TABLEX_LINUX BACK THIS PROJECT

Open hardware · Kali Linux · ARM64

TURN AN ANDROID TABLET
INTO A KALI LINUX MACHINE.

Tablex Linux is an open project porting Linux to affordable ARM64 tablets — starting with Kali Linux on the Teclast P85T. Follow every step of the port, in public.

BACK THIS PROJECT FOLLOW THE PORT ↓

Kali Linux preloaded · Open hardware · Community driven

● KALI LINUX INSIDE ALLWINNER A523 / ARM64 OPEN SOURCE
TABLEX // DEV-PLATFORM-01
A523 · ARM64 KALI PENTEST AUDIT WI-FI · BT USB · OTG TOUCH BATTERY
$ tablex boot --kali
BOOTING KALI ON TABLEX...
[ OK ] Kali ARM      [ OK ] Touch
[ OK ] Wi-Fi         [ OK ] USB
[ OK ] Tools ready  [ OK ] Battery
KALI READY. HAPPY HUNTING.█

FIG.01 — DEVELOPMENT TARGET · RENDER (PLACEHOLDER, REPLACE WITH REAL DEVICE PHOTO)

01 / The problem

You bought the hardware.
Why don't you own the software?

Modern tablets are powerful enough to become useful Linux computers. But their software is usually locked behind proprietary Android firmware, vendor kernels, undocumented hardware and short support lifetimes.

When the manufacturer stops updating the device, the hardware is often still perfectly usable.

Hardware should not become obsolete just because its original software does.
SUPPORT_LIFECYCLE.LOG
YEAR 0 — vendor ships Android, kernel 5.x fork
YEAR 1 — one major update, maybe
YEAR 2 — security patches slow down
YEAR 3 — EOL. NO MORE UPDATES.
YEAR 4 — hardware 100% fine. software abandoned.

TABLEX ANSWER: understand → modify → reuse → maintain.

02 / The project

Porting Linux to tablets. In the open.

Tablex Linux takes an inexpensive Android tablet and ports Linux to it — documenting each step so anyone can follow, reproduce and learn. This page is the living record of that process.

UNDERSTAND THE HARDWARE→REBUILD IT WITH LINUX→SHIP IT WITH KALI

The goal: a pocket Kali Linux rig for portable security auditing — built step by step, with every breakthrough and every dead end published here.

First development platform

One inexpensive tablet.
One serious experiment.

The first Tablex Linux development platform is an affordable ARM64 tablet based on the Allwinner A523 family — selected because it is a realistic, hard test case, not an easy demo.

  • ARM64 processor, modern enough for daily Linux
  • Low-cost consumer hardware (real constraints)
  • Existing Android firmware to investigate
  • Upstream Linux work to build upon
  • Enough complexity to expose the real problems

STATUS: IN DEVELOPMENT — SPECS PUBLISHED AS THEY ARE VERIFIED. NOTHING CLAIMED BEFORE IT BOOTS.

FULL HARDWARE FILE: TECLAST P85T ↓

HW_PROFILE // A523-FAMILY
SOC    : Allwinner A523 family (verify per-rev)
ARCH   : ARM64
BOOT   : vendor BROM → U-Boot (target)
DISPLAY: MIPI-DSI (in development)
TOUCH  : I2C touchscreen (experimental)
GPU    : Mali / Panfrost path (planned)
NET    : Wi-Fi + BT (planned)
POWER  : PMIC + fuel-gauge (research)

The first device is only the beginning — the methodology is designed to transfer to other ARM64 tablets.

Hardware file / DEV-PLATFORM-01

Teclast P85T. Our specimen.

This is the exact consumer device the project starts from — cheap, widely available, and representative of the problem. Values below are manufacturer claims until the project verifies them against firmware, logs and measurements. The verification log will be published as evidence lands.

MODEL
Teclast P85T (DEV-PLATFORM-01)
IDENTIFIED
SoC
Allwinner A523 — 8× Cortex-A55 @ up to 1.8 GHz
VENDOR CLAIM
GPU
Mali-G57 MC1 · 600 MHz per Teclast (to be measured on-device)
TO VERIFY
RAM
4 GB LPDDR4X
VENDOR CLAIM
STORAGE
64 GB eMMC 5.1 + microSD up to 1 TB
VENDOR CLAIM
DISPLAY
8″ IPS · 1280×800 · capacitive touch
VENDOR CLAIM
BATTERY
5000 mAh Li-Po · USB-C
VENDOR CLAIM
CAMERAS
0.3 MP front · 2 MP rear (low priority for Linux bring-up)
VENDOR CLAIM
WIRELESS
Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac · Bluetooth 5.2 (some retailers claim Wi-Fi 6 — to verify)
TO VERIFY
AUDIO
Dual speakers · 3.5 mm jack
VENDOR CLAIM
SENSORS
Gravity (accelerometer) · Hall sensor
VENDOR CLAIM
BODY
201.7 × 122.4 × 9.1 mm · 340 g · metal
VENDOR CLAIM
SHIPPED OS
Android 13/14 (varies by revision) — our evidence source, not our target
IDENTIFIED
LAUNCH OS
Kali Linux — portable security auditing & pentesting
IN DEVELOPMENT

SOURCES: TECLAST OFFICIAL SPEC SHEET (EN.TECLAST.COM) + CROSS-CHECKED LISTINGS · REVISION DIFFERENCES DOCUMENTED PER-BOARD.

03 / What you get

Not an Android launcher.
A Kali tablet.

