I will no longer be updating this guide, to keep up to date with the project please see the App thread HERE. The Free app can be downloaded HERE and the Paid HERE
First and for most this guide has been created from a mixture of a few guides to get it all working on our phone, I do not take any credit for the methods all I have done is taken the time to work out how to get it working on our phone. This guide is for windows or can be done all on the phone. Anyway on with the guide
How To Install Ubuntu on the Desire S
Before we start you will need a ROM and kernel that supports loop devices.
This works best on lighter roms like cyanogenmod 7.1, however if you don't want to run a GUI it also works fine on sense ROMS. Please post any ROMS it doesn't work on.
It is also recommend that you have the Android SDK install so that you can access adb however all commands can be done on the phone via the terminal emulator
Also make sure that you have debugging mode enabled Go to Settings->Applications->Development and make sure USB Debugging is checked ON.
You will also need atleast 4GB of memory card space
Download and extract ubuntu.zip
Once you have a working ROM with loop support you must now download the special modified ubuntu image. I have hosted the file on my own server however if this is not quick enough feel free to mirror it or message me and I shall host else where as well.
There are now three versions to use as you wish, however the new 10.10 image has pretty much everything working, see change log at the bottom of the next post. the 11.10 image's UI does not work right and the 9.04 image is well rather old
[*]10.10 image V3 (Recommend)
[*]10.10 image V2 [*]10.10 image OLD
[*]11.10 image
[*]Old 9.04 image
Once you have downloaded this .zip file you will need to extract it to a folder on your sdcard name this folder "ubuntu".
Install and run Ubuntu!
If you do not have the android SDK install or wish to do all the commands via your phone please skip to step 7
1) Connect your Desire S to your computer via your USB cable and make sure USB mode is set to “Just Charge”.
2) Your Android device should be recognized as “ADB Device” under Device Manager. If not, install appropriate drivers.
For all HTC Android smartphones/tablets (such as G2 Phone, Nexus One), you can download Windows drivers here:
HTC Windows 64-bit driver download – Click Here to Download Driver
HTC Windows 32-bit driver download – Click Here to Download Driver
3) Now open a command window and navigate to the directory that you have installed the android SDK for example
Code:
cd c:\android-sdk
4) From here then navigate to the platform-tools directory
Code:
cd platform-tools
5) Now type “adb devices” to double-check your Android device is recognized. It should display something along the lines of
Code:
Lists of devices attached
HT09SR204261 device
If not then you have not installed the drivers for your phone or it is not in debugging mode.
6) Next type “adb shell” to enter the Android shell
7) Now type su to enter super user mode, then type cd /sdcard and then cd ubuntu to enter the directory on the SD card that you stored the ubuntu files.
Code:
su
cd /sdcard
cd ubuntu
8) Then type sh ubuntu.sh this will run the included script to ready your ubuntu image, do not worry about any error messages that are displayed!
Code:
sh ubuntu.sh
8.5) If running the 10.10 V2 image you should get this message 'please wait while booting the ubuntu img, please wait as this could take a while.' if you do get this then ubuntu is running and you just need to open vnc and connect to get into ubuntu. Please see the bug section on the third post for more information!
9) Now type bootubuntu to enter ubuntu (note in the future to start ubuntu simply type bootubuntu there is no need to run the script again)
Code:
bootubuntu
You should now see something along the lines of
Code:
[email protected]:/#
If you don't then its likely the ROM your using does not support loop devices and you will need to install one of the ROMs from the top of this guide to get it working.
And thats it you now have a working ubuntu command line running within android! however this isnt really much use so lets now get a more useful system running
How to Install TightVNCserver
This is by far the best program to install first off as it will let you access the GUI of Ubuntu as it run on your Desire S. (note this is already included in the 10.10 (V1 and V2) image there is no need to carry out this step)
0) Before you install any program first we need to update by typing
Code:
apt-get update
1) Now type “apt-get install tightvncserver” to install the VNC server.
it shall then as you if you wish to install the program etc etc say yes and it will install, simples.
How to Install LXDE (optional but recommended)
only need to carry out this step if you are using the 9.04 image
1) Type “apt-get install lxde” and ubuntu will do the rest
Set up TightVNCServer and fix keyboard issues
(note on the 10.10 image this step has been included already! so no need to carry it out)
Before we launch the TightVNCServer we much make changes the the xstartup file to change to it uses LXDE if we want this and also to fix a big issue with the android keyboard not being mapped correctly.
