| I'm curious who has done this or knows how and how difficult it i and how it turns out. I know Android is basically a distribution of Linux so Android devices are most likely candidates. Oddly I haven't come across much people that have done it which is odd because how prominent Android is and how it's so closely tied to Google. You would think more would do that or more development would be made. Does it run kind of sluggish or is it just difficult to develop or something? I did manage to find a distribution called Replicant but it is only made to work with a small handful of devices. It's not listed on DistroWatch so I will post if here for anyone interested. Oddly I couldnt find any other android based Linux distribution outside of attempts at bringing android to architectures for desktop use. http://www.replicant.us/ Or maybe you're more familiar with something like Ubuntu Touch? I also think Debian has some installers for some mobile devices. I'm not sure what actually works good since it's not often talked about. LuneOS also seems to be missing a DistroWach page so I will link that too. http://www.webos-ports.org/wiki/Main_Page No clue where you download it though. What do you think about modifying or repairing tables and phones this way? Is it worth voiding your warranties and risking bricking your devices? As for myself I'd consider trying to do it if I find a good distribution that would work well with what I have laying around and If I could find a micro SD card laying around which Im sure i saw one once here. I have two soft-brricked Trio Stealth-10 MST 10-21 tablets that still start up but won't boot up android any more. Apparently it's a common issue many suspected it was a bad update of Android Jelly Bean. I couldn't fix it using normal methods nor find any roms for it online to just repair it that way so I have considered putting some other mobile type Linux OS on them both which I dont have the warranty for anyway so it wont matter if it voids it. Maybe same for both or two different ones but at least one should be able to run android apps so I can get more use out of it since I doubt the processor could handle any too heavy of a task to run normal Linux desktop programs. Apparently the Trio series is supposedly an Allwinner based chipset which comes from China which I suppose explains them being a bit cheap. I'm not sure but I think they use something called Linux-SunXI whatever that is since the site for it is a bit confusing to navigate so many pages https://linux-sunxi.org/ |
| I found another. Lineage OS which is a fork of the now dead CyanogenMod. It seems to have support for more devices than Replicant does. https://www.lineageos.org/ |
traed said: I found another. Lineage OS which is a fork of the now dead CyanogenMod. It seems to have support for more devices than Replicant does. https://www.lineageos.org/ thats basically a fork of Android if i remember right and as you said Android is a Linux OS too |
| @j0x Yeah it is based off Android. I noticed you cant actually download android from anywhere as far as I know or else i woulda found it by now. Which is why these might be useful to some people (although not for me unless i firgure how to do my own programming but i dont have time to learn that) |
traed said: @j0x Yeah it is based off Android. I noticed you cant actually download android from anywhere as far as I know or else i woulda found it by now. Which is why these might be useful to some people (although not for me unless i firgure how to do my own programming but i dont have time to learn that) ye i do not think Android is fully free because of that since usually only device manufacturers can get the Android OS from Google i heard if you want to try other Android forks/alternatives i know this 2 https://sailfishos.org/ http://www.jide.com/remixos-for-mobile but personally i have not tried them yet |
| A few years ago, Ubuntu (at least I think it was ubuntu) was working on something like that for android. There was a dev edition that was only available for the galaxy nexus. I happened to have one and tried it out but it was very bare bones and not something you'd bother to use on a daily basis. I can't say anything about how well it actually ran because the galaxy nexus was horrendously slow to begin with. Now that I think about it, it probably wasn't Ubuntu that was working on it but just based on Ubuntu. I can't remember who was actually developing it though. Anyways, the project was scrapped before there was even a single update so I'm guessing it wasn't that popular. Android itself was barely gaining traction back then so I can see why people weren't too interested in the idea. I think the main issue with it would be that even if the OS is touch optimized, most linux applications target desktop users so they aren't likely to be optimized in any way. Maybe not such an issue on a big tablet, especially if you plug a keyboard and mouse into it, but by then why not just buy a laptop? Or go look for applications specifically targeted for mobile versions of linux, but then why not just use android... It would be cool if it took off though. I've never been a huge fan of the android OS myself, I just use it because the alternatives aren't better. |
  Latest Review Kino's Journey |
| @j0x I think Sailfish OS is one that comes installed on some phones. it's probably corporate since i cant find downloads for it. RemixOS is also corporate and cant find downloads. I doubt I could find anything that would work with my two soft-bricked tablets. @Malware You might be thinking of Ubuntu Touch or similar. |
traed said: @j0x I think Sailfish OS is one that comes installed on some phones. it's probably corporate since i cant find downloads for it. RemixOS is also corporate and cant find downloads. I doubt I could find anything that would work with my two soft-bricked tablets. ah thats too bad, both of those OS says that they are open source so maybe they are only open source to device manufacturers just like Android then |