KALI LINUX

Boots straight into Kali — an ARM build tuned for the tablet, not a generic image.

IN DEVELOPMENT

PENTEST TOOLSET

Network, web, wireless and forensics tools preselected for a portable rig.

PLANNED

TOUCH FIRST

The full Kali experience with your fingers — no keyboard dock required on site.

EXPERIMENTAL

WIRELESS

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for on-site audits. Advanced modes verified per chip before claimed.

EXPERIMENTAL

FIELD BATTERY

All-day auditing on battery, charged over standard USB-C.

PLANNED

OPEN + REPRODUCIBLE

Images, guides and sources published — rebuild the whole thing yourself.

IN DEVELOPMENT

04 / Open source

Everything we learn should outlive the device.

What we discover, the patches, the build guides and the docs must be reproducible by others. If a solution only works because one person knows a secret trick, it isn't finished.

REPRODUCIBILITY_RULE
1. publish the device tree
2. publish the defconfig + build steps
3. publish the uart log of it booting
4. publish what doesn't work yet
5. accept the patch that proves you wrong
TABLEX_ENGINEER // CLASSIFIER
# ai assists. verification decides.
reads: firmware + logs + datasheets
sorts every finding:
  [FACT]       measured on real hardware
  [EVIDENCE]  seen in 2+ independent sources
  [HYPOTHESIS] likely, not yet proven
  [UNKNOWN]    still to investigate

05 / The engineering agent

An AI assistant that shows its homework.

Tablex Engineer reads firmware, logs and hardware documents, then labels every finding as FACT · EVIDENCE · HYPOTHESIS · UNKNOWN — so nothing unverified ever ships as truth.

06 / The roadmap

From one tablet to a platform.

This is the port tracker — phases move from planned to done as the work lands, and each step gets its own log entry below.

  1. HARDWARE RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

    Open the tablet on paper first: every chip, sensor and port, listed.

  2. BOOT NEXT

    Make it start Linux — every time, the same way.

  3. KALI BASE PLANNED

    A modern system underneath, with the tablet hardware recognized.

  4. TOUCH + DISPLAY PLANNED

    Kali you can actually use with your fingers.

  5. WIRELESS + POWER PLANNED

    Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for audits, battery that lasts the job.

  6. GRAPHICS PLANNED

    A smooth desktop wherever the hardware allows it.

  7. KALI IMAGE PLANNED

    Download, flash, audit. A guide anyone can follow.

  8. MORE TABLETS PLANNED

    Repeat the recipe on the next cheap tablet.

07 / Project log

The port, entry by entry.

Every step of the bring-up gets logged here — newest first. Breakthroughs and dead ends alike.

  1. LOG 003 · UP NEXT NEXT

    Firmware dump + serial console

    Next: back up the stock firmware, open a UART console and capture the first boot logs. Nothing gets modified until the original system is safely stored.

  2. LOG 002 · 2026-09-22 PUBLISHED

    Project site live, hardware file published

    tablexlinux.com is online with the Teclast P85T hardware file: every spec labeled as vendor claim until verified on-device. This log is now the official progress record.

  3. LOG 001 · 2026-09 PUBLISHED

    Target selected: Teclast P85T

    First port target locked in: an affordable 8″ tablet on the Allwinner A523 (ARM64, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage). Cheap, available, and hard enough to prove the method.

08 / What Kickstarter funds

Your support buys engineering time.

The biggest cost isn't software — it's the time to investigate hardware never designed for mainline Linux. Funding turns a promising experiment into a reproducible open-source project.

  • development hardware + multiple tablet revisions
  • serial / debug / recovery equipment
  • storage + backup infrastructure
  • development + documentation time
  • linux upstream development + cross-revision testing
  • community infrastructure
FUNDING_TARGET
goal : reproducible linux on dev-platform-01
metric: power button → LINUX BOOT
proof : uart log + images + docs, public
scope : one tablet done right, then a platform
BACK THIS PROJECT

KICKSTARTER LINK GOES HERE — REPLACE #back HREF WHEN LIVE.

09 / Why this matters

Millions of devices don't need to become e-waste.

# today
BUY → USE → UPDATE → OBSOLETE → DISCARD

# tablex path
BUY → USE → UNDERSTAND → MODIFY → REUSE → MAINTAIN

A tablet can have years of useful hardware life left after its manufacturer stops supporting it. Open Linux support changes that equation — this is an experiment in making the second path practical.

10 / What success looks like

Success isn't another Android ROM.
Success is pressing power and seeing Linux boot.

  • The display works
  • The touchscreen works
  • Wi-Fi works
  • Bluetooth works
  • Audio works
  • The battery charges
  • Suspend works
  • USB works
  • The GPU works
  • Another dev reproduces it blind

EACH ITEM SHIPS WITH ITS STATUS LABEL: WORKING / IN DEVELOPMENT / EXPERIMENTAL / PLANNED.

11 / Community

Build it with us.

Tablex Linux is developed in public. You don't need to be a kernel developer to help — every verified piece of information makes the next device easier.

testing · documentation · hardware info
debugging · device tree work · kernel patches
reverse engineering · translations
hardware donations · discussion + ideas

Final call

Follow the port. Own the hardware.

A cheap Android tablet shouldn't be a disposable computer. Watch it become a Kali machine — entry by entry — or help fund the engineering time that makes it happen.

FOLLOW THE DEVELOPMENT BACK TABLEX LINUX

REPLACE BUTTON HREFS WITH THE KICKSTARTER + GITHUB URLS WHEN LIVE.