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I am old school DOS user, so I don't know linux commands very well.
It is my understanding that the command line is similar in function but with different commands i.e. C\: copy file blah.exe to C:\here\.
Can the Recovery command line be used as such to move around on the sdcard in recovery mode using the same method, and if so, is there a list of linux commands I can familiarize myself with?
I would like to add this to all current/future G1 Hackers.
I learned a valuable mistake today. After doing lots of reading to correct it (thanx to the help of people who know what they are doing). I would like to make this one suggestion:
Get a cheap USB Card reader. Essentially you can do everything you need in windows w/o using a command line.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Cheap-MicroSD-Micro-SD-USB-2.0-Card-Reader---SHIP-$2.50_W0QQitemZ380101445086QQcmdZViewItem
It is a life saver if you makea mistake.
Brutal-Force said:
I am old school DOS user, so I don't know linux commands very well.
It is my understanding that the command line is similar in function but with different commands i.e. C\: copy file blah.exe to C:\here\.
Can the Recovery command line be used as such to move around on the sdcard in recovery mode using the same method, and if so, is there a list of linux commands I can familiarize myself with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes it can .. however .. the way android is setup i found everything has to be mounted from scratch .. so you wouldn't have /sdcard .. it would be blank until the mmcblk0p1 was mounted .. likewise /system would be blank etc until the mtdblock3 was mounted
So basically...
Yes it can, but not with out a lot of typing. I.e. for every command I would have to do a mount?
The linux commands I found online were difficult, because while they are comparable to the dos ones, they cannot be used verbatim. Also other commands are used while connecting to the device, which do not show up when you do a google search they way I was. I was wondering why when I did a remount from the command line, I could get to the /sdcard but then I tried to use a ls or a l command to list the files and nothing shows. I will (for my own sake) ask more questions and try to push/pull rather than do it simply by windows.
This was the first thing I tried, but it helped very little.
http://www.pixelbeat.org/cmdline.html
Thank you for your input.
I think the usb micro card reader is the best solution. Heres what I do
*8 gig sdhc micro card (everyday card)
*kingston microsd reader with 1 gig micro sd card loaded with the latest JF update.zip
Now I can just pop the 1gb card into my phone and flash the JF if I brick. And since the reader is attached to my keys, I always have the recovery with me even if Im not near a computer.
You really should learn the commands before screwing with things. The linux terminal is infinitely more powerful than dos. The side effect of this is that it is equally more complex. I suggest that you install some linux distro on your desktop computer (or an old junker you have shoved into a corner in the basement), and learn it real well. With just a little experience, you'll surely want to wipe that microshaft turd off of everything you own.
I have had ubuntu installed on my computer before
I can say that ubuntu definitely has is benefits.
A long time ago I was really into computer stuff, constantly tweaking, installing, trying out new stuff. Today I can safely say I use my computer for primarily internet browsing, googleing, information and such. That being said, it really doesn't matter which OS I actually have installed. Ubuntu, my understanding is that it simply uses less resources and of course is open source. Applications are free and there is always someone willing to lend you a hand.
Other than that, I can't see where Ubuntu was really a necessary must for me up until today. Realistically I fall back into the category of "just need it to do one thing". No doubt that Linux has its place, and If I wasn't so out of date and lazy, I would take up the coding myself.
Thanx for the Suggestion Xavier
After I read your post I was like Duhhh. Considering I have the original 1 gig that came with the phone, I did what you suggested. I have pretty much a boot disk/back up for the phone in case everything goes to pot, and I can carry it in my wallet just in case I am doing something while away from a USB port. After all, I shouldnt be tied to a usb port anyways, thats why I bought my G1 .
Hey everybody. I'm on windows and adb's shell just keeps on pissing me off. Mainly, how pressing tab actually inserts a tab rather than tab completion . I'd really like to do something about this.
Here's a list of the things i've tried to get rid of this super-annoying behaviour.
-rolled a cross-compiler toolchain (glibc-based) for my phone (HTC Magic) and cross-compiled bash (in a vm). I actually made this work even with dynamic linking, and can start bash from within an instance of "adb shell". Unfortunatly, this doesn't change the tab behaviour, which appears to be baked into adb rather than a problem with the default shell.
