teclast-f5-ubuntu-finalizer

Update (12/13/2020)

Added release v0.2 that includes the kernel build with the new upstream fix that I’ve confirmed.

Update (12/10/2020)

Looks like Hans de Goede has found that root cause of the sleep problem in a lot of convertible tables. He has submitted an upstream kernel patch that may resolve the issue, thereby rendering this page a lot less useful.

https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e5b1032a656e9aa4c7a4df77cb9156a2a651a5f9

Compilation of the 5.10-rc7 kernel is stable on both my Teclast-F5 Laptops. Will put out a new release, but when 5.10+ kernel goes into distros, then a majority of the sleep issues will be solved in the regulat distros.

Will updated repo accordingly.

Overview

Let’s get Linux working on one of these cheap, but awesome Chinese $400 laptops that use the Gemini Lake or Apollo Lake Intel SoC solutions.

Background

After Intel put out its SoC solutions (Apollo Lake, and Gemini Lake) recently, I was having hope that consolidation of laptop architecture would give a large enough user base (of an admittedly small user base) for the Linux Kernel to reach a critical mass of support and usability. Back in my day, I experienced a certain nostalgic pride for having Yellow Dog Linux working on my Apple Powerbook G3 (bronze), and writing my PhD thesis on it. However, that was $5000 purchase at the time, and required a specific speciality distribution to get an acceptable functionality with acceptable power drain. After checking out some of the inexpensive laptops coming out of China, I found Teclast-F5 was the perfect HW combination at a ridiculous price point. It booted Linux out of the box, but was difficult in finding the right combination of tweaks that would give it the full desired functionality. So I thought I’d publish the progress that I’ve done so far. And I’ve heard that’s something that the Internet could help with. Or not. We’ll see.

Supported Models

Currently, this project targets on the following systems:

As a side note, Teclast F7 has working DSDT code, but is of poor build quality. This fix is based on manual merge of the Teclast F5 DSDT code with the Teclast F7 DSDT code.

Current Status

Feature | Teclast F5 (2019 on Ubuntu 18.04) | Telcast F5 (2020 on Ubuntu 20.04) | Telcast F5 (12/10/2020 on Ubuntu 20.04) ——- | ——————————— | ——————————— | ————————————— Target Patch Kernel | 5.1.0-rc7 | 5.5.0 | 5.10-rc7 Supported Linux Flavor | Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS | Ubuntu 20.04 | Ubuntu 20.04 Keyboard | Works | Works | Works Touchpad | Works | Works | Works Wifi | Works at N speeds | Works at N speeds | Works at N speeds Sound/Audio | Works | Works | Works USB | Works | Works | Works USB Camera | Works | Works | Works Video Acceleration | Works @ 1080p | Works @ 1080p | Works @ 1080p Streaming Video: Netflix, Prime Video | Works | Works | Works Web Telephony: Skype, Zoom | Works | Works | Works Bluetooth | Works, but janky HQ audio | v5.5 Kernel is much better, but janky under load | Same as v5.5 Touchscreen | NOT Working | Working | Working S0 Sleep Power Draw | ~ 1.4W right now, but it should be better. | Same as 2019 | Same as 2019 S0ix Sleep | Wakes up, but never reaches only PC6, PC10 | Same as 2019 | Same as 2019 S3 Sleep | Wakes up, but keyboard and touchpad are out, DEAL BREAKER | Same as 2019 | Works (WOOT!) S3 Sleep Power Draw | ~ 1W | Same as 2019 | | Same as 2019 Run time (on provided battery 29Wh) | 2-3 hours on a single charge | Same as 2019 | Same as 2019 Run time (on expanded battery 70Wh) | 6-8 hours on a single charge | Same as 2019 | Same as 2019

The current configuration is acceptable as an actually stable working Linux well-made laptop with decent power characteristics for a remarkable price. My old XPS13 has the stability, but poor battery time. The Asus-TP203NAH was good, but lacked the CPU and screen size. This power is only here because the customer hW modifications currently more-than-double the battery size. A proper Si0x or S3 sleep state would put laptop into super cool territory.

The only real DEAL BREAKER was that had no usable low power mode for sleep. The fixes listed below solve these problems, and I’ve personally had now week-long uptimes over multiple sleep/wake-ups cycles every day.

