[SOLVED] Linux/Windows on Intel x86 Android Tablet

[Nem1x]

So recently I found my old Intel Atom tabled that has Android 4.4.4 on it . It's Tesla L7 Quad Lite (you probably never heard of it since it was only available in Balkans ).

Specs :

NETWORK
GPRS: NO
EDGE: NO
EV-DO: NO

DISPLAY
Primary: IPS LCD 7" 1024 x 600 pixels 16M colors WSVGA, 170 ppi
Secondary: NO

CAMERA
Primary: 2 MP 1600 x 1200 pixels
Secondary: 0.3 MP 640 x 480 pixels

CPU
Chipset: Intel Atom Z3735G
CPU Speed: 1.83 GHz
GPU: Intel HD Graphics

MEMORY
RAM: 1 GB
Internal: 8 GB
Memory Card: MicroSD, Up to 32 GB

OS
System: Android 4.4 KitKat

GENERAL
SIM: , No SIM
Dimension: 190 x 108 x 9.6 mm
Weight: 290 g
Colors: black

CONNECTIVITY
USB: Micro-USB 2.0 OTG
WI-FI: 802.11 b/g/n 0
Infrared: NO
NFC: NO
Hotknot: NO
HDMI: NO
GPS: YES
Bluetooth: 4.0

FEATURES
Sensors: G-sensor
Waterproof: NO
Dustproof: NO
Shock resistant: NO

SOUND
Headphone: 3.5mm

BATTERY
Capacity: 3000 mAh Li-Ion


Now since it has Intel Atom in it , which is based on x86 architecture I started wondering is it possible to install linux or windows on it . Technically it is , but I don't know how to do it . I searched online and I haven't found a single article or forum about it , apart from people saying it's possible .
First of all , x86 chips should have some kind of bios right ? So we should be able to install custom OS from there , but it doesn't seem to have one .

Second , this tablet has a DnX mode . I don't know anything about it so answer would be nice . It has droidboot provision os bootloader and standard recovery . From DnX you can type fastboot commands as well as from bootloader .

If you have any idea how to install linux , windows or newer OS let me know.

Btw reason why I want linux/windows on it is because most apps today are for arm devices and my tablet barely works with any app .

 

[USAFRet]

Linux, possibly.
Windows...with 1GB RAM, it would be horrendous, if at all. And with only 8GB 'drive space', no.

 

[Nem1x]

Linux, possibly.
Windows...with 1GB RAM, it would be horrendous, if at all. And with only 8GB 'drive space', no.

You can actually install windows 7 on 8gb of storage (idk which version exactly). Linux has a lot of low end oriented distros that can be installed on 4gb of storage with only 512mb of ram .
I know it's possible I just want to know how to do it .

 

[USAFRet]

You can actually install windows 7 on 8gb of storage (idk which version exactly). Linux has a lot of low end oriented distros that can be installed on 4gb of storage with only 512mb of ram .
I know it's possible I just want to know how to do it .

You may be able to install it. Maybe.
Actually using it, however, is a different story.

 

[Nem1x]

Quick update .

I found out that my tablet supports usb otg and I found video on youtube about booting to efi bios with keyboard connected to tablet . I will buy buy that cable in a few days and see if it's doable since he has different device but same chipset . The video is in Spanish so I didn't understand a thing . Anyways here is the link :

View: https://youtu.be/KPWJuF5DDCs

 

[Alabalcho]

Just another word of caution: Any windows will look horible on 7" 1024x600 screen. As said above, you'll stuggle fitting it on 8gb space.

If you manage to boot off OTG/USB, some very light-weight Linux distro will work better, altough usability still remains at large.

 

[Nem1x]

I bought usb otg cable and there are 2 problems now .

First is that uefi is very minimal . You can only select boot option and disable quiet boot .

Second I tried to boot some linux distros of usb and I had no luck. Looks like secure boot is enabled in bios which prevents Linux kernel from loading .

Only thing I didn't try yet is Windows 8.1 . It supports secure boot so it's should boot of USB but I'm still not sure how will I install it . I can try with those Lite versions of Windows which take only around 3.5GB of storage . Other way is to make portable Windows on SD card and use it from there.

Keep in mind that there are tablets with this Atom Z3735G chipsets running Windows .

If anybody knows some 32bit linux distros that support secure boot , please let me know ,l!

 

[Nem1x]

Looks like I secure boot wasn't problem . I booted puppy linux 64bit successful. The problem was in EFI since it's 32bit on most atom Tablets . I'm going to do some testing to see if it's possible to install it.

 

[Nem1x]

So if you wonder, yes it is possible to run linux/windows on your x86 android tablet. In my case it worked, but you will have to install OS on micro SD or USB Flash drive since 8 or 16GB of internal storage isn't considered enough. Also go with Windows 8 or some lightweight linux distro.