Dell venue 8 pro

From postmarketOS
Dell Venue 8 pro (3845)
Manufacturer Dell
Name Venue 8 pro (3845)
Codename generic-x86_64
Released 2014
Category testing
Pre-built images no
Original software Windows
Original version 8.1
postmarketOS kernel Latest edge
Hardware
Chipset Intel Bay Trail T Z3735
CPU Intel® Atom™ CPU Z3735 @ 1.832GHz (Quad-Core)
GPU Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display
Display 8" 800x1280 IPS LCD
Storage 32 GB + sdcard reader
Memory 1 GB
Architecture x86_64
Type tablet
Features
USB Networking
Touchscreen
Works
Display
Works
WiFi
Works
FDE
Mainline
Works
Battery
Partial
3D Acceleration
Works
Audio
Works
Bluetooth
Broken
Camera
Broken
Internal storage
USB OTG
Works
Sensors
Accelerometer
Magnetometer
Ambient Light
Proximity
Hall Effect
Barometer
Power Sensor
Misc
Built-in DVB
Camera Flash
USB-A
Works
Ir TX
Ir RX
Stylus
Memory Card
Haptics
Ethernet
FOSS bootloader
Works


Contributors

Users owning this device


Information

  • This tablet is essentially a small 32bit UEFI computer, suffers from 32bit UEFI with 64bit CPU
  • Holding down the Windows button (above volume) holds the boot process, allowing you to:
    • Enter bios (volume down)
    • Select a boot device (volume up)
    • Continue normal boot (wait or press windows button again)
  • This tablet has no ability to flash via a computer, therefore installing has to be done manually on the tablet

Installation

Preparation

  • Ensure secure boot is turned off
  • Make the bootable usb
    • Use pmbootstrap to make the usb, Use the generic-x86_64 codename and everything else is preference.

Flashing To Internal Storage

  • Boot the flashed usb
    • Hold down the windows button as before, power on the device, press volume up
    • Then select the usb in the boot menu, reading what is on the screen
  • Ensure you have an internet connection
  • Re-run pmbootstrap:
    • Install pmbootstrap and rerun the init process, then install with --disk=<DISK>
- The internal disk can be found with lsblk

Hardware status

Bluetooth

Bluetooth support is available in other distros such as fedora, this means it will likely work in the future but no promises. likely configuration or driver related.

Camera

No Camera support in any known linux distros. Hopeful future support.

Battery

Battery charges and discharges as expected, however normally it does not report the %, it has been reported to work however. More investigation is needed

USB-A

There is no usb port on this tablet, however there is a microusb port which when paired with an adapter works just like a normal usb port. Hence why it is labeled as Works

Software issues

WiFi

As of 4/30/2024 you have to add the package firmware-ath6kl to get wifi working. and use iwd rather than wpa_supplicant

Audio Playback

If you experience issues with audio, or weird things like video playback hanging and an audible beep being emitted from the speaker, this is likely due to a misconfigured Sound OpenFirmware (SOF) setup. There are two different workarounds for this:

  • Disable SOF, by unsetting CONFIG_SND_INTEL_BYT_PREFER_SOF in the kernel or blacklisting the module(s) for it.
  • Keep SOF and force a specific DSP driver when SOF loads:
$ echo "options snd-intel-dspcfg dsp_driver=2" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/byt-sof.conf

Tested DE

Gnome-mobile

Good, rare but possible lock-ups, assuming ram issue.

xfce4

Good, no complaints.

plasma-mobile

Works better with more recent updates, on the slow side but that should be expected with this device.

See also