Pre-compiled Mods

Although this is a source repo, I’ve decided to add the pre-compiled artifacts for those who are too lazy to build ‘em. Debian Packages are now available on the release page

The general steps to follow below:

  1. Set the BIOS as indicated in the sections below (/bios)
  2. Do an Vanilla Ubuntu 20.04 off of Live USB Stick
  3. Download the debian packages off of the release page into its own directory.
  4. Cd into the directory and run the following command: 
    sudo dpkg -i *teclast*.deb
  5. Reboot and enjoy a system that properly wakes up from S3 sleep with a very up-to-date kernel.

Here’s the current HW/SW Kernel/System/ACPI Modifications to Get a $400 Dream Ubuntu Linux Laptop

TODO: Create a single Makefile to drive all the modifications on a given system

BIOS Settings (/bios)

With new upstream kernel fix, some Bios settings are required to be set in any special way to ensure sleep will work now. The default settings from BIOS screen or caused by battery drain will work just fine.

Key BIOS setting are:

Optional, but highly recommend to use S3 sleep:

Pictures of all the BIOS screens of my current bios settings added into this subdirectory. Note that bios settings are lost when battery is drained.

Linux Kernel (/kernel)

Follow the README.md in the /kernel subdirectory. There is Makefile-driven build that produces a Debian Package (.dpkg) artifact that can be used to upgrade the kernel on vanilla Ubuntu 20.04 install. The package is built directly from the git.kernel.org mainline tag.

The magical pieces of information that you need are as follows:

Ubuntu 20.04

Ubuntu 20.04

Ubuntu 18.04.3

Will try to move it forward when Ubuntu LTS versions are made available. Happy to try to get fixes integrated, if they pass muster.

TODO: There is alternate method for overriding DSDT via initrd. See alternative instructions in /dsdt subdirectory.

System Modifications (/sw)

Even with the patched kernel, some system customizations must be made to guarantee stability. These changes regard kernel blacklist and preparation for kernel module sleep. Will post the required patch that seems stable for me.

Some modifications that have been added:

ACPI Tables – DSDT (/dsdt)

With new upstream kernel fix, DSDT modifcations are no longer required to be set in any special way to ensure sleep will work now. This section is kept for historical and possible future use.

I’ve put together a rudimentary development system to modify the DSDT tables. Once again, it seems pretty magical, but I would need some experience and some of the HW specs to figure out what magical incantation would actually make it work. Doesn’t seem super-hard, just super esoteric, but I’m game for anything.

TODO: Upload the development environment that injects modified DSDT tables into the Ubuntu start-up.

Hardware Battery Modifications (/hw)

Very dangerous, and only to be attempted by real electricians with a bucket of sand nearby. However, when you got 70 Watt-Hours on your doofy laptop, what’s a little lithium fire among friends? I’ve already done it without exploding anything, and certainly these modifications would definitely void your warranty. But sometimes the easiest software solution is a hardware solution. 8 hour worktime charge hits the perfect functional point for me.

TODO: Post the 3-D printed extension holder for the larger, and some instructions on how to solder everything together.

TODO: Power Testing

I’ve collected most of the scripts and documentation for figuring out whether the sleep actually going into the Si0x deep sleep states. Currently, it doesn’t. But maybe someone out there can help me figure it out.

TODO: Upload the collected scripts and instructions into the repo.

About Myself

I’m an old fashioned Electrical Engineer that does a lot of full stack software development, and, I mean, really full stack. I’ve fabbed CMOS chips and currently working as an cloud architect for one of them cloud product. It bugs me a lot when hardare is ALMOST perfect. Thus, this project. Nuts, eh?

Joining the fun

If you are also tight with your wallet, but loose with your engineering time, and want to build toward the platonic ideal of a Linux Laptop, please contact me and help in any way possible (testing, coding, whatever). The more followers and feedback – I get the more likely I am to do the actual work. Otherwise, it’s a just a bit of hobby for me and will go at my lazy engineer pace.

@pokulan – Working Telcast F7 Kernel from 4.15 [https://github.com/pokulan/Ubuntu-Kernel-4.15.0-20-for-Teclast-F7]