I'm going to buy a tablet computer that has 64GB eMMC storage. Can I install any distro on it? I've seen people saying that some distros don't recognize eMMC storage. Is there any problem with installing modern distros on eMMC nowadays?
eMMC Storage on Linux
- Thread starter EMR
- Start date
I don't know about all distros, there are far too many for me to even start to keep up with. But the major distros should install easily enough on eMMC. I have an old chromebook with it, and I've installed several distros on it. It's currently running Debian, but I've also had MX Linux and Fedora on it in the past. 64GB is going to be tight for a full install for daily use, but it can work as long as you don't store much data or install too many packages.
With raspberry pies Raspberry Pi OS installs on a eMMC storage device and that's based on Debian if it's still the same as some years back. Always worked for me when I was using that, so would expect newer distributions to also support it.
I think the more appropriate question is, "Is it possible to get past a locked bootloader to install Linux on this specific tablet?"
You'll need to get past that before you can install your own choice of distros. Not all tablets will easily allow you to modify the operating system. In fact, many are openly hostile to such a proposition.
The tablet that i'm going to buy doesn't have a locked bootloader, it's fully unlocked and can go into the BIOS or Boot Menu without any problem.
I will watch some videos, and run some lightweight softwares on it. 64GB will be enough for me probably. I will add some SD card or something on it maybe.
Condobloke
Well-Known Member
G'day EMR, Welcome to Linux.org
Just to give you a general idea, Linux Mint Cinnamon takes up between 15 and 20 GB, when fully installed.
XFCE and Mate editions take from 10 - 15 GB
There many OS's which are far smaller in installed size.
Just to give you a general idea, Linux Mint Cinnamon takes up between 15 and 20 GB, when fully installed.
XFCE and Mate editions take from 10 - 15 GB
There many OS's which are far smaller in installed size.
Thank you for the info
There is 3 of them and i don't know the full model. I'm in Türkiye so there is so much "Made in Türkiye" brands that doesn't sell out of the Türkiye. One of them is a Casper, the other two is Hometech. The sellers is aged and doesn't know so much information about that tablets. All of them has Intel Atom, 2GB RAM, 64GB of eMMC Storage. Also i inspected the product and they are running pretty good and there is no bootloader lock, BIOS password or something. One of them has Windows 8.1, the other two has Windows 10 installed on it with OEM license key.
My only question is, can i install any Linux distro on eMMC storage? Does the new versions of Linux kernels support eMMC? Like 6.17, 7.0.
theLegionWithin
Well-Known Member
linux had emmc support added in 2004 - no issues there, but a bit of prompting w/ the AI baked into google's search engine indicates that many Turkish OEMs often use 32-bit uefi/firmware, even on devices that have 64-bit cpu's so you may experience an issue there (distro flat out will not boot). you're going to want to do your own prompting/searching since you have the exact specs of the tablets.
Yeah i've seen some tablet computers that has a 64-bit CPU but 32-bit bootloader. There is some BIOS mods for them but i don't know how to flash or any flashing device. Sorry for my bad english though.
I think i have to buy it and tinker with it with my own hands and see. Maybe i can install Raspberry Pi OS or something, at least it's Linux based
I have a little HP Stream 11 that has both a micro-SD (transflash) slot and a 32 GB emmc. It won't boot from the card slot at all but it never occurred to me to wonder if it could boot linux from the emmc - it booted MS Windows from the emmc and, sure enough, works with Linux, too.
This is a notebook/netbook, not a tablet. 2017 vintage with a Celeron N3060 CPU.
This is a notebook/netbook, not a tablet. 2017 vintage with a Celeron N3060 CPU.
Okay man, thank y'all for helping me
Personally I would say do not waste your money. anything with emmc is disposable and I do not believe in that kind of expense for something you will throw away. If you do not know what EMMC is, it is embedded Multi Media Card. Meaning one of the micro sd cards is soldered in in place of a hard drive. It is cheap, slow, prone to failure and utterly disposable.
It works just like any drive so your concerns of what works is not a problem. The problem is how well and how long it will work. I advise people that when they see celeron, or emmc listed they should stop looking at that item.
Thanks for this. I knew it was an acronym for something and had the basic idea of what it is, but never googled for -what- "EMMC" stands. Some people confuse having an EMMC with having a built-in SSD, which it is not.
My HP Stream 11 has a 32 GB EMMC as its main storage and, even with that, it's a sweet little machine (for what it is). But when that EMMC fails, I'll likely just shotcan the whole machine. Of course, I got it for the low low price of "free" (because MS Windows was fubar'd on it). It can't boot from its tf slot, though it -can- boot from a USB device.
Hmmm... I wonder if there's such a thing as "EUSD" (Embedded USB Storage Device)
that is the only price I would pay for something with EMMC in it..... free. And I have taken them that way. But to spend money on something that is disposable that way I just can't bring myself to do it. Linux will work fine on it just don't expect much out of it.
eMMC failure is rare i think.
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