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Possible to boot Ubuntu from Sd card?

Hi,
I know there's already a thread about Ubuntu, but I ran across this, and it looks a little different:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=10306407#post10306407
It looks like, instead of replacing the Nook Color ROM, they're booting Ubuntu from the (external, I think) sdcard.
Would it be possible to do something like this with the Gtab? If it is, maybe we could have an Android/Ubuntu dual boot?
Jim

http://nexusonehacks.net/nexus-one-hacks/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-your-nexus-oneandroid/
The above is the based info on this. It looks like, basically, they run Ubuntu under chroot (in a jail).
This seems like it'd be cool, on a Gtab!
Jim

jimcpl said:
http://nexusonehacks.net/nexus-one-hacks/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-your-nexus-oneandroid/
The above is the based info on this. It looks like, basically, they run Ubuntu under chroot (in a jail).
This seems like it'd be cool, on a Gtab!
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would it be fast like that? I used to run Android on an sd card on my old HTC Titan phone. It was slower than Molasses in winter.. Would be neat if it could be done, and was still fast.

Sprdtyf350 said:
Would it be fast like that? I used to run Android on an sd card on my old HTC Titan phone. It was slower than Molasses in winter.. Would be neat if it could be done, and was still fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I don't know the answer to your question, but we run stuff under chroot all the time (mainly things like Apache httpd) for security reasons, and running under chroot doesn't add overhead. It's not like it's running a VM/hypervisor. Rather, chroot just isolates the app (in this case, Ubuntu) from "seeing" the rest of the system, so I think that if it could be done, the Ubuntu "instance" would run at native speed. Again, this would be more like a dual-boot configuration, rather than a VM type situation.
If you read through the 2nd link, it's kind of neat the way they did this, i.e., they got just a command line Ubuntu going first, then they used apt-get to bring in the X stuff on top of that, kind of like bootstrapping, at a little higher level. Also, similar to how the earlier versions of Windows worked, i.e., basically you'd boot to DOS (yikes !) then start Windows from there.
Jim

i want this soooooo bad.....

When I have some time, I wouldn't mind trying to get something like this working on Gtab, but at this point, I'd (we'd) need some guidance.
For example, would we need our own img file for the Gtab, or could we use the one that was linked on those sites? Those are, I guess, for Nexus One and for EVO, so the native code would be for Snapdragon. Would those work on the Gtab, which is Tegra 2?
I originally hesitated posting this in the Development forum, but maybe it should be. I don't know ...
Jim

There is an ubuntu image that runs on the external micro-sd card. You have to change the boot loader to run it. Right now you have to have an external mouse and keyboard.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=894960
It does not modify the internal storage so you can restore a boot image from Clockwork and boot back into android.

NMCBR600 said:
There is an ubuntu image that runs on the external micro-sd card. You have to change the boot loader to run it. Right now you have to have an external mouse and keyboard.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=894960
It does not modify the internal storage so you can restore a boot image from Clockwork and boot back into android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I read through some of that thread for awhile now (not too closely), but I had the impression that the Ubuntu in that thread replaced the normal Gtab ROM?
So, is the only thing that gets replaced on /sdcard the boot image? If that's the case, then it wouldn't allow a dual boot, without using CW and restoring the appropriate boot image?
Sorry, not arguing, but just trying to understand...
Jim

It uses a custom boot image to load ubuntu from the micro sd card. It will not boot android. You have to reflash the boot image to boot back into android. There is a post in that thread (#57) where a dual boot capable boot image is being asked for.

NMCBR600 said:
It uses a custom boot image to load ubuntu from the micro sd card. It will not boot android. You have to reflash the boot image to boot back into android. There is a post in that thread (#57) where a dual boot capable boot image is being asked for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I remember that "request" in that thread ...
I guess that the nice thing about the approach at the beginning of this thread, if it could be possible, would be both runnable "images" (the Gtab/Android and the Ubuntu) would exist (but not run) simultaneously, the former on the internal SDCARD, and the latter on the external microSD card...
Jim

