LINX Tablet

[Sydders01]

Hi All,

 

Please has anyone deployed windows education image to the below tablet

 

 

[h=1]LINX 12X Intel Atom X5-Z8350 4GB 64GB 12.5 Inch Full HD Windows 10 Tablet with Keyboard[/h]

 

Thanks

[MicrodigitUK]

Hi All,

 

Please has anyone deployed windows education image to the below tablet

 

 

[h=1]LINX 12X Intel Atom X5-Z8350 4GB 64GB 12.5 Inch Full HD Windows 10 Tablet with Keyboard[/h]

 

Thanks

 

Done it on a Similar Linx model the 10v64. Touch driver is a bit of a pain as it has config file to specify screen size. Even got it to PXE boot with the correct USB NIC and imaged with an SCCM task sequence.

[Sydders01]

@MicrodigitUK so what will your advice be for this to be used as 1 to 1 device in a school?.

[MicrodigitUK]

@MicrodigitUK so what will your advice be for this to be used as 1 to 1 device in a school?.

 

To be honest the Intel Atom Cherry Trail and the Chinese chip set implementation is not brilliant and it’s not the speediest user experience.

Because of the poor chipset implementation (it is cheap and you get what you pay for) there are a number of issues you need to work around. Silly tricks like USB 2 hub between USB 3 NIC to make it PXE boot all the time (Exertis, the company that made the Linx brand, know about the intermittent issues so don’t officially support PXE). Without it I have found out of a batch of 200 Linx device, only one third will network boot! It needs the USB 2 hub to slow down the connection to the dodgy USB3 controller.

 

I ran them for a few years but it’s not enterprise kit and limited support from Exertis so it became so much of a PITA I retired the devices after 2 years.

 

But if you wish to persist how do you currently image your PCs? SCCM, WDS ,or other imaging solution?

Edited June 25, 2020 by MicrodigitUK

[Sydders01]

Thanks for that . imaging is via WDS and MDT

[MicrodigitUK]

Ok I’ll dig out the correct USB NIC tomorrow and post the spec. Don’t know it of the top of my head but I have one at work so will look it up tomorrow.

[LeMarchand]

I must have been lucky with the cheap adapter I have and the batch of Linxs we got! PXE boot was OK, thank goodness.

 

I have had to transfer a WDS image to bootable USB and do it that way for other similar devices.

[Sydders01]

I must have been lucky with the cheap adapter I have and the batch of Linxs we got! PXE boot was OK, thank goodness.

 

I have had to transfer a WDS image to bootable USB and do it that way for other similar devices.

@LeMarchand after you PXE booted it how much storage was left on the device? where did you get this cheap adapter of yours? Are the linx working well on your network?

[LeMarchand]

@LeMarchand after you PXE booted it how much storage was left on the device? where did you get this cheap adapter of yours? Are the linx working well on your network?

 

I'll try to remember to look when I get to that site later. We may have gone for the larger SSDs as we have a "fat" image - though I'm pretty sure that little beyond browsers and Office actually gets used.

 

Adapter was just an unbranded eBay special that looked like

 

 

I haven't had complaints about the machines, and they seemed OK when I was updating them. Build quality is OK (miles better than the 7" Linx I got when they were knocking them out for around £40) BUT I'm not convinced that this form factor is suitable for school-owned devices (certainly in KS1/2). We have had a lot of broken screens where students (and, sadly, staff) haven't worked out that the magnetic catch won't hold the screen if you're transporting the device by holding the keyboard. This happens with the Lenovos we have, too.

 

Also, make sure your trolley is big enough as our one is a bit tight and, with the usual lack of care in putting the devices away, we have had a few bent USB tips as well as a couple of meltdowns where tips that were at a 45 degree angle were plugged into machines.

[Sydders01]

I'll try to remember to look when I get to that site later. We may have gone for the larger SSDs as we have a "fat" image - though I'm pretty sure that little beyond browsers and Office actually gets used.

 

Adapter was just an unbranded eBay special that looked like

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]58443[/ATTACH]

 

I haven't had complaints about the machines, and they seemed OK when I was updating them. Build quality is OK (miles better than the 7" Linx I got when they were knocking them out for around £40) BUT I'm not convinced that this form factor is suitable for school-owned devices (certainly in KS1/2). We have had a lot of broken screens where students (and, sadly, staff) haven't worked out that the magnetic catch won't hold the screen if you're transporting the device by holding the keyboard. This happens with the Lenovos we have, too.

 

Also, make sure your trolley is big enough as our one is a bit tight and, with the usual lack of care in putting the devices away, we have had a few bent USB tips as well as a couple of meltdowns where tips that were at a 45 degree angle were plugged into machines.

 

Thanks @LeMarchand . We are looking at using this as 1 to 1 devices. My only worry is building the Linx with windows 10 education as they come with windows 10 home and still have more space on them. It seems they have just 64GB storage. Is the mage you used any different from the standard windows 10 image?

[LeMarchand]

Thanks @LeMarchand . We are looking at using this as 1 to 1 devices. My only worry is building the Linx with windows 10 education as they come with windows 10 home and still have more space on them. It seems they have just 64GB storage. Is the mage you used any different from the standard windows 10 image?

 

Image is W10 pretty full fat! W10+Office+all sorts of rubbish that never gets used. Should be able to check after 1300h as I'm at a different site this morning.

[LeMarchand]

Just checked, that's exactly th model we last had.

 

Image is W10EDU (older version) with Office 2016, Adobe Reader, Kodu (not tried running it!), Active Inspire, Clicker, SketchUp (last free version), Uncle Tom Cobley and all. After updating to 1909 and anything else from WSUS, running Disk Cleanup and Wise Disk Cleaner I'm seeing just under 25GB of free space.

 

Looks like I had to grab some drivers: Linx 12X64 in addition to my standard precaution of setting one up and adding any non-MS drivers to WDS prior to imaging. Last batch was only a handful, so installed those downloaded ones manually.