Hello everyone,
A little time ago, I received my Starlite mk V from Starlabs after a quiet long time.
Here is a technical documentation on how to do the full setup of the Debian 12 and Gnome (wayland) install to have a fully working (in my opinion) hybrid pc.
OS Install
The Debian 12 installation is quite simple and works out of the box, I just used my ventoy key (with a USB C to USB adapter) with the Debian 12 iso on it. I followed the installation process as I would on any machine.
Disclaimer: On my computer, I do not set the root password, so the installer installs sudo and adds my user to the sudo group. So some commands in the following article will use sudo, don’t be surprised.
OSK-SDL and Plymouth Install
Disclaimer: Doing this can mess with your initramfs/grub. Proceed with caution, or you can brick your computer. You will then be forced to rescue your system by mounting your luks partition on a live CD or by reinstalling Debian 12.
OSK-SDL
If, like me, you want to use full disk encryption, you can install OSK-SDL (from the Debian apt repository) to allow you to unlock your Starlite without the physical keyboard. It will also give you an OSK (on screen keyboard) during the Luks unlocking.
To install OSK-SDK run:
sudo apt install osk-sdl
Then you can edit your /etc/crypttab and add: initramfs,keyscript=/usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/osk-sdl-keyscript
Be careful to keep the discard at the end. Your file should look like this:
nvme0n1p3_crypt UUID=XXXX-XXX-XXX none luks,initramfs,keyscript=/usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/osk-sdl-keyscript,discard
You can then run:
sudo update-initramfs -u
sudo update-grub
And reboot your computer. If you get a black screen instead of a prompt for the unlock passphrase, touch the screen or press a key, and it should appear. You will also see the option to open the OSK in the bottom right corner of your screen.
Plymouth
Optional, but what’s the point of having a fancy device if you do not have a fancy boot screen?
To install Plymouth, run:
sudo apt install plymouth plymouth-themes
Then I recommend to use the bgrt theme:
sudo plymouth-set-default-theme -R bgrt
You can then edit your grub config file (/etc/default/grub) and update the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT like this: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
Then run:
sudo update-grub
And reboot your computer.
Fix the Bluetooth
Out of the box, the Bluetooth isn’t working. To fix it, you need to download the firmware manually. You can do it by running:
cd /usr/lib/firmware/intel/
sudo wget https://anduin.linuxfromscratch.org/sources/linux-firmware/intel/ibt-0040-2120.ddc
sudo wget https://anduin.linuxfromscratch.org/sources/linux-firmware/intel/ibt-0040-2120.sfi
Then reboot the computer. If your Bluetooth still does not work, install rfkill and unblock the Bluetooth:
sudo apt install rfkill
sudo rfkill unblock bluetooth
Update the firmware
At the time I received my Starlite, I didn’t have the latest firmware installed. You can install the latest firmware by running the following commands :
sudo apt install flashrom
wget https://github.com/StarLabsLtd/firmware/raw/master/StarLite/MkV/coreboot/24.07/24.07.rom
sudo flashrom -p internal -w 24.07.rom -i bios --ifd -n -N
sudo shutdown now
Once that has finished, please shutdown (not reboot), disconnect the charger, and wait for 12 seconds until you see the LEDs flicker. Once that happens, you can reconnect the charger and continue.
You can also check out this:
Updating the firmware when newer versions are released may improve many hardware-related things on this device.
If after start you get an UEFI shell instead of your Grub menu you can boot into Debian using something like super grub 2 iso, then run:
sudo grub-install
sudo update-grub
sudo reboot
Fix the autorotate on the screen
The kernel packaged in Debian 12 is not really bleeding edge, so you need to tweak a little the config to fix the screen autortate. I found this on the Starlab’s support page:
printf "sensor:modalias:acpi:KIOX000A*:dmi:*:*\n ACCEL_MOUNT_MATRIX=1, 0, 0; 0, -1, 0; 0, 0, 1;\n ACCEL_LOCATION=display\n" | sudo tee /etc/udev/hwdb.d/21-kiox000a.hwdb
sudo systemd-hwdb update
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger
Then, after a reboot, the autorotate should be fixed.
Install TLP
The battery life on the Starlab does not give you a lot. So I installed TLP to slightly improve it:
sudo apt install tlp tlp-rdw
sudo systemctl enable --now tlp.service
I use the default config. I do not have statistics about the gain, but If you do, feel free to share them!
Install improved OSK
The default Gnome OSK is not really great, but this can be fixed with the awesome module: improved osk.
To install it you need to:
That’s it!
Firefox touch scroll and OSK
By default, Firefox does not scroll when you use the touch screen. It also does not open the OSK. To fix that, you can edit the /etc/security/pam_env.conf and add:
MOZ_USE_XINPUT2 DEFAULT=1
MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1
Then log-out and login again.
Configure the microphone
Just a small thing I have noticed. If you let the microphone at 100% it will be horrible (saturation). I lowed it down to like 20/25% and it was much better.
Conclusion
That’s it. I will keep this article updated if I make another config change, but I’m really happy with this configuration. The Starlite is working as I expected. I hope some information here can be of any help to you. I will do a full review (in French) after a few weeks of daily usage.