ext2 support?
Hi,
I've been reviewing the shell scripts that are used for this (downloaded from the link from the original NC thread), and it looks like almost everything would be ok, except:
- It looks like the ubuntu.img file is an image with an ext2 fs on it (they do a loop mount on it). I tried "busybox modprobe ext2" on my Gtab (stock TNT 3452), and it looks like it doesn't have the .so or whatever to support ext2. Does anyone know if it's possible to get ext2 support on the Gtab?
- I was hoping to at least try the mount, to see what's there, but since I can't, I'm still assuming that the ubuntu.img was compiled for the NC, so I'm still wondering if I could get it mounted, if the code in there would work? According to:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/28/nook-color-processor-revealed-arm-cortex-a8-based-ti-omap3621/
it's an "ARM Cortex A8", whereas the Gtab uses a Tegra 2, which I guess is an ARMV7?
Thanks,
Jim

jimcpl said:
Hi,
I've been reviewing the shell scripts that are used for this (downloaded from the link from the original NC thread), and it looks like almost everything would be ok, except:
- It looks like the ubuntu.img file is an image with an ext2 fs on it (they do a loop mount on it). I tried "busybox modprobe ext2" on my Gtab (stock TNT 3452), and it looks like it doesn't have the .so or whatever to support ext2. Does anyone know if it's possible to get ext2 support on the Gtab?
- I was hoping to at least try the mount, to see what's there, but since I can't, I'm still assuming that the ubuntu.img was compiled for the NC, so I'm still wondering if I could get it mounted, if the code in there would work? According to:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/28/nook-color-processor-revealed-arm-cortex-a8-based-ti-omap3621/
it's an "ARM Cortex A8", whereas the Gtab uses a Tegra 2, which I guess is an ARMV7?
Thanks,
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if i remember correctly it's an arm 9 that shows up as a 7....

[Q] New to Eee Pad - Need some help (not an android newbie)

Hi guys and gals.
I'm quite an experienced android users. I owned Galaxy I9000 and now I own Galaxy I9100. I flash ROMs, I root my mobile with various Kernels and stratup scripts. I OC/UV my CPU as well and familiar with CWM mode. Basically, a power-user
I got my eee pad as a present this week and I would like if someone can bring me up to speed about basic kerenl for rooting and advanced feature kernel that is popular among the users here.
How to get into download mode and recovery mode.
I did some searching and came up with many results, however, I would like a pointer or two so I could save me up some reading time.
Much appreciated

Depends on your device serial. If yours statrting with b70(some)/b80/b90, then you can do nothing at this time.
And a little reading in the development sub-forum, will answer most of your questions.

Anything above b70 cant be rooted. I hear some of teh b70 can but not sure..
ROMS.. the 3 top ones I can think of are Prime, Revolution and Revolver. Clemsyn and Blade kernel are popular.

Mine is B70.... so is there anything I can do at all?

Run SBKDetect from the evelopement thread - if it says SBKv1, then you can, if says SBKv2, then you can't
Anyway, you can try BRK's toolkit and if you get a write error, then you can't root it now.

Ok ill try that. Right now im with v3.2.1 is there a date for ICS version?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

Asus said "very early" - speculations are that sometime in December.

Do you have an explanation as to why is this device a bit laggy? I only have the email+weather widget and it's quite out of the box homescreen icons but it feels that the scrolling is a bit laggy...

No, I don't have lags at all, so I can not explain your issue.

It says that the SBK detect is for linux (?) how can I run it?

Can you describe the lag? I've no lag with my TF at all. Here's a demo video I made.
No lag at all.

gil80 said:
It says that the SBK detect is for linux (?) how can I run it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's also a version for Mac.

But I'm on a PC....
And as for laggin I mean that when scrolling it is not as smooth as I would expect or like Ipad2. and I feel that if I will add one more widget... it will simply wont move.. there's this delay from the gesture of scrolling to the actual scroll

If in browser, a fully up to date (or at least Prime ROM) system it isn't so bad any more but for best, use Opera Mobile.
If in home, I've seen mention of it being a HC problem that was later updated away or sth, someone please chime in.
If in every app, something is frakked.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

baseballfanz said:
There's also a version for Mac.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I need a PC version. Is there any?

