Launching full-fledged OS on Android. Installing Ubuntu Touch on your phone

Today, two operating systems occupy leading niches in the mobile segment - iOS and Android. Many manufacturers are closely involved in creating their own mobile systems. Some attempts were successful. Their result was best case scenario several devices that never became successful in the market. Ubuntu Touch was announced in 2013.

Installed on phones mobile option Linux systems - Ubuntu Touch.

It had some interest from users. Ubuntu Touch, which can still be installed on a smartphone today, offers the user not only new interface. It will be of interest to enthusiasts, as well as all fans of the Linux OS. And just for those who are tired of the monotony of mobile platforms.

The Ubuntu Touch mobile platform appeared 4 years ago. She gained quite wide popularity - this was facilitated by the well-known desktop “mother” of the new mobile system. But Ubuntu did not become a popular version for phones. The reason for this was low stability, large number bugs Devices running this OS were often rebooted, and the shell did not represent the height of design thought.

The press has returned to this topic many times. operating system. There were all sorts of rumors - both about the freezing of the platform and about a complete cessation of work on it. You can’t trust all of them, but as a fact, Ubuntu Touch appears quite rarely on smartphones. IN lately information about significant updates platform and this gives all fans of the mobile OS hope that Canonical has not forgotten about the promising product.

The Ubuntu mobile version project has two separate global versions- for smartphones and tablets. They are called Phone and Tablet respectively. They are practically no different for end user, and the differences are aimed, rather, at supporting the hardware platform.

Main Features

The desktop version of the OS uses the Unity graphical interface, which is loved by non-professional Linux users. In the mobile phone, the manufacturer moved away slightly from it - only the side and top panels remained unchanged.

All basic actions in the new OS are performed using gestures. For example, if you drag between the edges of the screen, the multitasking menu will appear on it. For Android users, this solution will be somewhat inconvenient, but innovative and unusual.

In addition, Ubuntu has a Terminal on your smartphone! This is still an inferior version of it, and it is still far from the functionality of the desktop one. However, some functions are still there, and the techniques work.

How to install Ubuntu on Android?

To install Ubuntu on your phone instead of Android, you need to have basic skills in working with the Android system. The installation will not remove your “native” system; it will be performed on top of an existing distribution.

IMPORTANT. You perform all actions at your own peril and risk.

1. Android app required - Linux Deploy. You can find it on Play Market.
2. Launch the program and explore the on-screen help menu. You should see a suggested course of action.
3. If necessary, go to “Settings” and select Russian interface language.
4. Create new profile For account Linux. To do this, in the main screen of the program, click on the “Linux” line. It is located at the top.
5. Click OK. All that remains is to select the desired profile.
6. And now you need File manager. It's best to use ES File Explorer. Open it. In the root directory, create an Ubuntu folder. It is very important to write down the name in English. The OS files will be installed in this folder.
7. Write down the folder path in a separate place. It will still come in handy.
8. Run Linux Deploy again. In the options, select “Distribution” - “Ubuntu”. After this, Ubuntu should begin downloading to your smartphone.
9. When the installation is complete, click on the “Start” button. You will see service messages. They say that the OS deployment process is underway.
10. Download and install the VNCViewer application. You will need it to obtain additional data. The default account password is changeme.
11. That's it! You now have a fully functional copy of Ubuntu installed on your smartphone or tablet!

Installing Ubuntu Phone

We looked at installing a full-fledged Ubuntu on mobile device. Installing Ubuntu Mobile to smartphone is an easier task. It can be performed from the desktop version of this operating system.

Good day everyone.

My story begins with reading this article, after which I decided to purchase a miracle of Chinese tablet manufacturing: a superpad. This tablet was taken as a toy for “digging a little”, part-time, a reader, a game for pairs and a watch on a long journey... I’ll immediately note that I have two USB hard drives of 500 GB and 1TB, on which everything that is most important for a fun life is stored , and they are split into ntfs and ext4. And, naturally, the tablet does not see them.

Here's my volunteer

This is the first reason to dig deeper. After viewing 200 forum pages on xda-developers.com, certain

At this stage, all attempts to open this tablet have been shelved. Until the glorious time for the student - the session. And since students do absolutely everything during the session, as long as they are not in the subject, the fun night gatherings on the Internet on obviously bourgeois sites have resumed. And the brilliant idea came to put on this tablet Orthodox linux, in my case – ubuntu.
What came out of this, see below.

