel stub so the boot image's modules are used; no getty on tty1 next to GDM's automatic login; firmware uncompressed (the DSP loader asks for the file by name).
• SteamOS: only its root and home partitions are used; its kernel modules, A/B and offload mounts, systemd-repart and device services for other handhelds masked; module lists trimmed to this kernel; the LADSPA plugins PipeWire needs copied in; Gaming Mode's rotation matched with a touch calibration; a power-button service that does not wait for SteamVR.
• Armada: the OSTree deployment and its /var copied out of the image's btrfs as a plain root; the mounts bootc wrote for the image's disk removed; OSTree, bootc and rpm-ostree units, bootc-generic-growpart, Armada's ABL and boot-image plumbing, its installer (it writes to the internal storage) and its MTP gadget (it would take the USB controller from the initramfs' gadget) masked; a device profile for Armada's device-env and the Gaming Mode orientation and a touch calibration matrix (as on SteamOS); its handheld controller setup masked; LADSPA plugins; SELinux permissive; developer access through a NetworkManager profile, with usb0 taken out of NetworkManager's "unmanaged USB gadget" rule (Armada has no systemd-networkd).

NixOS: your own configuration#

The NixOS root carries the flake it was built from in /etc/nixos. Only configuration.nix there is yours; it starts with NixOS's defaults (a few examples, commented out). local.nix (this tablet's partition, user, Android hash) and tb323fu-linux/ (a copy of this repository: kernel stub, firmware, services, the desktop) are the tablet's part. After a change, on the tablet:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake /etc/nixos#tb323fu-nixos

The first rebuild downloads nixpkgs (needs the network). The rebuilt system is what the next start boots.

Your own copy, e.g. ~/nixos-config (checked on the tablet: a package added, rebuilt in 57 s, still there after a restart):

sudo cp -r /etc/nixos ~/nixos-config && sudo chown -R $USER: ~/nixos-config   # some firmware files are root-only
nano ~/nixos-config/configuration.nix
sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake ~/nixos-config#tb323fu-nixos

• Under git: a flake in a git repository sees only the files git tracks — git add the whole directory before rebuilding, or Nix reports local.nix or the firmware as missing. Alternatively build with --flake path:$HOME/nixos-config#tb323fu-nixos, which reads the directory as it is.
• Do not publish firmware/: it holds Lenovo's and Qualcomm's files from your tablet. Keep such a repository private, or keep firmware/ out of it (in .gitignore) and build with the path: form above.
• A newer version of this repository: replace tb323fu-linux/ with a newer copy, or point inputs.tb323fu-linux.url in flake.nix at github:joonhoekim/tb323fu-linux, then nix flake update in the directory and rebuild.

Known problems#

• The USB gadget sometimes does not attach after boot (seen once each on Arch and NixOS): no USB network or serial shell. echo connect > /sys/class/udc/*/soft_connect as root, or unplug and replug the cable.
• NixOS: after a rebuild / was once left with mode 777, and sshd then refuses every key: chmod 755 /.
• Fedora: firewalld is turned off unless the build was given the kernel's modules (MODULES_FROM=): the check for nft_compat cannot see the boot image's modules at build time.
• Fedora, NixOS, SteamOS: whether GNOME/KDE asks for the Wi-Fi password on first use was not checked after the Ubuntu fix above (Fedora and NixOS install gnome-keyring with their GNOME); each was set up with a saved connection (NM_CONNECTIONS_FROM=).
• SteamOS (port release v1.3-8elite-beta2): Steam's power menu has no Switch to Desktop, and steamosctl switch-to-desktop-mode brings Gaming Mode back: SDDM logs in again without taking the temporary Plasma session the manager writes. The older release (v1.3-odin3-beta1, withdrawn) switched both ways on the development tablet.
• No SELinux in the kernel (Fedora runs with the config set to permissive).
• Fedora: x86 binaries go through FEX only if qemu-user-static-x86 is not installed (its binfmt entry wins; the builder excludes it).

Not tried yet#

Not built with the scripts here yet. What is known:

Your own distribution#

Make the root meet What every root needs, name its partition tb323fu-<something> (or baldur-root-sd / baldur-root), and pick it with tb323fu-ctl boot. To use the guided installer for it, write a distribution module — a short shell file that runs your builder — and start the installer with DISTRO=path/to/your-module.sh.

What every root needs#

The builders in rootfs/ do all of it.