No, I don't believe there's a Windows version of the SBK detect script available.
Does anyone know if running the following command using nvflash would fail if he has an SBKv2 tablet?
Code:
nvflash --bct transformer.bct --setbct --configfile flash.cfg --bl bootloader.bin --odmdata 0x300d8011 --sbk 0x1682CCD8 0x8A1A43EA 0xA532EEB6 0xECFE1D98 --sync
I have a B7O tablet that is SBKv1, so it has always worked for me, and I have no way of knowing if it would fail for an SBKv2 tablet.
gil80: One thing you could try to do is download an Ubuntu LiveCD (or any other version of Linux that has a LiveCD available). If you boot your computer from the Ubuntu LiveCD (or it can be installed to a thumbdrive if your computer can boot from USB), you could go to the xda site and download the SBKDetect script and run it. Keep in mind that anything you download using the LiveCD disappears when you shut the computer down (if you use a thumbdrive, it's possible to create a persistent data partition on the thumbdrive so that stuff you download is saved instead of discarded.
This would allow you to use Linux just long enough to run the SBKDetect script to find out if you can root your TF. If you have no Linux experience, then this might be too much for you, but if you have ever used a terminal emulator in Android, you have enough experience to use the SBKDetect script in a temporary Ubuntu Linux environment.

gil80 said:
It says that the SBK detect is for linux (?) how can I run it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can run install linux in a vmware machine, i use ubuntu

The Asus transformer file system is RFS or EXT4?

gil80 said:
The Asus transformer file system is RFS or EXT4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on where in the filesystem you are/what partition you are talking about. The "/sdcard" partition is vFAT or FAT32, I believe... this makes it so that a Windows computer can use the partition as an external USB hard drive or USB flash drive. The same is generally true for external media, such as MicroSD and SD cards, but you have the option of formatting those as NTFS yourself if you prefer (or any other filesystem that the ROM you are using recognizes).
When you get down into the root partition/root of the filesystem ("/"), you are looking at EXT4 (possibly EXT3... again, depends on the ROM). Other partitions on the internal flash memory may use yaffs/yaffs2 (I have seen this when searching the Googlies, but I have no experience with any partitions that use it... I have only ever messed with the LNX partition, which is 6 on the TF101-A1), and yet others are encrypted.
A ROM developer would be able to tell you exactly what partitions use exactly which filesystems, but I am pretty sure that EXT3 or 4 and vFAT or FAT32 are used.

[Q] Installing Arch Linux on Asus Transformer TF101 sbkv2

I'm presently trying to get arch linux wroking on my transformer tf101. I'm taking advice from the thread at "archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4670", but there's something diffrent in my approach: I'm trying to boot arch from the SD card on the keyboard (not the micro SD card).
You can read the posts on the linked thread in order to know all I've been through.
I use linux3.1.10.img file containing zImage (linux kernel), initrd.img and bootimg.cfg (which helps me specify where's the OS to boot, here it's root=/dev/sda1 for the sdcard on the keyboard). After having made my modifications to the files, I update the linux3.1.10.img file and blobpack on LNX partition ready for flashing through CWM.
The flashable file actually flashes from CWM and something appears on the screen when it reboots, but it stops with errors. The problem seems to be that the SD card is not readable at the moment initrd does it's job (it's related to the fact that I use the SD card on the keyboard). Here's what it looks like:
Code:
Initramfs unpacking failed: LZMA data is corrupt
upli_phy_power_on: timeout waiting for phy to stabilize
upli_phy_power_on: upli write failed
tegra-ehci tegra-egci.1: Failed to power on the phy
g_ether gadget: rndis: can't bind, err 0
mxt_config_settings
power_supply dock_battery: driver failed to report `status' proterty
power_supply dock_battery: driver failed to report `status' proterty
sdhci-tegra sdhci-tegra.2
sdhci-tegra sdhci-tegra.2
sdhci-tegra sdhci-tegra.0
sdhci-tegra sdhci-tegra.0
Tegra protected aperture disabled because nvmap is using system memory
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
[... bunch of errors I don't want to type ...]
CPU1: stopping
unwind: Unknown symbol address c0008364
unwind: Index not found c0008364
Light sensor: a13000a_interrupt_handler
So I need to modify the initrd.img in order to have the sdcard reachable (I guess), but I don't know what modification to do. May be someone could help?
THREADS I'VE USED FOR GETTING HERE:
- archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4670
- forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1537566
I'VE ATTACHED THE IMAGE I USE FOR FLASHING (NOT BLOBPACKed YET)

"Initramfs unpacking failed: LZMA data is corrupt" would be a good place to start. If the initramfs fails to run then the kernel is missing a bunch of stuff for the boot process, so things will fail, like mounting the root filesystem.
Did you check this out? Someone seems to suggest a change in initramfs.conf...

