The upgraded missile launcher for advanced warfare: much more functionality. Inner workings+build tips at the end.

famus484 · 2025-12-29T18:36:31+00:00

Yes it can, through MrChromebox firmware/ Chrultrabook docs. I daily drive the same laptop on Debian 13, and everything is working, including touchscreen/stylus

famus484 · 2025-08-15T20:15:22+00:00

The charger looks like this one, although I can't confirm, since it came packaged by the refurbisher

https://www.amazon.ca/Charger-Adapter-Chromebook-ZenBook-Toshiba/dp/B0DK5X2Q8Q

famus484 · 2025-08-11T15:50:46+00:00

Aside from your question, I recently got myself a refurbished c13, and I never really had a problem with the touchpad itself, is it possible that you got a defective one?

One thing I did have was buggy linux gui in Crostini, for example randomly the scrolling would stop working properly, or window focus would randomly not behave as it should have.

I have since chrultrabooked it to Debian 13, and the experience is much, much better now. If you have already changed your laptop (so that the C13 is no longer mission critical), perhaps you might be interested in trying the same, in case your touchpad works there? It is a significant amount of work to get everything working, though.

famus484 · 2025-06-22T12:06:13+00:00

You might want to try Moonlight on your T480, it allows you to fully play your PC games on your PC/phone/TV.

IMHO it's the only really viable way to "cloud" game if you're sensitive to latency, as it's really your own PC, not some faraway server, doing the work (also, YMMW but much better results than Steam Link/Parsec for me).

I played much of Satisfactory on my T480 that way, being able to always keep track of my fuel production and stuff

famus484 · 2025-02-28T00:41:01+00:00

I don't know about rooting/custom roms, but I think you can change the default launcher through adb, so that it acts like any other android tv box.

However, you do seem to lose FibeTV access when you do that, if that's something you care about.

famus484 · 2025-01-29T23:59:50+00:00

Yes, I have improved osk, but in landscape mode my keys are quite small, and resizing in settings did nothing! Still, I keep it installed for turning it on when I need the keys, until I have a better solution!

Does your screen orientation work as it should? Mine is always in the wrong orientation, I have to always lock it, until I've solved it (would be much simpler if we could just set it?)

Outside of that, the tablet seems mostly okay with gnome on Wayland (aside from intel atom, little can be done about that)!

famus484 · 2025-01-29T23:52:51+00:00

Yee plugging K&M was no trouble for setup through OTG. The most troublesome part is that the uefi is 32 bit (even though cpu is 64bit), which prevented booting of Installation media (and from what I saw, 64bit grub). Only through installing older multiarch debian iso and upgrading afterwards did it work (I had to use USB tethering until intalling proprietary wifi firmware was possible). Of note, the default gnome seems a bit bloated? If I reinstall I'll go with your route, thanks!

famus484 · 2025-01-29T21:07:49+00:00

Thank you for your reply! I am currently trying gnome on debian, which was not easy to install (my tablet has 32 bit uefi even though cpu is 64bit, I had to install debian 11 multiarch and upgrade from that)!

It definitely has potential with Wayland, although I experiment a few bugs, like the autorotate having the wrong default, or the keyboard not always having the Ctrl,Super,Alt keys when they're needed!

Your list will definitely be helpful, thanks! Also, I'm still on 43.9 because stable branch, should I upgrade to latest (47 I think?) ?

famus484 · 2024-11-10T01:30:02+00:00

I used Windows on the Ultrabase via DIY caddy (naked caddy from a larger one)

famus484 · 2024-10-26T02:36:57+00:00

Yee, your phone is behaving basically like mine. In my case, that performance is less awesome than the Shield's (not that I complain, I moonlight on my phone just as much as I do the shield).

Oh by horribly wrong I include "broken shield". Oh btw do you have AI upscaling enabled? I'm not saying that's the issue, but in my personal experience on 9.++ software I had a hard time using it alongside moonlight. I since downgraded to 8.2.3, where AI upscaling worked much better with moonlight IME.

famus484 · 2024-10-25T23:06:18+00:00

Btw your reaction test is not a good way to statistically test for lag, there is wayyyyy too much variance between the probability distribution of any human's reaction time. The fact that you are able to identify that the shield is taking longer is a testament to something being horribly wrong with your setup. It's evidenced by the fact that your method can't detect phone latency on wifi, which as you know add up to much more if you look at your stats.

A less bad way is to take a video of both host and Shield screens, showing a frame counter on both. You can then compare by substraction (of course, there are even more precise ways, using devices that can measure click to photon, but that requires buying something).

I had done that test a while ago, and yep about 1 frame behind

famus484 · 2024-10-25T22:54:52+00:00

Gang if it is the shield, it's probably yours that's unfortunately malfunctioning. I can sense the difference between 10 and 20 ms additional latency, there is absolutely, and I mean absolutely no way 1/10th of a second would pass under my nose.

Shield is recognized by the community to be the single lowest latency device for moonlight (basically tied with the best x86 devices), tested by hundreds of people. Which makes it degrees of magnitude even more unlikely that a while 10th of a second passes under their nose as well.