-I thought i'd try something fancy by doing...
adb shell mkfifo /fifo
adb shell "bash > /fifo < fifo 2> /fifo"
adb forward tcp:9001 dev:/fifo
and starting putty in raw mode, connecting to localhost:9001. Unfortunatly, all is what happens is i get an echo of what i type and if i press enter a few times putty spits out ": command not found". I can't see why this shouldn't work but I suspect i'm Doing It Wrong.
-Searching the forum revealed puttycyg, which is actually really handy but unfortunatly suffers from the same tab completion problem as using adb shell in cmd.exe
How do you guys do it? Am I onto something with the adb forward thing? If so, how do I make that work?
I have also compiled bash but I have tab completion though adb. I do however use Linux as my desktop OS and am connecting through Konsole. So you could just try to install KDE for Windows. I know that I've looked for good terminal applications for windows but found none. They're all **** compared to what's available on nix.
This is my simple bashrc:
Code:
# If interactive do nothing.
[ -z "$PS1" ] && return
export HOME="/sdcard/"
PS1='[email protected]\h:\w\$ '
Also it's full of aliases for busybox. By replacing built in ls and similar you even get nice colors But still no line editing for some reason. I figure I might just need a proper libreadline or similar for that.
If anybody's interested in how I got this working, i cross-compiled socat for the droid. Required configuring with --disable-termios and manually editing config.h to set the #define for CRDLY_SHIFT and a couple other *_SHIFT macros to some values i found in Config/linux-2.6.24.h (or something similar, posting from memory here)
Once socat is on the phone, I made it pipe data from a bash shell to a unix socket it is listening on:
socat unix-listen:/dev/adbsock,fork exec:"/bin/bash -li",pty,stderr,setsid,sigint
(command shamelessly copied from http://superuser.com/questions/123790/socat-and-rich-terminals-with-ctrlc-ctrlz-ctrld-propagation ).
Then, on the pc i run adb forward tcp:9001 localfilesystem:/tmp/adbsock
And if i connect putty to localhost:9001 in raw mode (disabling line editing and local echo) I get a fairly complete bash shell that you can not only use tab completion on but even vi works
Again, posting from memory here so if anyone wants to try this and is running into problems i can dig it up from my ~/.bash_history.
Any chance you can post your socat port?
The tab completion thing is driving me insane! I don't understand why the ADB shell in *nix is proper, but the windows version sucks so much hairy donkey balls.
I've been using Ansicon so I at least get color in my shell, but ADB still mangles tab, and I don't even want to talk about what it does to Nano. Ugh!
Oh wow, this takes me back. I don't even have my android phone anymore (cancelled the contract due to terribly crap network service, and (unfortunately) the iPhone was the best phone in its price range from my new carrier).
So I don't have any files to give to you...
But, from what I can remember, to make it work, I built a cross binutils and gcc loosely following the instructions from the LFS book, compiled glibc + a few other libs socat wanted with it, and then socat itself, and then bash. I then copied the cross libc.so.6, ld-linux.so.2 (or whatever it's called on ARM) and all the libs socat wanted to /lib on the phone, and the socat and bash binaries to /bin. It's convenient that android keeps its important stuff in /system because it means you can avoid screwing around with your toolchain to make it look for a dynamic linker in some location other than /lib.
From memory socat was the only thing I had problems compiling, and thankfully I've already posted roughly what i had to do to it to make it build (because there's no way I remember lol)
Sorry I can't be more helpful!
I just wanted you to inform you about my first Android application: rsync backup for Android. It is available in Market (for free, ad-supported).
Comments, suggestions, feature requests and bug reports are welcomed.
Just curious about your instructions.... You mention generating keys multiple times, but not sure why?
Typically to use ssh keys, one must generate keys on the client, transfer the public key of the client to the server. Then the client can connect into the server using the certificate rather than passphrase authentication.
Your instructions confused me.. It could be due to not having coffee yet, but might want to streamline the info a bit or users might never get to actually using it.