It’s clear that you can’t just pick it up and install it... well, where did ours go...

We will need:

Let's look at the main stages android downloads and linux

As you can see, the differences start from the init execution stage.
It's the easiest thing to change.

I’ll write honestly, I thought that you could only use the Android init and that it was tightly screwed to the kernel. And even after receiving an example of a working ramdisk from another tablet, I didn’t think it would start...

ramdiska contents

#!/bin/sh echo Starting from initram image. Echo Waiting for SD-CARD wake up... sleep 3 echo "Mounting new rootfs" mount -t ext2 /dev/mmcblk0p2 /newroot && echo OK echo Hold on, switching root... exec switch_root /newroot /sbin/init echo hrm, have a shell instead exec /bin/ash

All that remains is to flash the ramdisk into memory (I used burntool under xp) and - voila, the boot stage. Yes, I flashed it instead of recovery, so for launch Linux You have to hold down the keys when starting.

So, the loading stage has been completed and you should be patient, since the console shows no signs of life, and everything loads quite slowly.

Setting up autologin for the first console

We are fighting the X-server

Fighting the work environment

Fine-tuning everything to suit you

Hello, I have a mini PC ug 802, how can I install Linux on it? teltar

This is a very interesting topic for me, friends, since I professionally administer Linux servers. On servers it’s interesting, but for me it’s already everyday and ordinary. But installing Linux distributions on devices with ARM architecture is an order of magnitude more interesting.

What is the difference between a computer and a smartphone or tablet?

In fact, conceptually, the difference is small - both mobile and desktop devices, or even servers, are made according to the same principles. However, for mobile devices use a different processor architecture. Desktop CPUs are designed on x86 or amd64 architectures. And most mobile devices have a processor based on ARM architecture. Historically, this is due to the fact that such processors have significantly lower power consumption, which is a vital necessity for mobile devices.

What OS can be installed on mobile devices?

So, all programs, including the operating system, must be developed specifically for this architecture in order to work on this hardware. Therefore, regular versions Linux installed on desktops or servers will not work here. Fortunately, there are many distributions and versions for this architecture. Starting with the notorious Android, which most smartphones are equipped with, and ending with exotic distributions, like the specialized Backtrack (now Kali Linux). But of greater interest, of course, are some more well-known distributions.

What is Android?

Android is an operating system on Linux based , developed by Google for mobile devices. The world's most popular mobile operating system. It should be understood that in fact LInux is just the kernel of the operating system. And many operating systems are built on its basis, and Android is just one of them.

The kernel is the basic functionality that allows you to use all devices and options of the hardware platform - that is, drivers and device management. The kernel also includes some basic programs and utilities. command line. The fact is that in the Linux family (this is the meaning most often meant - a family of operating systems based on this kernel, and not the kernel itself) - the graphical shell is a separate part, its own level of abstraction.

And the minimum configuration of these OSs is precisely without graphical shell, a text-only command line interface. This allows these OSes to be embedded in the most unusual places. For example in network equipment, machine tools, computers and other complex devices, for example in airplanes and cars. Even in your washing machine Something similar can be installed in a microwave too :)

This is an Android device. Accordingly, Android should be installed by default. Which, in fact, is Linux. But with some serious restrictions. Installing some other Linux can significantly expand the capabilities of a mobile device. The possibilities of use become virtually limitless. Well, imagine using a mobile phone as a server! Many tools are becoming available. If it's a tablet, connect it to peripherals via OTG cable, you can use it as full-fledged computer! For what? That's another question. I hope our reader will share his ideas in the comments.

How to install Linux on an android device?

So, installation.

There are two options - you can do it full installation, as they say - on “hardware”. This is actually a flashing of the device. At the same time, we lose the native functionality of the device provided by the manufacturer. And this may not be at all what we wanted. For example, the UG 802 mini-computer, which our reader is interested in, is a device designed to expand the functionality of televisions. Because it can be inserted directly into the HDMI port of any TV, turning it into Smart.

