Database Info

Noob Dictionary

So I am stealing this from another forum, hopefully it will cut down on some of the repeated threads. Copy and pasted to reduce the strain on my brain and typing.
Stolen from the Sprint Hero board on AndroidForums.com - Props to PDragon for typing it all. I have slightly modififed.
ROM - Read Only Memory
While the term has changed a bit from it's original meaning, it's essentially computer memory that does not require power to store it's data (non-volitile). In the sense of a smartphone like the Hero, it's the Internal Memory where the OS is stored. From what I've gathered, the Internal Memory is just Flash Memory (a special type of ROM) partitioned into two parts, one for the OS and the rest for apps to use. So, the OS partition essentially is true ROM, unless you root the phone. The software that groups like xda-developers make available are called ROMs because they're a ROM Image.
For the Hero this size is 512MB.
SDcard is a larger capacity external Flash Memory card.
Recovery Rom - I would assume enough said, but. This is the recovery partition of the phone for when things go bad, typically how you will load your ROM packages, some times refered to as "Update.zip" files.
Vanilla Rom
All the fancy bells and whistles have been pulled out so that its as minimalist as possible, users can then build on this for their own custom setup.
RAM - Random Access Memory
This is where current processes that are running are stored and keep the data they need immediately available to them. This is the memory you see when you run any of the Task Managers showing you currently running apps and the available memory. It's a completely different part of the phone from the Internal Memory discussed above. Data stored in RAM requires constant power and does not survive a power cycle of the phone (volitile).
For the Hero this is 288MB.
Root
This is the term being thrown around for modifying a smartphone to put custom software on it that normally wouldn't be allowed through means included with the phone (Android Market or an .apk file for a non-Market app). "Root" is the common term chosen because, in a Unix environment, the "root" user has complete and total control of the entire operating system of the computer. So, "rooting" the phone means taking complete control over its operating system. This is usually done by means of finding a flaw somewhere in the phone's firmware to allow access to the restricted Internal Memory where the OS resides. You then install a custom ROM (see above) to let you use your phone from then on.
Android is a bit more unique than any of the previous smartphones in that you don't really need "approval" from a higher power (ex, the Apple store) to install an app that hasn't made it onto the Market. Just uncheck the box Settings -> Application settings -> Unknown sources and you're free to install any .apk file you wish. So Android phones are more like a regular computer in that you're free to install whatever software you want from whichever source you want. Just be careful of where you get apps from outside of official Market sources. Also like a regular computer, you could open yourself up to having your personal data stolen.
Rooting still gives some advantages for power users, but for normal or even intermediate users, you probably don't need to root the phone to enjoy it as much as you'd have needed to for previous smartphones.
For further discussion, please see our Developer Forums.
Tethering
This is the term used for using your phone as an Internet access point to allow an attached computer to access the Internet. It turns your phone into a mobile modem. Please don't discuss Tethering here. See the thread Does Tethering work? to discuss this further.
*Let me know if we should add other terms. Maybe a MOD can stickie this.*

but where are the guides

jtadeo said:
but where are the guides
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think all of the guides have been Stickied on the first page of the board. Do you need one in particular??

At the bottom of the main forum is a dictionary for anyone to use. I don't see the point in this unless it is made for lazy people that just want what they want now and can't take time to research.

tdavis42 said:
At the bottom of the main forum is a dictionary for anyone to use. I don't see the point in this unless it is made for lazy people that just want what they want now and can't take time to research.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you think we would have as many of the new user questions repeated over and over if they did take time and do the research? Think not... You must have some real faith in humanity if you think people won't take the easy way out if it is offered. Hence my copy and paste from another forum.

What was a SDcard? and I'm not understanding the concept or RAM....
hahaha, just joking..
Nice work, I'm sure this will come in handy for some folks!

for all other definitions check out : http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Glossary

N0J said:
What was a SDcard? and I'm not understanding the concept or RAM....
hahaha, just joking..
Nice work, I'm sure this will come in handy for some folks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not making fun of anyone, I have been there my self. But I have seen the above questions on other forums! lol.
I must say XDA members tend to be a little ahead of the learning curve.

Search Button!
jtadeo said:
but where are the guides
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Search button is your FRIEND!!!

Kcarpenter said:
I am not making fun of anyone, I have been there my self. But I have seen the above questions on other forums! lol.
I must say XDA members tend to be a little ahead of the learning curve.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, yeah
xda is good
jjjjayd13 said:
Search button is your FRIEND!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but the search button is terrible, lol
I've even seen a disclaimer on a mod's signature saying that it sucks and to use google, haha!

