Did anyone get any kind of Linux working on the BT3?

dgdgdg

I tried booting from USB and running (live) Ubuntu 14, 15, 16 32bit or 64bit - but nothing worked.
Does anyone have an idea how to do that?
Is it possible to run a different distribution of Linux?  E.g. Debian, OpenElec, Lubuntu, etc.?

Is it possible to upgrade the BIOS / UEFI to 64 bit?  Maybe that could help.

Please advise.

michelangelo

I tried Debian 32bit with the 32bit BIOS, it works. Upgrading to the 64bit BIOS you can get the latest Ubuntu Mate to install which is quite nice.

However in both cases neither wifi nor Bluetooth work. WiFi most probably will never be supported by Linux because Beelink fitted a Broadcom wifi chip. Broadcom does not provide documentation or drivers for their chipsets, and thus the Linux community totally snub this manufacturer in the hope that they will either change their stupid policy, or rather manufacturers will stop fitting their SoC / Chipsets when they realize they cannot sell their products with Broadcom chipsets.

The bottom line is that this BT3 is a pretty much closed box, that runs only Windows 10 and not even very well.

I would stay away from it, far too expensive for what it is (or rather what it says it is, but it isn't).

eblot

I can confirm that with the new 64bit BIOS, UEFI secure boot USB keys can be booted up. Thanks a lot !

Note that the f.bat script uses the wrong path for the BIOS/UEFI update file, it is trivial to fix.

eric

Beelink BT3 don't support Linux，At present, the Intel on the linux driver is not adjusted！:lol

Beelink BT3 don't support Linux，At present, the Intel on the linux driver is not :)

eblot

I do not get how you manage to boot anything but Windows 10:

Whatever the UEFI secure boot image, BT3 always reverts back to Windows 10 without a single error message.

It seems there is no way to disable secure boot from the UEFI configuration menu.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as it seems that for now, BT3 can only run Windows 10 and no other OS or even BootLoader. :(

Thanks.

kung-foo-kamel

I have Libreelec running perfectly using 64bit Bios

eblot

I've downloaded LibreELEC-Generic.x86_64-7.0.2.img.gz, unzipped it and dd'ed it onto a USB stick.
The USB key UEFI partition is shown when I press F7 - or when I enter setup.

However, it still fails to boot from the USB key and revert back to Windows 10 - w/o any message.

Maybe the UEFI/BIOS is the wrong one. How can I check it runs the proper version? (it displays "Beelink" on start up)
Thanks.

64bit BIOS link (https://mega.nz/#!vINB3DyK!N3uRj ... glmPsCUbO-wNyH0Co1w) is dead / no longer available.
Where can I get a fresh copy?

klomp1

Can you please explain how you got libreelec up on running?  :)I am not able to boot anything but windows on my bt3, have tried, openelec, libreelec and ubuntu, but either is prompted to the bios screen or windows boots up.

Edit: After reading your post again I understand that the difference is that you are using 64bit bios. The link to the 64 bit bios is dead, can someone please report it?

keeperofkeys

i can confirm using the standard bios on the generic Z83 Mini PC units, to boot ubuntu you have to use a 32bit UFI image on the 64bit os disc, as the 64bit ufi support was not part of the 64bit bios. due to windows normally using a 32 ufi boot image for both 32 bit and 64bit os

geegee

keeperofkeys replied at 2016-06-30 10:13
i can confirm using the standard bios on the generic Z83 Mini PC units, to boot ubuntu you have to u ...

Did you try the new v16 bios for the z3 (the z83 should be identical / compatible as others reported before) and check if it brings 64bit UEFI boot?