I've red the post and checked my initramfs.conf file and it was already set to COMPRESS=gzip.
Anyway, I don't think it's related because the guy on the thread I linked above succeeds with the same image file. The only differences are :
- He uses the micro SD card rather than the SD card in the keyboard
- The configuration file bootimg.cfg is set with root=/dev/mmcblk1p1 (micro sd card) rather than root=/dev/sda1 (SD card on the keyboard)
So, as Gary (the owner of the thread on archlinux-arm Forums) said, I should make a change related to the search of devices made by init script(?), in order to have detected the right device before going into initramfs job.
EDIT
The problem seems to be elsewhere because I've just tried with micro SD card and I had the same error messages! My guess would be that the blob file may not be flashed completely and that's why I would get the LZMA archive corrutpion error. Or it may be something else, I don't know.. I'm pretty lost....
I'm using:
- ASUS Transformer TF101 SBKv2
- Latest stock ASUS firmware installed
- CWM-based Recovery v5.5.0.4 roach-tf101-r2

Hello, I haven’t read all the linked threads you posted but I remember I tried to install Arch on my TF101G as well once, but using a chroot method. I haven’t got too far though and for a lack of support I gave up =S
Thing is, I’d love to see Arch on my tablet as well, since it is my main (only) system on my pcs. Can you try installing TWRP as recovery, I’ve been using it for about a month now and it seems a lot more trustful and maybe it will be able to help you a little bit more. Also, aren’t the devices on /dev/block/sda1? I remember it being like this on mine, but maybe my current rom put it that way.
I’m subscribing here and will be reading the other threads to try it out myself. Just, what do you mean by sbkv2?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk HD

leomeloxp said:
Can you try installing TWRP as recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just finished installed ubuntu on my tf101. I needed something to let me work while I ship my laptop to ASUS for repair. I won't be messing with my sd card that got ubuntu installed on it. But, if I get a micro sd card to play with, I'll give it a try (I can't promess I'd be doing this soon)
leomeloxp said:
aren’t the devices on /dev/block/sda1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From CWM and Android point of view, devices are, in fact, located as you said. But, from linux distros point of view they are rather disposed like I said (/dev/sda1). So when you want to tell a linux distro to look for files, you use this "/dev/sda1" rather than this "/dev/block/sda1". That's what I understood after playing with this.

leomeloxp said:
Just, what do you mean by sbkv2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All I know is that there are two types of transformer tf101: SBKv1 and SBKv2. I think ASUS has made some changes in order to prevent people messing with roms (which is what we're doing) but I think people have worked their way around this issue and it's not of concern anymore..

So, any news on this one?
I read the posts on the ALARM forum, it seems a little bit tricky to do it, I might some good couple of days at home to be able to focus on this one. But apparently they got Kernel 3 on it already, with Wifi and X server (even Openbox I think).
Sent from PomPoko [TF101G] using TapaTalkHD

I wanna dual boot Ubuntu / Android on my SL 101

Ok, so, I want to dual boot ubuntu and android but:
I do not want to change my current partition layout (and lose all my data)
I don't want to touch the current android install AT ALL
I would like to run ubuntu from my SD Card
I would like to run ubuntu from an Image (img file) on my sd card
I would like to press vol down and power at boot to boot to ubuntu
I am rooted, I have (what the sbkcheck says) SBKv1
One more thing.
Why don't we have an SL101 forum?

I believe there is a pseudo-dual boot for our device where you could run Ubuntu from SD card. But if I remember correctly, each time you want to switch operating systems, you have to flash a different kernel. I'm not entirely sure though, I'll keep looking for the post.
Even though you have SBK1, SBK differs per device. Meaning Nvflash still isn't available to us yet.
Also, SL101 doesn't have a forum because frankly there aren't enough users. Plus the device is so similar to the TF101 and some ROMs run fine on both.

Solar.Plexus said:
I believe there is a pseudo-dual boot for our device where you could run Ubuntu from SD card. But if I remember correctly, each time you want to switch operating systems, you have to flash a different kernel. I'm not entirely sure though, I'll keep looking for the post.
Even though you have SBK1, SBK differs per device. Meaning Nvflash still isn't available to us yet.
Also, SL101 doesn't have a forum because frankly there aren't enough users. Plus the device is so similar to the TF101 and some ROMs run fine on both.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I remember seeing a way to flash the recovery partition with something that allowed you to press vol down and power to boot to ubuntu, using the SDcard as / .. basically i'd like that type of setup only with an .img file on the sdcard instead of using the raw sdcard.

[Q] Can you please explain what is the ROM?

