The only distro I can find that successfully configures a functioning bootable GRUB on this (bastard) machine is Nobara, which looks very cool but is way too heavy! Some things are glitchy; attempting tab completion seems to freeze Konsole for ~5 seconds and does not complete the command as expected. We’re working with an Intel Atom Z3735F@1.33GHz and 2GB RAM here.
How can a noob figure out what it’s doing differently so I can apply that to Linux Mint Debian Edition or Crunchbang Plus Plus?
The weird thing is that once the system is installed, it does not seem to have what I think are the required packages for GRUB to be set up correctly with this type of UEFI.
nextbook@nextbook:~$ sudo grub2-install /dev/mmcblk
grub2-install: error: /usr/lib/grub/i386-efi/modinfo.sh doesn't exist. Please specify --target or --directory.
To be brutally honest about this, your best bet is to recycle the unit.
The problems of trying to get a distro to install properly, have all the hardware working right and have a usable experience are not worth the minimal upsides.
I have an ASUS X205TA which is a similar unit and after trying for countless hours to get a usable device out of it was not going to be worth the headaches plus if I was getting paid for the time I spent on it I could have brought an off lease laptop with better specs.
https://rentry.org/x205ta_archguide
I have had several distros working on the X205TA (I even had a how to guide written up on reddit years ago).
But I was not able to get a usable system (i.e. being able to use the system without waiting on average 20-120 sec for the device to process an action).
Life has gotten to the point that the effort to do so is better directed into activities that I would enjoy.