Hello everyone, new ARM user here, but long-time GNU/Linux user for about 25 years.

 

I'm trying to install a (preferably debian based) distribution on a newly acquired ARM laptop, a Samsung "galaxy S book" model SM-W767V - this machine is based on qcom's "Snapdragon 8cx" SoC.

 

When i try to boot a generic image (assuming the BIOS/UEFI lists it in the boot menu) it either freezes or reboots at a specific point during the boot process. Where it crashes is always consistent for a specific image, but can differ across different images. The Armbian ones make it past the bootloader and crash at some point during the kernel boot.

 

Has anyone had success installing GNU/Linux on this laptop, and/or can point me to which installer image i should try next?

 

Thanks for any assistance!

Update, got it to boot by... get this: plugging a device (in my case an audio interface) to the other USB port. For some reason, it won't boot without this.

 

Now the issue i'm having is that over half the devices aren't recognized by the kernel. The keyboard, screen, mousepad & USB ports seem to work fine but the rest doesn't: internal storage, wifi, bluetooth, (internal) sound chip, touch screen...

 

So i'm guessing i'll need to compile my own kernel to support these, assuming there is support in the mainline (or other) kernel source - this is what "DTB" (iirc device tree blob) files are supposed to assist in doing, right?

Edited December 14, 20241 yr by delt