• No kernel modules of its own. The boot image carries all modules of its kernel and the initramfs mounts them read-only on /lib/modules/<release> of the root it starts (merged /usr roots: /usr/lib/modules/<release>), so a kernel update is just the new boot image (kernel/initramfs). NixOS holds a kernel stub (packaging/nix/prebuilt-kernel.nix) and its kmod falls through to that mount. The root only needs a writable / for the mount point. own in /etc/tb323fu/modules opts a root out (it then carries its own tree, e.g. for DKMS). No distribution kernel, bootloader or initramfs is used: one installed by a package gets its own release directory and is ignored.
• Firmware from your own tablet (firmware/): qcom, ath12k, qca, novatek (touch — without it the touchscreen is dead), aw882xx_acf.bin, and regulatory.db (wireless-regdb).
• wpa_supplicant next to NetworkManager (without it Wi-Fi shows as unavailable).
• LADSPA swh plugins (swh-plugins / ladspa-swh-plugins / ladspaPlugins): the speaker protection filter uses sc4_1882; without it PipeWire does not start.
• rmtfs and tqftpserv masked. rmtfs -s starts the modem, which then crashes and currently resets the whole SoC. The tablet has no GNSS antenna and no cellular, so the modem has no use.
• Mobile-distribution helpers masked when present: droid-juicer (holds the boot forever), qbootctl, bootmac-bluetooth, ModemManager.
• Sensors: hexagonrpcd with a fastrpc system user and its udev rule, and an iio-sensor-proxy built with the SSC backend (libssc) — Fedora's has none, so the builder copies one.
• Platform files and helper (userspace/platform, helper/, or the packages in packaging/).
• A distribution's own disk plumbing masked when it comes from an image: SteamOS's systemd-repart (its repart.d wants to add a home partition to the root disk), partition-set and offload mounts, its A/B boot registration.

SteamOS notes#

How the SteamOS root is put together

• The image is the SM8750 build of SteamOS ARM for handhelds, with Valve's Steam Frame userspace and the native arm64 Steam client (Valve ships a native arm64 Steam client for Linux since May 2026).
• Its root and home are copied into one partition; the device's own kernel boots it.
• Gaming Mode turns the picture with gamescope's rotation shader, which does not turn touch: the builder adds a libinput calibration matrix for the touchscreen and pen.
• The power button suspends once steamos-powerbuttond runs. The Steam Frame unit only starts next to SteamVR, so the builder replaces it.
• Its own disk plumbing is masked (see What every root needs).

Armada notes#

How the Armada root is put together

• The release image is a raw disk: ESP (ROCKNIX ABL boot image), /boot (ext4, OSTree's boot entries) and a btrfs root whose subvolume root holds an OSTree repository and one bootc deployment (composefs enabled). Our initramfs does not start OSTree, so the builder copies the deployment's tree (with its merged /etc) and the stateroot's /var (the armada user's home with the Steam bootstrap) into one ext4 partition. Nothing of the ESP or /boot is used.
• /home, /root, /opt and so on stay symlinks into /var, as on Fedora's atomic systems.
• Armada's updates (bootc, Steam's system update button) do not work on the copy; a newer release means building the root again.
• The user is armada (the image's password is armada; the guided installer sets your own). SDDM logs it into Gaming Mode; Desktop Mode is KDE Plasma.
• The panel has no orientation property: a profile in Armada's device-env (by the device tree's model) turns on gamescope's rotation shader, and /etc/gamescope-session-plus/sessions.d/steam gives Gaming Mode its orientation (ORIENTATION=, default right, as on SteamOS).
• Checked on the tablet (2026-10-04, guided installer, kernel t39): the first start shows Armada's own splash for a while, then Gaming Mode; touch lands where tapped once the calibration matrix is set; Steam's first-start setup (language) comes up; the sound card and the helper run.
• x86 games: Armada presents its x86-64 runtime for FEX from a squashfs image compressed with zstd: kernel t40 mounts it (CONFIG_SQUASHFS_ZSTD), and Decky's plugin loader then starts; a game itself was not tried. On t39 both fail.
• Not checked yet: Desktop Mode, sound by ear, suspend through Armada's own suspend-dispatch, Armada's power daemon next to the helper (both set CPU and GPU limits). No sensors (Fedora's iio-sensor-proxy has no SSC backend).
• Open: armada-flatpak-setup fails ("GPG: Unable to export keys"), as does flatpak remotes --system: the system Flatpak repository copied from the image is not usable as it is. With developer access, Steam's first-start network step disconnects usb0 (NetworkManager then leaves it down until the next start).