Hey, I have really basic information about computers and OSs so I really need some explanations for the case of android smartphone (qualcomm mainly). So let me tell you first what I know (I hope that this is true): For a computer they use EEPROM and it's a type of ROM which is erasable. The bios is stored there and it's the first thing loaded when starting the computer. (It's is easily updatable as I have already updated my bios). For the case of android smartphones I think that they use NVRAM, but I don't know what is NVRAM physically? is it a build-in memory separated from storage devices like on computers?! or is just a partition of internal storage? (internal storage I mean /dev/block/mmcblk0). I found that NVRAM can only be erased using JTAG on some websites but I found that device cloning is done copying mmcblk0 from one phone to another, so that means that NVRAM is located in mmcblk0. And if NVRAM is just a part of mmcblk0 so why is it a read only memory? we can easily write to other partitions, so why not NVRAM?! I'm really confused...
Please share your knowledge, I really need years of studying electronics and computer science to know all this by myself... Thank you all!!

AmineBY said:
Hey, I have really basic information about computers and OSs so I really need some explanations for the case of android smartphone (qualcomm mainly). So let me tell you first what I know (I hope that this is true): For a computer they use EEPROM and it's a type of ROM which is erasable. The bios is stored there and it's the first thing loaded when starting the computer. (It's is easily updatable as I have already updated my bios). For the case of android smartphones I think that they use NVRAM, but I don't know what is NVRAM physically? is it a build-in memory separated from storage devices like on computers?! or is just a partition of internal storage? (internal storage I mean /dev/block/mmcblk0). I found that NVRAM can only be erased using JTAG on some websites but I found that device cloning is done copying mmcblk0 from one phone to another, so that means that NVRAM is located in mmcblk0. And if NVRAM is just a part of mmcblk0 so why is it a read only memory? we can easily write to other partitions, so why not NVRAM?! I'm really confused...
Please share your knowledge, I really need years of studying electronics and computer science to know all this by myself... Thank you all!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I didn't understand a damn thing you just just said, but I can tell you this:
ROM, in the Android world, means the OS or firmware the device runs on. Like Windows or Linux. You can have the stock ROM, which is what the device ships with. Or, if the device allows it, you can install a custom ROM, such as Cyanogenmod.
"ROM" can mean other things in different contexts. You can find these out for yourself by using this thing called "google". But in the Android world, it simply means the operating system.

Planterz said:
Well, I didn't understand a damn thing you just just said, but I can tell you this:
ROM, in the Android world, means the OS or firmware the device runs on. Like Windows or Linux. You can have the stock ROM, which is what the device ships with. Or, if the device allows it, you can install a custom ROM, such as Cyanogenmod.
"ROM" can mean other things in different contexts. You can find these out for yourself by using this thing called "google". But in the Android world, it simply means the operating system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick reply! but I'm not talking about ROM files. I'm asking about this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read-only_memory
Of course I already tried googling it but it's just general information, I'm searching for information about android hardware (qualcomm mainly).

Any idea about android devices ROM (Read Only Memory) please?!

I'm not sure about low-level stuff (like the actual bootloader, which probably is isolated on different ROM chips on various devices), but most of what we normally consider the "ROM" -- i.e. the Android system software discussed above -- and even a sort of miniature OS for performing updates called the recovery -- is stored on a flash memory chip (sometimes eMMC) within the phone. Definitely not NVRAM/EEPROM, though the bootloader could be on one of those.

maclynb said:
I'm not sure about low-level stuff (like the actual bootloader, which probably is isolated on different ROM chips on various devices), but most of what we normally consider the "ROM" -- i.e. the Android system software discussed above -- and even a sort of miniature OS for performing updates called the recovery -- is stored on a flash memory chip (sometimes eMMC) within the phone. Definitely not NVRAM/EEPROM, though the bootloader could be on one of those.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I think some information should be on NVRAM, if not why do people use JTAG to unlock devices?! Flash memory can be edited easily using usb cable only...

AmineBY said:
Thanks! I think some information should be on NVRAM, if not why do people use JTAG to unlock devices?! Flash memory can be edited easily using usb cable only...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it's possible to edit flash memory with USB cables alone on most devices; that's actually rather tough and requires a phone that's had its bootloader unlocked (even then, official bootloader unlocks -- like HTC's -- don't always let you write over certain bits of it). Not quite sure about the JTAG stuff -- that reaches the limits of my knowledge.