I'll try it myself later, as I already do this but curious how you've done it on your end. Here's what I run manually about once a week from GScript:
rsync -rltDv --delete --chmod=u=rwX,g=rX,o=rX --exclude=".android_secure" --exclude "Music" -e "sshfixed -l user -y -i /sdcard/bin/etc/dropbear/dropbear_dss_host_key" /mnt/sdcard [email protected]:/media3/android/microsd/rsync-backup/hourly.0/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And the server itself does a hard-link copy and move of directory names etc which maintains a set of 4 snapshots, I also do the same thing for my backups on the machines themselves.. Handy to find stuff I just realized I hosed a month ago..
Biggest annoyance was having to dupliate ssh (dropbear) and fix it so it uses /dev/urandom, as /dev/random isn't a viable source for ssh.
These are three different ways of generating private+public key pair. I'll add some description, because it could be confusing, as you said.
_sammael_ said:
These are three different ways of generating private+public key pair. I'll add some description, because it could be confusing, as you said.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, yes that makes more sense, give them options on how to generate the keys.. However, you can only create keys on the client itself, one mention seemed like it was referring to using a Linux box to create them?
You can always generate keys on Linux box, then transfer private key to your Android and append public key to authorized_keys.
_sammael_ said:
You can always generate keys on Linux box, then transfer private key to your Android and append public key to authorized_keys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To connect from Linux to Android... Yes. But pretty sure that won't work for Android to Linux, which is what I'd think you'd normally do?
He's saying, move both keys. Generally the private key is left on the system that generated it, but that doesn't need to be the case. At least as far as I know.
First off, brilliant app! It's exactly what I have been looking for to save me a huge amount of time and effort. Currently I was doing this by hand because I've had bad experiences with sdcards suddenly just stop working meaning I loose everything.
I have set a range of profiles up and had Tasker kick them off daily however I am at a loss how to get --exclude-from '/sdcard/excludefile.txt' working. When ever I run a profile it states:
rsync: failed to open exclude file '/sdcard/excludefile.txt' : No such file or directory (2)
rsync error : error in file IO (code 11) at exclude.c(1062) [client=3.0.6]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I'm wanting to do is have the following profiles
/ -> /home/user/mobile/dellstreak/
[exclude sdcard exclude*]
/sdcard -> /home/user/mobile/dellstreak/sdcard
[exclude DCIM audio ebooks video media rings downloads temp exclude*]
/sdcard/DCIM -> /home/user/mobile/dellstreak/sdcard/DCIM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can see what I'm wanting to do, I want a little more control over some profiles i.e. so I can backup DCIM whilst out and about or back up the sdcard without backing up all my music, videos etc.
Any help would be appreciated.
Try filename without the quotes:
--exclude-from /sdcard/excludefile.txt
Currently custom parameters parser takes arguments literally. Splitting is done using space as a delimited. That's why spaces in filenames won't work and rsync think that your filename is '/sdcard/excludefile.txt' (file excludefile.txt' in directory '/sdcard) instead of /sdcard/excludefile.txt
khaytsus said:
To connect from Linux to Android... Yes. But pretty sure that won't work for Android to Linux, which is what I'd think you'd normally do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it will work. If you don't believe me, check it for yourself. In fact I initially generated my private key on my Linux box (using dropbearkey), then tested method with dropbearconvert.
Please notice that what you're generating is key pair, which means that it will work as long as you put public key in remote side's authorized_keys (no matter what system it is and where it was generated) and authenticate using corresponding private key.
Been using it for weeks now, I love it.
You should document a few things, such as how to create a dropbear key from a standard key.
Confirmation number: 9X233376XY8982101.
It is documented on application's webpage (see Menu -> Help).
_sammael_ said:
It is documented on application's webpage (see Menu -> Help).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it is. I'm not sure if that was there when I first started using, but you've added the things I would have suggested (being able to change the command line options, etc.)
_sammael_ said:
Try filename without the quotes:
--exclude-from /sdcard/excludefile.txt
Currently custom parameters parser takes arguments literally. Splitting is done using space as a delimited. That's why spaces in filenames won't work and rsync think that your filename is '/sdcard/excludefile.txt' (file excludefile.txt' in directory '/sdcard) instead of /sdcard/excludefile.txt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The exclude files I'm parsing don't have spaces in anyway so luckily I didn't have to worry about that (coming from a linux background has taught me to avoid spaces where ever possible, not to mention keep everything lower case )
Your suggestion of removing the quotes (') seems to have done it, I use rsync on my linux boxes which require you to use quotes when parsing an exclude file.