Fortunately, there is a second way to install Linux - right inside the device's main operating system, in in this case Android. This allows you to run a so-called chroot environment inside Android. In this case, you will receive two related operating systems running in parallel on one core - Android. And you can switch between them.

This approach is convenient for smartphones and tablets, but may not be suitable for the UG 802. In this case, you may need to flash the required operating system. And this is already some risk that the device can be damaged.

Unfortunately, I have no experience with such experiments. But there is enough information on the Internet about this. Study, try to install.

Therefore, I will provide a few links from which you can begin your acquaintance with the world of mobile device hacking :)

Who are hackers?

Yes, yes, don’t be surprised, this is exactly hacking - non-standard interference in the operation and design of systems and programs, changing them and expanding functionality. This is precisely the original meaning of this word. And a hacker is not a cracker or a virus writer, as most people are used to thinking. This is first and foremost a researcher. Yes, he breaks systems, reveals what was not intended to be opened, but he does this with the goal of learning, not harm.

https://xakep.ru/2012/10/22/android-tablet-linux-install/ - an article about installing Linux on smartphones in the oldest magazine, which is precisely a reflection of the essence of hacking.

https://habrahabr.ru/post/221543/ - Habr, an equally old and even more famous resource. And the article here is fresh, and describes in great detail the experience of installing Arch Linux on top of Android, in the form of a chroot environment.

https://geektimes.ru/post/44220/ - giktimes - a site from the creators of Habr, and on it there was a detailed manual for installing Debian over Android on a smartphone. The article, although very old, touches on fundamental things that need to be understood before embarking on such an operation. Although this will not help you install, it will help you gain knowledge, without which it is impossible further development topics and problem solving. And after studying such articles, you will feel more confident and will be able to search for information on the topic more specifically, on specific issues that will need to be addressed during installation.

For example, these articles on the topic are probably not the only ones on the above-mentioned sites. You can always try to look for more articles about this on such specialized resources. I found and looked at a couple of topics about installing Linux on mobile devices on 4pda.ru like this, For example

That's all for today. But it may always happen that I want to continue the banquet of this topic :)

If problems arise (and they will arise with a 99% probability :)), you can also ask questions here, we will collect information, solve problems together, I am also very interested in this.

Is very popular, especially among system administrators and software developers. Huge number various devices works under his control. Unfortunately, there are virtually no mobile devices, such as a tablet, that support Linux natively. On at the moment Only one model has been released, running on Ubuntu. But buying it may not be so easy, since it is not available in every country.

If desired, you can install Linux on your tablet, replacing Android.

Naturally, many may wonder whether it is possible to install Linux on a tablet that originally runs Android instead of this OS. Officially, both Android and Linux have the same kernel, but, unfortunately, Linux will not work fully on an Android tablet. Developments are underway in this direction, and many programmers are actively working to solve the problem, but the reality today is that you need to be sophisticated to run a Linux distribution on an Android tablet.

In this material we will provide an overview and step by step actions, how to install a Linux distribution on your tablet. We will tell you what conditions need to be met, how to prepare your device, and also tell you about the features of the procedure.

What you will need:

• Android tablet.
• SD card with a capacity of 3.5 GB or more.
• root access
• a complete backup of all data for one hundred percent certainty of a safe outcome. you move large files and perform many operations, so this is simply necessary.

IMPORTANT. DISCLAIMER. Despite the fact that this process does not cause any damage, the site's editors are not responsible if something happens to your Android device during the installation or launch of Ubuntu.

Make sure you have superuser rights. On almost every device you can do this by checking if you have the Superuser app. If you don't have root rights, you can get them. To do this, find out the instructions specific to your device.

BusyBox libraries will help you interact with the Android system. You can download the installer from Play Store(or Android Market), by going here (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=stericson.busybox) and downloading it. Go to the BusyBox Installation tab and click the Install button. Once the utility is installed, you can move on to the next step by installing a terminal emulator.

Step 2: Install the terminal emulator and check that it works correctly.

The most popular terminal emulator for Android is on this page (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jackpal.androidterm) at Play Market. By following the link, download it, install it on your tablet and run it.

After it opens working window applications, enter the word "su". The utility will ask you to provide root access, and you must give it because the utility runs system scripts that we will later use to start Ubuntu.