1) Start off by typing
Code:
cat > /root/.vnc/xstartup
To open the file we need to make changes in
2) Now type
Code:
#!/bin/sh
xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1
icewm &
lxsession
The last two lines you will only want to type if you have installed LXDE if you want to use XFCE leave these lines off. The line above this (export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1) is what is needed to fix the keyboard mapping.
3) Now press ctrl+D twice and then press enter to the save the file, we are now ready to start up the VNCServer!
Start TightVNCServer
Now we are ready to start the server and connect our phone or windows computer to the Ubuntu running within our phone! (This step is not needed in the new 10.10 V2 image VNCserver now auto starts)
1) Start off by typing
Code:
export USER=root
vncserver -geometry 1024×800
you can change the resolution settings 1024×800 to the resolution of your liking. I find 800x480 does work well but limts your work space so its up to you.
2)TightVNCServer will then ask you for a password to connect to it, fill this in and your server will be then ready to accept any incoming connection from your phone or computer! (on the 10.10 image it will not ask for this, the password is set to ubuntu)
Connect to VNC on your phone
1) download the free app Android-VNC-viewer
2) open the app and set your IP address to 127.0.0.1 ( set this to localhost in 10.10 V2) and port number 5901 (5900 in 10.10 V2)and enter the password you set before (or ubuntu on 10.10 images) to then connect.
If all works right you will have a working GUI!!!
Connect to VNC on your computer
1)Start by downloading the desktop version of TightVNC Here
and install it
2) Open the TightVNC Viewer from the start menu it will ask for your phones IP address, to find this type ifconfig in your ubuntu terminal it will display your IP.
3)Type this into TightVNC and remember to add the port 5901 (5900 in 10.10 V2), it will then ask you for the password ('ubuntu' on 10.10 image) , enter this and you should then have a fully working GUI on your computer!
FAQ
How does Ubuntu look on our phone?
Ubuntu 9.04
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Ubuntu 10.10
What is Ubuntu? and why would I want it on my phone
Ubuntu is a linux based operating system normally for the computer, however with this port we can run it on our phone, this allows you to pretty much install any software available for linux and run it on your phone.
What are the best settings for Android VNC Viewer?
I find full 24-bit colour works very well and there is no need to down step this, also Input Mode is best set to touchpad as the GUI is not very touch screen friendly when its this small! using touchpad makes the touch screen act just like the touch pad on a laptop and I find this very easy to use.
Updates
[15/12/11]
New 10.10 image
Included all updates as of today
Image resolution set by default to 800x480
[12/12/11]
New 10.10 image update
New built in script in Ubuntu to start vncserver and other services on boot
SD card is accessible from within Ubuntu
Image changed to 3.5GB to fit if you have a 4GB SD Card
The ubuntu boot scripts are now on easy to use script!
More working programs (including software centre etc)
Default desktop changed back to LXDE
More apps for 'developing'
Firefox, Thunderbird, openoffice.org suite, GIMP Image Editor, Emacs Text Editor (geared towards programming), C and C++ build-essential, Java JDK, Python, TeXlive and TeXmaker LaTeX editor, Transmission BitTorrent Client, eVince PDF Viewer, File Manager, Terminal, Image Viewer, Leafpad Text Editor, Synaptic Package Manager and Ubuntu Software Center with all repositories enabled (Ubuntu Software Center is pretty and well organized - but bloated and slow), SSH server, Gnash (GNU flash player/plugin for Firefox - as there is no official generla flash pluging for armel CPUs)
[23/11/11]
New 10.10 image
vncserver and bug fixes included in 10.10 image
New light weight UI in 10.10 image
4GB image size for plenty of app space
More programs should be working in the 10.10 image please test!!
New image all icons in GUI don't load Fixed in 10.10 image
New Firefox crashes on start up now fixed in 10.10 image
+More that I cant remember
[05/11/11]
Old 9.04 image readded for those that want working GUI until new image is fixed
[24/10/11]
Java install guide added
[23/10/11]
New 11.10 ubuntu 4GB image
Changed guide for new image
+MUCH more (will add later)
Bugs
At the moment to use the new 10.10 V2 image you have to carry out steps 7 to 8.5 each time in order to get into the GUI, which means the only way to use terminal for ubuntu is within the GUI, this isnt to bad as the build is now very stable
At the moment once you start ubuntu it seems to prevent the sdcard being mounted and as there is no way to shut down the ubuntu session you must reboot if you wish to mount the sdcard via usb
Java might still not be working right please test!!