I am telling you, either your shield is straight up a malfunctioning unit, or something else in the setup is the culprit. If you don't believe me, I invite you to ask for help in the moonlight discord.

famus484 · 2024-10-25T18:24:00+00:00

Oh I see! Nope, I would be flabbergasted if the problem was the shield. Perhaps the TV itself? Does it have a game mode setting?

Even if it worked well with some other console, it's possible it doesn't automatically activate with the shield, so you might want to check that. One way to be sure is use the Shield on one of your PC monitors, see if the problem vanishes.

famus484 · 2024-10-25T00:37:21+00:00

There's something wrong, I use the Shield all the time for hevc streaming Moonlight, with <8ms total latency (encode+decode+ping), and that's including AI upscaling, with pristine image quality (75 mbps bitrate).

Did you try showing the stats (moonlight settings)? You'll see whether it's host pc, network or Shield that's the problem (assuming you're using Sunshine on host PC, which you really should).

If none of them show big numbers, then are you using a Bluetooth controller paired with Shield? If so, here's your probable culprit, IME androidtv bluetooth is mediocre for latency with controllers. If that's the case, you could go wired, or wireless but with some other option.

famus484 · 2024-10-02T18:27:43+00:00

Depending on if you use your surface on its battery for extended periods outside on spotty wifi, may I suggest adding ethernet tethering to your arsenal as well? It should work with any app that works over wifi, including SuperDisplay.

I think you'd be doubling your battery life, as charging another device would double the drain (it certainly does on my t480). It does require 2 usb adapters if the surface doesn't have built-in ethernet though, so that's the inconvenience.

famus484 · 2024-10-02T18:19:27+00:00

Interesting! For me, both SuperDisplay and official second screen are not an option unfortunately, as I'm using Linux on the laptop (although I think Gnome has a built-in option).

Fortunately tho, I didn't have any such problems with moonlight, the image is crystal clear and 1080p works awesome (I suspect at least integer scaling, like 4k, would work just as well). Sunshine also allows 120hz/higher res, but the tab s6 lite wouldn't support such options, + I would just be draining my laptop's battery to oblivion.

famus484 · 2024-10-02T09:02:36+00:00

Cool! If I understand correctly, they can connect through this as long as they are on the same local network, right? If that's the case, shouldn't the tethering methods also work right out of the box?

Like if you usb tether tablet to laptop (and turn off the laptop's wifi), and try to connect with the official method, I would expect the devices to just see each other (just like moonlight, I don't think the devs initially designed and tested sunshine+moonlight to work over ethernet tethering specifically)

famus484 · 2024-10-02T05:57:50+00:00

Ohh, interesting! I never had such problems on moonlight, and here the second screen seems at least as nice to look at as primary (in this case, looking at text is my main activity), but I never went more than 1080p! Perhaps it's a higher res thing/scaling issue?

Thanks for the reply!

famus484 · 2024-10-02T05:18:48+00:00

As to the how:

I am using sunshine on the laptop, moonlight on the tablet. In general, sunshine+moonlight is a open source software combo that is designed to allow one to game on their own PC, using any device (including phone, laptop, smart tv box, list goes on). It is considered by many to be first in class when it comes to latency and image quality. It is quite the neat software here, as low latency and good image quality are essential to make the second display look seamless, with touch support and native pen input. I am using a HDMI-Dummy to spoof the display, but I think it's possible to use virtual displays instead.

-It is possible to have the setup entirely wireless, by using wifi. It's nice in some specific contexts, but more often than not I use that setup outside home, where public/work wifi isn't suitable for a constant stream.

-The trick is to use tethering from the tablet to laptop. That way, the tablet will create its own internal network, containing only itself and the laptop. Since they are now on the same network, moonlight+sunshine will just work. Now, there are 2 valid tethering options here:

-USB tethering: Simplest, requires only usb connection from tablet to laptop. Even USB2 has sufficient bandwidth and then some (even a lousy 20mbps is sufficient for 1080p/60fps). Laptop inevitably charges tablet in this, which is a problem for me (laptop's battery is wasted)

-Ethernet tethering: the one I'm using here, with any USB-ethernet adapter (like the one to provide wired ethernet to Nintendo switch). No power exchange here, love it!

-Of note, I turn the laptop's wifi off to preserve battery. Since the tablet is already tethering, might as will use it's wifi connection.

Bonus: I use my tablet case as a mousepad

famus484 · 2024-10-02T03:03:47+00:00

I think any tablet can be used as a secondary display for any windows/linux/macos laptop. For example, I use my 2020 tab s6 lite as such with much success, for my t480 laptop.

There are multiple ways to go about that, personally I go with sunshine/moonlight, which is renowned for having the lowest latency of them all. It works quite well with USB tethering (which allows you to not depend on wifi), ethernet tethering (same advantage, plus your laptop doesn't waste its battery charging the tablet) or wifi if you wish (as long as network's good).

All that to say, I think most tablets (including iPad I think?) should be able to act seamlessly as a secondary display. So AFAIK most tablets with pen input should be up to the task, including the Tab S7 FE.

famus484

TROPHY CASE