To check if the BusyBox terminal and libraries are working correctly, enter the command “busybox arping –help”. If the terminal gives you a text with a lot of options, such as -f -q -b, everything works. If not, check if your phone is rooted, if BusyBox was installed correctly, and if the terminal has permissions. If everything is in order, you can continue.

If you have completed all the necessary steps in steps 1 and 2, there is no need to worry. The next few steps are very simple. Start by connecting your phone to your computer. You must enable the USB drive, which will allow you to open your SD card on the computer (most of you will know this when you have moved music and other files from your computer to Android).

Next, you need to create a folder called “Ubuntu” on the SD card. Then you should download this one (https://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxonandroid/files/Ubuntu/10.10/ubuntuV5-image.zip/download) and this one (https://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxonandroid/files/Ubuntu /10.10/ubuntuV5-script.zip/download) files. These are ZIP files that contain 2 important things: the launch script and the file Ubuntu system. If you open the first ZIP archive, you will find the IMG file, and if you unzip the second file, you will find the SH file.

Unzip both archives and move the files to the “Ubuntu” folder. You should now have two files in the folder. Most of the necessary processes have been completed.

Step 4: Start Ubuntu System

Go back to your terminal application and type "su" again, then write "cd/mnt/sdcard". To make sure everything works, try typing "ls" and see if you can recognize your folders (you should be able to find the Ubuntu folder too).

To start your Ubuntu, type "cd /ubuntu" followed by "sh ubuntu.sh". This will cause many processes to run that will try to install your system. Next, the utility will ask you to select a screen resolution. Enter it in width x height format, for example 1280 x 720. For more better performance To prevent the tablet from slowing down, choose a lower resolution. Now everything is done.

The Ubuntu system is working, but we cannot see it. To see the GUI, you need to use the VNC protocol client. We can download any of them from the Play Store.

Linux Deploy. This application is open source code, designed to automate the process of installing, configuring and running GNU/Linux distributions on Android platform inside the chroot container. The application creates a disk image on a memory card or other media, mounts it and installs the selected Linux distribution there. Installation into a file, directly onto a memory card partition, into a directory with the ext2/ext3/ext4 file system and into RAM is supported. Applications from a Linux distribution run in a chroot environment, run in parallel with the main system and are comparable in speed. All changes made to the device are reversible, i.e. The application and the components it created can be completely uninstalled.

Installation of the Linux distribution is carried out over the network with official mirrors on the Internet. Since Linux Deploy is based on system call Linux kernels, then only Linux distributions. Through the program interface you can control the installation process of the Linux distribution, and after installation you can start and stop services installed system(there is support for running your own scripts). The installation process is displayed as text reports in the main application window. During installation, the program itself configures the working environment, which includes the base system, SSH server, VNC server and a graphical environment to choose from. You can also manage the parameters of SSH and VNC servers through the program interface.

Installing a Linux distribution takes about 30 minutes. The recommended minimum size of a disk image without a GUI is 512 MB, and with graphical interface- 1024 MB (for LXDE). After the initial installation, the password for access via SSH and VNC is assigned as “changeme”, which can be changed standard means distribution, or through the application settings.

Characteristics:

• Supported distributions: Debian, Ubuntu, Kali Linux, Arch Linux, Fedora, CentOS, Gentoo, openSUSE, Slackware, RootFS (tgz, tbz2, txz)
• Installation type: file, partition, RAM, directory
• Supported file systems: ext2, ext3, ext4
• Supported architectures: ARM, ARM64, x86, x86_64, architecture emulation mode (ARM<->x86)
• Methods of connecting to the container: CLI, SSH, VNC, X server, framebuffer
• Management interfaces (CLI): Android terminal (or adb), telnet, web interface (terminal via browser)
• Desktop environment: XTerm, LXDE, Xfce, MATE, other (manual setup)
• Supported languages: multi-language interface

ATTENTION!

This program comes WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, and the author is not responsible for any possible consequences its use. It's free software, and you can redistribute it under the terms of the GPLv3 license.