traed said: You can get the plain old AOSP android source code but it can't run alone with just that. you also need hardware binaries which are proprietary.@j0x Yeah it is based off Android. I noticed you cant actually download android from anywhere as far as I know or else i woulda found it by now. Which is why these might be useful to some people (although not for me unless i firgure how to do my own programming but i dont have time to learn that) tbh since your tablets are like "no-name" I wonder if there is anything you can do for them. I have a crap near-dead archos tablet that ran a custom android 2.2 rom but I was just lucky that someone wrote it. I also had a HP touchpad which natively ran webOS but I flashed a rom of android 4.0 over it. In the end, it wasn't really usable. Common problems like freezing, battery life and stability plagues custom roms. |
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| I found out Google has an android app developing testing program that has android on it but the emulator probably doesnt have actual drivers for devices in it I assume but who knows. Maybe someone else could find use of it. https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html @Tensho @deathnote00 Yeah getting the stuff to run the hardware is the hard part. What goes on with both is when I start it up it hangs on the @9 logo and doing the standard procedure of resetting the whole device doesnt fix it it hangs when wiping the data when it gets to the formatting stage every single time so it does start up but it wont load android anymore. Happens on both. So Im not sure what part of it broke if it was the operating system or if it took out some of the drivers too. When i hook it up to the computer with USB it cant find the drivers to connect properly. So that means only way to fix it if I were to is via the micro SD port. They arent actually brandless. Trio is the brand but it's a cheap Chinese brand. I see prices for it vary from $60-$280 unfortunately they were obtained for the higher end of that or a bit more since that was back when it was newly released. Why I have two is one isnt even mine. I had a third but I think my sister pawned it off so I cant just copy the rom off another. I was told years ago the Trio Stealth-10 (G2 I think) MST 10-21 (has a 10.1 inch screen) is based on the Allwinner A10 SoC but I looked it up and the A10 has a Cortex-A8 but my tablets have a Cortex-A9 so it's not exactly the same. The one that is for sure the Allwinner A10 is the Trio Stealth Pro which I think is actually from the Stealth G2 9.7 inch which is the model same series as mine so im not sure I assume it's an Allwinner A10 SoC or something else entirely. http://www.triotablets.us/manuals/ (can only find it listed on a manual page) http://linux-sunxi.org/Trio_Stealth_Pro (this is the similar model that says is the Allwinner A10 SoC) http://www.inspiretechnology.com/ (apparently the parent company is this one) I think I mentioned this but I did find various Linux installers for the Allwinner A10 but none of them seem to be specifically for mobile devices and seem as if they cant run android apps. Also on top of that im not sure if mine is actually an Allwinner at all. I cant find a single allwinner SoC with a Cortex--A9 but this list may be incomplete. https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Allwinner http://linux-sunxi.org/Bootable_OS_images http://linux-sunxi.org/Allwinner_SoC_Family But like I said it's not likely I would follow through doing this unless I found a fairly easy solution and found that micro sd card i saw around ages ago. I have no experience with Linux and only did a little bit of programming in a high school class with Visual Basic and C++ and cant remember any of it by now. hah Since it's already broken and past warranty I wouldnt be risking that much though. |
| The problem is that even if you manage to install linux on your phone/tablet, you won't be able to launch any app. |
| You can actually run the desktop GNU/Linux on top of android. I did it myself. Not very long or difficult tbh. You can even install desktop Linux app if it's compatible with the processor (which is arm32/arm64 most of thetime). And the arm app library for linux isn't small. Surprisingly it's faster than I thought it would be, faster than my first Pentium 4 crap at least lol |
deathnote00 said: @traed i will help you in a way i can but if it is not too much to asked i can ask for the board model of it and it is cortex v9? maybe i can help you with the programming a bit though i am not so versatile with mobile development but i am a developer on the pc side of things No it's cortex a9. It's a dual core processor. Cant get it open it's too hard to split but I found a post online someone said info of theirs. Not sure if they acually have right info but it's tablet processor: aml8726-mx board id: em_m61_v7.3 The blog I found it on also had someone post a link to firmware but that person said it didnt work . http://www.blogtechtips.com/2015/01/01/find-chinese-tablet-firmware-flash-file-using-board-id/ Yanri said: You can actually run the desktop GNU/Linux on top of android. I did it myself. Not very long or difficult tbh. You can even install desktop Linux app if it's compatible with the processor (which is arm32/arm64 most of thetime). And the arm app library for linux isn't small. Surprisingly it's faster than I thought it would be, faster than my first Pentium 4 crap at least lol Did you use something like this? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zpwebsites.linuxonandroid&hl=en |
traed said: Yeah. Isn't virtually running it better than installing? No chance to brick + you get to keep androidYanri said: You can actually run the desktop GNU/Linux on top of android. I did it myself. Not very long or difficult tbh. You can even install desktop Linux app if it's compatible with the processor (which is arm32/arm64 most of thetime). And the arm app library for linux isn't small. Surprisingly it's faster than I thought it would be, faster than my first Pentium 4 crap at least lol Did you use something like this? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zpwebsites.linuxonandroid&hl=en |
Yanri said: traed said: Yeah. Isn't virtually running it better than installing? No chance to brick + you get to keep androidDid you use something like this? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zpwebsites.linuxonandroid&hl=en You must have a fairly good processor i asume to run it that way |
traed said: No, not really. It's just Linux distros are very resource efficient. Sure it lags when I'm running the browser with 5-6 tabs opened along with other apps but given the power, (less than 300 mb free RAM) I'd say it does a fairly good jobYanri said: Yeah. Isn't virtually running it better than installing? No chance to brick + you get to keep android You must have a fairly good processor i asume to run it that way |