Will check that it's parsing the exclude files correctly and will report back.
As per documentation that someone has suggested, I found the current documentation to work find, however it seems a little sparse. Maybe creating a wiki site for the documentation might help with this?
Again thankyou for a great app.
The exclude list seems to be working as expected, I now have it syncing as follows
/ -> /home/user/mobile/dellstreak/sdcard
/sdcard -> /home/user/mobile/dellstreak/sdcard
/sdcard/DCIM -> /home/user/mobile/dellstreak/sdcard/DCIM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've also significantly increased my excludes to cover directories that have permission issues or that are (re)created on boot.
##rsyncrootexclude##
/sdcard
/acct
/cache
/config
/d
/mnt
/proc
/dev
/sys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
##rsyncsdcardexclude##
/sdcard/Update*.zip
/sdcard/update*.zip
/sdcard/video
/sdcard/audio
/sdcard/ebooks
/sdcard/download
/sdcard/media/music
/sdcard/music
/sdcard/xuluan.podcast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So one suggestion, is it possible to add a scheduler to this?
I use Titanium Backup to make backups of my apps/data daily and would like that pushed automatically to my rsync server.
I didn't plan to add this, you can use Tasker or Locale.
As _sammael_ says, tasker works great with it.
I get it to automagically rsync when ever I connect to my wifi, and then on a timed scheduled.
ssh required?
great app.. like others, I was using rsync manually.
Do you only support rsync over ssh? I currently use the (insecure) rsync protocol to sync a "TV" folder on my Windows Media Center box. I can install a SSH server, it just seems overkill for my needs.
Robert
Currently only rsync over ssh is supported, but I guess I can add selection whether user want to use ssh or not. Am I thinking correctly that it will be as simple as skipping rsync's -e option?
*YO! New version can connect to a TV via HDMI. If you have a USB-host, you can also connect a keyboard and a mouse!*
Hi. I want to introduce you Wishnu. The essence of our project is the launch of computer OS Linux Debian inside an Android mobile device. Then this device connects to a computer by means of the USB-cable. Actually that allows transforming any Android device into a real computer. You can connect the phone to different computers at home, at work and on a visit and use the phone’s own screen and input equipment on the journey.
We have taken "running chrooted debian/ubuntu on android" idea as the base and created something interesting with it.
First, we have created Android application which starts Debian on android mobile device with one click (no need to type any commands in the terminal etc).
Second, we have written desktop client application which shows Debian desktop running on mobile phone on the PC or laptop with wide screen, mouse and keyboard, so this actually turns the solution to the docking station like Motorola Lapdock or devices such as Pocket Desktop, but much better, cause you don't need to buy additional docking station device and you will immediately receive tons of common desktop applications available from Debian MIPS/ARM repositories (even pdf document viewers, image editors, office with spreadsheets and presentations editors etc).
Also device SD card available inside chrooted system in /media/sharedSD dir.
Watch the video in action
And this one (sorry for the quality, I used my matreshka as a camera).
Screenshots
Currently Wishnu uses Debian 5.0 ARM image taken from this thread. We are planning to add more customized and fresh Debian and Ubuntu OS images.
System requirements
PC client
- OS Windows XP, Vista, 7 (x86) or Linux (x86, x64)
- Java Runtime Environment must be pre-installed.
- Device ADB driver on Windows (on linux no adb driver needed, but adb server should be started as root in most cases)
Android device
- MIPS or ARM
- Mobile processor 500 MHz, 256 mb RAM (Recommended: processor 1 GHz and >512 mb RAM)
- Android OS 1.5 or higher.
- The device must be rooted.
Download and install instructions
Or download on Android Market
This one is much easier to start with than existing LinuxInstaller - no need to type any commands in terminal or adb shell - just download image file and press start. Also desktop client is great idea.
Needs more options for system control though and also Ubuntu image for desktop instead of old debian.
yo, we need some response, please download our awesome application! or at least tell us why you won't do it (maybe Wishnu is useless or smb is better). Thank you!