Other Programs to Install
Ok so as I start working on testing more programs I will post here how well they work and what does and dosnt work. Most programs that run from terminal and don't require any hardware like wifi etc seem to work well!
JAVA SE FOR EMBEDDED
To install the Java version for arm open up the terminal and type the following lines of code
Code:
wget http://android.zpwebsites.com/java.tar.gz
This will download the java package from my server!
Once downloaded type
Code:
gunzip java.tar.gz
Code:
tar xvf java.tar
This will extract the java package into a folder called ejre1.6.0_27
then type
Code:
export JAVA_HOME=ejre1.6.0_27
Code:
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH
Java should then be completely installed, please test by typing
Code:
which java
Tips
Some android terminal emulators (e.g. better terminal) allow you to specify an initial command that is run as soon as you launch the application. Multiple initial commands can be defined by pressing return between each command when you define it, so for example the initial command:
Code:
su <return>
cd /sdcard/ubuntu <return>
sh ubuntu.sh <return>
This way to load the new 10.10 V2 image simply open the terminal emulator
Help Needed
I would love for people to test there fav linux programs, also anyone that knows alot about ubuntu/linux to help getting the image to run faster etc etc
:O OMG this is special xD
superkid said:
:O OMG this is special xD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im guessing your being sarcastic in which case, yes its the same as many guides across the internet however I could not find one for our phone, and the main purpose of this guide is for user to beable to find out what ROMs do work with it and hopefully create a better more user friendly ubuntu experience, after all when we can have around 300MB free ram why not use it for something like this?
I was not being sarcastic! its really special! UBUNTU ON A PHONE! i am downloading right now!
superkid said:
I was not being sarcastic! its really special! UBUNTU ON A PHONE! i am downloading right now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AH alright then I hope that maybe more kernels will be produced that have loop support so this will work on more ROMS
main download link now up!!
you can download ubuntu.zip here
will def check this out
What is Ubuntu? Linux?
(Sorry for the noobie question)
shrome99 said:
What is Ubuntu? Linux?
(Sorry for the noobie question)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
an operative system,it is free
anyway
finally,i m waiting this for a long time
Can i use the xda kitchen with this??
or anyway is it possible to cook rom on this ubuntu?
thanks
shrome99 said:
What is Ubuntu? Linux?
(Sorry for the noobie question)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a linux distro see http://www.ubuntu.com/
However please note for the time being the ubuntu we can use is 9.10 I will look to upgrade this soon mind you!
So, it's an OS for a Computer, like Windows?
shrome99 said:
So, it's an OS for a Computer, like Windows?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
indeed its a compete OS that we can run within android on our phones! lots of programs are included and you can install more, but the likes of firefox works very well
Is it worth installing this instead of normal ROM ? I mean, what special can be done that can't be done with normal ROM ?
Is it possible to use this for everyday usage ? Is it possible to call with it ?
adridu59 said:
Is it worth installing this instead of normal ROM ? I mean, what special can be done that can't be done with normal ROM ?
Is it possible to use this for everyday usage ? Is it possible to call with it ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the moment you have to still install a normal ROM as this runs within android, the only requirements for the ROM is for it to have loop device support which the roms listed in the first post have that i know of.
People in the HTC HD2 forum where able to get ubuntu running without android being installed, it has also been done on the nexus s, my next steps will be to try and port this.
But for now this just runs within android calling etc is still done in android
Is my servers (the main link) download speed ok? or would your rather i uploaded it to multiupload?
I am a long-standing Linux user, so this is good! Do you have a screenshot of Ubuntu running? I am trying to work out how the GUI will scale on our phones.
Doesn't work using Zulugen 1.1.3 with CM7 kernel... :/
i m having issue with keyboard
do i need tightvnc every boot?
Hello, I have a Micromax Funbook tablet with ICS running on it. It's got a 1.2Ghz Cortex A8 and 512MB RAM.
I wanted to increase my productivity, so I found some ways to run linux on android.