GNU/LINUX INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

1. Connect WiFi or another network with Internet access. Installation is carried out over a network and will not work without Internet access.
2. Make sure your device has received superuser rights (root). Install latest version Linux programs Deploy and run it.
3. When you first launch the application, the update of the working environment is automatically launched, which is a directory containing all the necessary scripts, settings and container profiles. Working environment settings can be viewed in the " Settings -> Working environment ". The environment directory should not be changed unless there is a reason to do so. It is useful to leave the option " enabled. Settings -> Keep the screen on" ("Settings -> Screen Lock"), while the application is active, the screen, WiFi and processor will not go into sleep mode.
4. The program supports working with several profiles, where the parameters of each GNU/Linux instance are stored. You can quickly switch between instances through the profile management window (opens by clicking on the icon in the main window header). By default, a profile is created with the name "linux". Go to the settings of the current profile (the far right button) and configure the necessary options for installing and running the GNU/Linux distribution ( see parameter description).
5. Linux Deploy 2.x does not require installation on the BusyBox system, but in rare cases you may need to use the system BusyBox. To do this, install ®BusyBox compatible. In the BusyBox parameters, before installation, you must select the option " Replace applets". Then in the settings of the Linux Deploy working environment you need to specify the path to the system BusyBox in the " field Settings -> PATH variable" ("Settings -> PATH variable"), For example, /system/xbin, and start updating the working environment" Settings -> Update environment" ("Settings -> Update ENV").
6. Run the installation of the selected distribution: " Menu -> Install" ("Menu -> Install"). The installation log is displayed in the main window of the application. Installation takes about 30 minutes on average. The image creation stage for a size greater than 2 GB may take long time(about 15 min.).
7. If the installation is completed without errors, you can start the Linux system with the " START" ("START"). This will launch the services specified in the parameters - SSH, VNC and others.
8. To access the console of a Linux system via SSH, you must install ConnectBot (or another SSH client). To access the Linux desktop, you must install an X server, such as XServer XSDL. In the settings you should specify the IP of the device to connect, for the same device - 127.0.0.1. The password for SSH and VNC is specified in the container parameters. You can change the current user's password from the console using the passwd command. To run programs as root, use the sudo command (for example, sudo synaptic). By default, the root user (unless specified as a username in the settings) does not have a password, but you can set a password for it with the command sudo passwd root.
9. To stop the Linux system, all services running under it and unmount the disks, just press the button " STOP" ("STOP").
10. Linux Deploy allows you to manage containers via CLI (Command Line Interface). To access the CLI, you can use telnet or a web browser, having previously activated the appropriate management interfaces in the settings.
11. To reduce installation time basic system or in case of problems with installing the system from official repositories, you can import the container from a pre-prepared archive. For this, there is a repository of containers created using Linux Deploy and available through the application interface in the " Repository" ("Repository"). Just select the desired container in the repository interface and click the " Import" ("Import"). After this, a new profile will be created in the application, the parameters of which can be changed if necessary. Then you just need to run the installation " Menu -> Install" ("Menu -> Install"), the installation path will be prepared (an image for the container will be created), the container archive will be downloaded, unpacked and configured. After completing the procedure, you can start the container with the " START" ("START").

PROGRAM UPDATE

After updating the program, the working environment is automatically updated. If necessary, the update can be started manually: " Settings -> Update environment" ("Settings -> Update ENV"). Program (environment) updates do not affect an already installed GNU/Linux system, i.e. the installed system cannot be damaged or changed in any way due to an update.
To change the settings of an already installed system or to return the settings to the original ones, you need to perform the configuration: " Menu -> Configure" ("Menu -> Configure"). If some components are selected in the parameters, then the configuration will install packages for the selected components.

UNINSTALLING A PROGRAM

Before uninstalling the program, you need to stop the GNU/Linux distribution using the button STOP, if you cannot stop the distribution, it is recommended to reboot the device. After that, run the command " Settings -> Delete environment" ("Settings -> Remove ENV"). After this, you can delete the application. Deleting an application with an unmounted container is dangerous; deleting an application version lower than 1.5.3 also deletes all data from all partitions mounted in the container! There may also be .img files that are created on the memory card when installing distributions , such files can be deleted manually through any file manager.

Download the application to install Linux on Android - Linux Deploy on Android you can follow the link below.