How does it do with running heavier weight applications such as thunderbird?
agoodm said:
How does it do with running heavier weight applications such as thunderbird?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually it depends on your phone's performance. We use Sony Ericsson Xperia arc for testing and have no problems running such applications. You better try it and inform us about results)
Are you using the armel or armhf Debian distribution?
nicktastique said:
Are you using the armel or armhf Debian distribution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently we have images of debian squeezy for armel and mipsel.
A bit busy with the holidays and all, but I will give it a look. I definitely recommend checking out armhf. I've been testing it on my Droid 3 and cursory benchmarks show it to be something like 850% faster than armel. armel is basically useless in comparison.
Debian's armhf Icweasel 9.0 was actually faster than the native Firefox Mobile 9.0 app on the SunSpider benchmark (by 80ms, but still).
Thanks for your work, looking forward to checking it out.
lokosokol said:
Currently we have images of debian squeezy for armel and mipsel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very interesting idea, and I'd love to give it a go. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me. I get an error, "Can't connect to OS image".
The checks run okay, so everything appears to be okay.
I'm using a Samsung GS2, on 2.3.5 (stock ROM), so hardware and OS are more than adequate.
Edit: Okay, so it was the stock ROM that was the problem. I assume it doesn't support loop devices (whatever that actually means!) I've got a custom ROM on there now and it gets a lot further, but I still have an issue.
It gets to the "Starting System" stage and I get the error message "OS start failed (bad program identificator)".
So, any advice?
Thank you for your advice, guys!
nicktastique said:
A bit busy with the holidays and all, but I will give it a look. I definitely recommend checking out armhf. I've been testing it on my Droid 3 and cursory benchmarks show it to be something like 850% faster than armel. armel is basically useless in comparison.
Debian's armhf Icweasel 9.0 was actually faster than the native Firefox Mobile 9.0 app on the SunSpider benchmark (by 80ms, but still).
Thanks for your work, looking forward to checking it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for this hint — we are working on preparing better system images and will definitely give this option a try.
Archer said:
Very interesting idea, and I'd love to give it a go. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me. I get an error, "Can't connect to OS image".
The checks run okay, so everything appears to be okay.
I'm using a Samsung GS2, on 2.3.5 (stock ROM), so hardware and OS are more than adequate.
Edit: Okay, so it was the stock ROM that was the problem. I assume it doesn't support loop devices (whatever that actually means!) I've got a custom ROM on there now and it gets a lot further, but I still have an issue.
It gets to the "Starting System" stage and I get the error message "OS start failed (bad program identificator)".
So, any advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you give us a log file of that failed launch? It should be in "/path_to_application_data/log" folder.
I tried it out and I get "Error:OS start failed (timeout expired)
Here is the log:
Code:
############Preparing Base System############
############Preparing Base System Check############
***Checking Ext2 exists/not exists***
true
***Checking system loop device file '/dev/block/wishnuloop' exists***
true
############Preparing Base System Check Finishes############
############Preparing Base System Ends############
############Mounting System Image############
############Mounting System Check############
**Checking /dev/block/wishnuloop mounted/not mounted**
#busybox losetup /dev/block/wishnuloop
/dev/block/wishnuloop: 0 /mnt/sdcard/wishnu/system.img
Return code: 0
**Check /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system mounted/not mounted**
#busybox mountpoint /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system
Return code: 0
############All Correct############
############Mounting System Image Ends############
############Preparing System############
############Preparing System Check############
**Check /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system/dev/pts mounted/not mounted**
#busybox mountpoint /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system/dev/pts
Return code: 0
**Check /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system/proc mounted/not mounted**
#busybox mountpoint /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system/proc
Return code: 0
**Check /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system/sys mounted/not mounted**
#busybox mountpoint /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system/sys
Return code: 0
**Check /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system/media/sharedSD mounted/not mounted**
#busybox mountpoint /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system/media/sharedSD
Return code: 0
############All Correct############
############Preparing System Ends############
############Starting System############
############Starting System Check############
############start from ip_forward############
#busybox sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1
Return code: 0
#busybox chroot /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system /bin/bash -l
su: applet not found
#busybox fuser -k /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system
Return code: 1
#rm /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system/root/.vnc/localhost:1.pid
rm failed for /data/data/edu.phystech.wishnu/system/root/.vnc/localhost:1.pid, No such file or directory
Return code: 255
############Start Failed############
According to the log your busybox is a bit "incomplete" - it doesn't include a chroot applet (which is really strange). I think reinstalling it should solve the problem (in this case busybox installer or BusyBox from android market should help).