But now I'm confused and want to know which out of the three methods listed below, is the best and most efficient way to run linux on android:
1. Using the VPN
2. Using Bochs or QEMU
3. Using chroot
I'm not sure what is meant by "VPN", but the other two are vastly different.
Bochs and Qemu will emulate a CPU architecture, like x86. You'd most likely need this if you wanted to run something closed-source on Linux, since most commercial Linux software is compiled for x86 and not ARM (Cortex A8). It would be dog-slow doing this on a mobile device.
If you're just wanting the OS and open source software (KDE, Firefox, etc.), you'd be better off setting up a chroot. The software in this case would be communicating directly to the same Linux kernel that's running Android, so it would be much faster. It would limit you to using that kernel as well, which may or may not be a problem for your project. You'll need a distribution that is compatible with your CPU. I believe there's a Debian branch for ARM.
p.s. When I say "commercial Linux software", I should probably specify I meant commercial software compatible with GNU/Linux, because Android apps are also Linux software. Linux is the kernel. GNU or Android is the rest of the OS. Praise be to RMS and all that.
The VPN method
humanophile said:
I'm not sure what is meant by "VPN"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The VPN method is this(It requires three files: ubuntu.img, ubuntu.sh and ubuntu.sh.md5):
Make a folder named Ubuntu on your SD card and transfer them there.
Finally open up termial emulator and type "su" then hit enter
Next type "cd sdcard/ubuntu"
After that type " sh ubuntu.sh"
(ignore the warning) Then go and open up Android VNC.
Address: localhost ((or keep empty, it may work better for some that way))
Password: ubuntu
Port: 5900
BPP 24
You're all set!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the VPN method is similar to chroot.
Bochs consumes high cpu
Hi,
I am using bochs to run tinycore linux on my Micromax Funbook Infinity, but it uses almost 89% of cpu. I there any way to lower the utilization? My device heats up fast.
Thanks
Hello,
I would like to know where I can get some info about installing Ubuntu / Debian 7 on my X86 tablet device.
Tablet uses an Intel Atom Z2560CPU.
If possible I would like any of the following possibilities:
Possibility one:
Run Android along with Debian (something like chroot)
Possibility two:
Erase Android from the device (currently installed) and make a fresh Debian install.
Possibility three:
Dual Boot with Debian and Android.
The hard part is that the tablet device doesn't have any kind of BIOS (at least one accessible to the user)!
I already tried multiple apps (to run Linux distro's) from the Play Store, but nothing seems to work.
Presently I have the machine with Android 4.0.4 rooted.
What do I need? Where can I find some documentation?
Thank you
It can also be some other Linux distro.
Thank you
Hi,
I want to use an old Galaxy S3 as a kind of linux server. I saw that gnuroot debian installs a chroot environment. Now I need to advise on three basic things
- Howto strip a factory ROM on the PC
- Howto include the app in the new custom rom
- Howto autostart the linux chroot whenever the android device is rebooted?
Or is there even a way to skip android and boot into a linux rootfs directly?? -> Since I'm looking for no fancy stuff (dont need display, touch, camera, phone, sound) and this will be a headless machine this should be doable??
I have an issue installing any OS other than windows on a Linx 1020 Tablet. It is locked with secure boot which is I am unable to disable and insall anything. I want to install Linux on to it. Can someone help me out. Thanks
Look inside here:
8 Lightweight Linux Distros Ideal for Intel Atom Processor PCs
Don't let your Atom-powered laptop gather dust. Install a lightweight Linux distro and enjoy mobile computing once again!
www.makeuseof.com
How to install Linux on the tablet is explained here:
HOWTO: Install Linux on a Linx 1010B Tablet
What’s Working? Equipment Required Considering Dual-Boot Ensuring you can go Back to Windows Later Preparing for the Install Installing Fedora Reverting your USB Stick to Normal Post-Install Notes Other Setups Other Desktop Environments Ubuntu Ubuntu 20.04.3 Later Versions: Ubuntu 20.04.4—22.10...
ianrenton.com
I have, but i still cannot disable secure boot.
With the tablet connected to the keyboard change the settings you require in the secure boot screen then press F10 on the keyboard. This allows the new settings to be saved. I have already tried MXLinux and Lubuntu with no joy so far. mainly autorotation not working or wifi. Good luck.