deathnote00 said: [ thanks for the info sorry i wasnt around for too long Oh it's fine. It seems impossible to pull off anyway. I mean I had been searching on annd off for years for the original ROM or the drivers (which apparently are called blobs in the case of android devices). Plus I have no way to easily check if my device is even capable of installing anything other than the original ROM because it might be locked down. I doubt I could make i work >< I did find a micro SD card sso I was right I id have one. |
deathnote00 said: traed said: well i dont think it is impossible with proper SDK from it manufacturer we can create another rom for it Oh it's fine. It seems impossible to pull off anyway. I mean I had been searching on annd off for years for the original ROM or the drivers (which apparently are called blobs in the case of android devices). Plus I have no way to easily check if my device is even capable of installing anything other than the original ROM because it might be locked down. I doubt I could make i work >< I did find a micro SD card sso I was right I id have one. Yeah it just isnt out there even though a lot of people were looking for it for years and requesting it. Ive seenn it for similar models though. |
deathnote00 said: i will dig the internet underground to check if there any [/quote] Thanks but don't trouble yourself too much.Yeah it just isnt out there even though a lot of people were looking for it for years and requesting it. Ive seenn it for similar models though. |
traed said: deathnote00 said: i will dig the internet underground to check if there any Thanks but don't trouble yourself too much.Yeah it just isnt out there even though a lot of people were looking for it for years and requesting it. Ive seenn it for similar models though. well there's lineage os if that's what you're looking. It's open source. |
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Cnon said: well there's lineage os if that's what you're looking. It's open source. Yeah I know but 1. there is no release for my tablet 2. I cant even find the drivers/blobs for my tablet so i cant attempt to make my own distribution 3. even if i could i have no idea what id be doing. 4. Im not so sure if my tablet is able to install it since it has to be unloced to do that. I did originally think that would be a solution till i realised all that. |
traed said: Cnon said: well there's lineage os if that's what you're looking. It's open source. Yeah I know but 1. there is no release for my tablet 2. I cant even find the drivers/blobs for my tablet so i cant attempt to make my own distribution 3. even if i could i have no idea what id be doing. 4. Im not so sure if my tablet is able to install it since it has to be unloced to do that. I did originally think that would be a solution till i realised all that. yeah it's relatively new so it doesn't support many devices for now but it will support more devices. Maybe you can find some unofficial roms for your device but if you can't find blobs some components won't work. Edit: you can request rom for your device here www.lineageosrom.com/2016/12/official-lineage-os-request-list-for.html |
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| I am currently just using android as a computer. I have the Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe, using Miracast dongle on the screen to mirror the phone, have usb-c dongle that powers the device and has usb3 ports, I hook mouse and keyboard. Works well as a pc, but need to play around with things like force landscape, force full web browser. Still a lot of mucking about, but I am getting there. |
| idk about you but the closer a girl gets to looking like ronald mcdonald, the more aroused i become. CAV where can we cast our eyes to @PoruMairu who thinks of himself a member of the true church. Helion. |
PoruMairu said: Set Orientation for the landscape thing. See if you have a "Expand desktop" option under your settings. That lets you use all apps without the status barI am currently just using android as a computer. I have the Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe, using Miracast dongle on the screen to mirror the phone, have usb-c dongle that powers the device and has usb3 ports, I hook mouse and keyboard. Works well as a pc, but need to play around with things like force landscape, force full web browser. Still a lot of mucking about, but I am getting there. |
| You may be interested into buying a second hand Ubuntu phone, or a Tizen(also Linux) phone. Other than that your best bet is to install an Android custom ROM and then install one of those 'Linux on Android' apps. I heard KDE hasthe best support for mobile interfaces. Other than that I heard Samsung is now making an official Ubuntu on Android app for their phones, where if you connect a samsung phone to a dock and a monitor you will get a full Ubuntu Linux desktop. |
| "Efficiency is not king, efficacy is." Post a comment on my profile. Profile comments are fun. |
bluedragon777 said: You actually don't need a custom ROM to do it. Stock works tooOther than that your best bet is to install an Android custom ROM and then install one of those 'Linux on Android' apps. |
Yanri said: bluedragon777 said: You actually don't need a custom ROM to do it. Stock works tooOther than that your best bet is to install an Android custom ROM and then install one of those 'Linux on Android' apps. Oh yeah, my mistake. I would still put a vanilla ROM to squeeze out a bit of performance because it removed all that OEM stuff. Installing google apps on vanilla roms so that you can get to the play store is also OK and something I even do myself. |
| "Efficiency is not king, efficacy is." Post a comment on my profile. Profile comments are fun. |
| the xda developers site may be of some use for you regaurding what os's work best with what devices. however most of what is covered there will be android distros. If you strictly want a mobile linux then look at pendrivelinux to find smaller linux versions however I will not guarantee they won't require a bit of backdoor coding to support a touchscreen keyboard as opposed to an attached one so you may wish to do a bit of googling to determine the effectiveness there. |
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