I have tried several versions of busybox (1.19.3, 1.18.4, etc) and they all give the same error. It seems that it tries to run "busybox su" when it does not exist..
Ok, this means that we also have some problems with log printing.
Using "busybox su" seemed to be a bit safe command (it worked on all devices we have for testing). Now it turned out that it doesn't work on every device.
By the way I think I should introduce myself - I'm one of the Wishnu developers, so with any problems you can write to me.
The website claims the app on android can run by itself without using a computer. Does this mean the Debian environment is self-contained and can be run as such? The app seems to start linux, but a computer is then required to view the desktop, correct? How does one view the linux desktop from the phone itself?
The app runs fine on my phone. The image file needs to be place on the internal memory, rather than the SD card itself for it to run properly.
Droid 3 running Steel Droid 3 with root.
GoTeamScotch said:
The app seems to start linux, but a computer is then required to view the desktop, correct? How does one view the linux desktop from the phone itself?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use any VNC client from the android market to get the picture from the linux desktop on your phone.
There connection address is "localhost", port 5901 and password is "android".
You can check gallery on our site to see how it works (photo with phone connected to the TV).
e334 said:
It seems that it tries to run "busybox su" when it does not exist..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Checked the source code of the app - version that should be on the android market and the site shouldn't run any "busybox su" command (however it is always possible that we made a mistake).
So first of all I want to make sure that your busybox has chroot applet.
Please, could you perform "busybox chroot " command from the adb shell (or in the terminal emulator in your phone) and post here a result of this command?
If it works I'll attach the launching script (nearly the same we have in the app) and I hope we will find out what's wrong with the launching procedure.
Awesome, thank you very much for the tip! I downloaded a free VNC viewer app from the market and entered the info you gave and it worked! The desktop is a little sluggish but that's sort of to be expected, even with a dual-core phone.
This is very cool software! I didn't realize running Linux on a Droid 3 was possible as of yet because of loopback support. I've been looking into ways of installing Linux since I got the phone, but couldn't find a way around my kernel's lack of loopback. How does your software overcome this obstacle? Are there any plans of improving speed in future releases?
By the way, if your group would like a graphics designer for UI elements or website images I am available! I work for a company in Olympia, Washington making graphics (in-store signs, exterior posters, skins, icons, etc...). This seems like a cool project and I'd be willing to help out for a cup of coffee or something.
Great project.
Do you have more info on building Debian for Android? Also, how much of the "native" Debian UI apps are transferable (and usable) from the phone?
This probably sounds like a total noob question, but its legit. I've become very comfortable with the Linux File Structure over the years as they are self explanatory.
/home - where home folders to users exist.
/root - OK, Don't know why it wasn't put in home, but understandable to what it is
/etc - config files go here
/lib - library files go here
/sbin - superuser binaries/executables go here.
/bin - binaries/executables
/usr - user shared files
/var - variable files such as logs?
I'm sure we get the gist of it, but why did android not keep this structure? Does android's structure better suite it? To me it just seems like crap is lying everywhere with barely any forethought as to where it should be placed. Could someone explain the file structure to me?
Android wannabe dev,
Darksurf
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using xda premium
I don't think there is so much difference if you have a better look at it. Most of it is just in /system, for the same reason (one of them, actually) you were wondering why /root isn't in /home under Linux - you can have different partitions at these paths (security, storage/quota management, etc.). And as there are no user accounts, there is no need for /home.
Plus, there is need for more modules that are loaded and unloaded, there's different apps cache management under Android, these things have to be in separate places.
Having said that, I sometimes miss simple /var/log/ stuff and things like that by default too (you forgot /dev, btw). I would like the /system partition to be more Linux-like in case of directories, but I like how /data and /sdcard are handled, it's pretty clear and easy to manage.
IMHO the main difference is the division into /system and /data (+ /sdcard or other removables mount points in the case of the Infinity), which, as you've probably noticed, has its very practical purposes and have to be clearly distinguished, especially on a non-rooted device, where the permissions are clearly set (but comes helpful when rooted, so you won't mess up too much by a missclick ;>).