Dell venue 8 pro

From postmarketOS
Dell Venue 8 pro (3845)
Manufacturer Dell
Name Venue 8 pro (3845)
Codename dell-venue8pro
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
Broken
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


Installation

Preparation

This tablet is essentially a small UEFI(32bit) computer, no preparation is needed on device other than ensuring secure boot is turned off, which can be changed through the bios. Do that by holding the windows button on the side of the tablet while it first powers on, then hitting volume down. Then it's like any other computer to turn it off.

The only other setup that is needed is making the bootable usb. This tablet has no ability to flash via a computer, therefor it has to be done manually on-device. As for making the usb, use pmbootstrap to make the usb. Use the tablet-x86uefi device and everything else is preference.

Flashing To Internal Storage

Being so flashing this device with a computer is impossible, to install, re-run pmbootstrap while booted from the usb, but then instead of installing to the usb again, select the internal storage of the tablet. Find it with lsblk or ls /dev/ | grep mmcblk. If a sdcard is not inserted in the reader it will be the only mmcblkX device. It tends to switche from mmcblk1 to mmcblk2 sometimes but it's not really relevant.

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.

Camera

No Camera support as of now but work will be done to attempt getting it to work.

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

On gnome-mobile, on reboot, wifi will not work until it is reconnected manually, assuming this is just the experimental nature of the DE. Along with that, the software center currently does not work

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, expect bugs mentioned above and rare but possible lock-ups, assuming ram issue.

xfce4

Also good, no complaints.

plasma-mobile

works* would frequently lock up, also assuming its a ram issue.

See also