[mod] How to reduce the threshold for displaying “Low on Space” warnings

or: How to avoid rejected text message errors with lots of free space available
Background:
This post helped me a bunch and alleviated my issue with lost text messages due to "low space" errors. I'm using cMTD + eFOS [forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/8711-read-this-recovery-and-installing-cyanogenmod6-firerats-cmtd-ennons-fso-gapps/] + magpie [forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/9731-magpie-2010-12-07] on my nexus one and my "low space" threshold jumped from ~20mb (stock) up to ~40mb with all the mods. Clearly 40mb is more than enough space for receiving text messages [hell 20mb was more than enough, but I digress...]. Since my internal memory is much, much larger than default (~320mb on /data) I've set my threshold to 2% of the total space available instead of the 5% suggested in the post. At this ratio that drops my "low space" threshold down to ~10mb which is what I would expect it to be at by default.
So if you're having issues and need a real solution that isn't "just remove some of your apps so you have more free space" then try this mod. I would suggest making a copy of settings.db just in case you need to go back to default, but really there isn't much that you could break by doing this. Keep in mind that the number you're changing is a percentage and not a fixed number value, so mileage will vary from device to device. Play with the numbers and see what works best for you. The way I tested it was dropping a bunch of dummy files (actually just multiple copies of an .apk, don't forget to delete these when you're done testing ^_~) into /data/local/tmp until the free space message was displayed, then texted myself using gVoice [voice.google.com] and altered the threshold percentage until I got to a comfortable level.
As a side note, it would be *awesome* if there was an option in the Settings > CyanogenMod Settings menu that let us alter this value through a gui so we don't need adb. I would do it, but I have no confidence in my java programming skills =p *hint hint*
Anywho on to the meat of this post...
---------------------
Low on Space – Phone storage space is getting low.
Its a cursed message on my Android HTC Hero, but there is 16MB free on /data partition! I want my email to sync a bit more and I want to receive text messages and I dont want to delete any apps.
You need to have rooted your android device and have the android sdk installed and debugging enabled on your phone. I might package this recipe up into an apk for easy installation.
The default limit is 10% of free space, i’ve reduced mine to 5%, I don’t know if there are any terrible side effects. As you’ve already rooted your phone you’ve already probably voided your warranty
To reduce from 10% to 5% warning from your “adb shell”:
Code:
# sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db
sqlite> insert into secure (name, value) VALUES('sys_storage_threshold_percentage','5');
sqlite> insert into gservices (name, value) VALUES('sys_storage_threshold_percentage','5');
sqlite> .quit
# reboot
*** don't include the # or sqlite>, those are the console prompts... ***
Some firmwares seem to look for the setting in gservices but the latest android source looks like it looks for it in the secure settings, so i’ve included both for good measure.
---------------------
Note:
reposted (with a few edits) from [bryars.eu/2010/10/how-to-reduce-the-threshold-for-low-on-space-android-warnings/]
Disclaimer:
This is not my work / information / blog, but since it was a huge help to me and I couldn't find the information anywhere else I thought I'd post it here for others to use ^^
Additional information:
If you want more information or a gui to edit the settings.db file, use adb to pull the file from /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db, edit settings.db using a program like SQlite db browser [blog.dreamcss.com/dev-tools/sqlite-database-browser/], then push the file back to the phone using adb and reboot.

Sorry for reviving an old thread but this is an excellent find, especially on my S-Off Desire when the phone complains about the lack of space at 30 MB!

Apps won't install or update, insufficient storage, 200MB free
Same here, sorry for reviving the thread, maybe I should have started a new one, but this topic has half the answer... this works perfect to stop the notification, but...
I still get the "Insufficient storage available." notification when I try to update or install an app.
I've looked around and searched here and on Google
I have the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, with 2GB for /data, so it still has 200MB free. I know I've gone app crazy with over 200 apps installed, but that's not the point. I plan to organize and thin them out once I get some time to see which ones I want to stick with, but since there is plenty of space left, that shouldn't be a problem.
This is not related to the other issues I found on the forum (like this one or this one), and I know I can gain some space back by clearing caches and obviously by removing some apps or getting an sd card and moving apps to it. That's not the correct solution, those are all just workarounds.
Any ideas? Based on this topic, it would make sense that there is another key I can add to the database somewhere to lower the same threshold but for installing/updating apps.

@WebGuru, I am also interested in finding a way to lower the point at which my device start telling me insufficient storage. My S-OFF HTC Desire with custom HBOOT has 387MB /data and therefore I get insufficient storage prompts when I have ~35MB of space remaining. Most annoying. I've applied the DB update and I confirm it silences the notification only.
If I find anything useful I'll post it here.
Regards, Martin.

From what I understand the problem with app installs is due to the free space threshold value being hard coded into some aspect of the ROM itself and therefore no DB value exists nor can be created which will allow for adjustments. The issue would have to be taken into account by the ROM developer or by someone willing to hunt down the values and create a custom build with the appropriate fix.

I agree with WebGuru, the topic is still relevant and I have LG G2 5.0.1 16 GB version and have free ~500 MB and receiving insufficient memory. . . Has anyone knows any ROM files for solving this problem?

stupid low storage threshold value
Coolguy981 said:
I agree with WebGuru, the topic is still relevant and I have LG G2 5.0.1 16 GB version and have free ~500 MB and receiving insufficient memory. . . Has anyone knows any ROM files for solving this problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think it is still relevant too, because i still experience on several modern devices.
the only possibility i found after hours and hours of crawling the web is to change value sys_storage_threshold_percentage and/or
sys_storage_threshold_max_bytes in /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db which would be easy enought to do, if this settings.db would still be used and would not be deprecated by now (as far as i have understood).
based on the information i found the standard value is "10" for the percentage which for our modern devices nowadays is unnecessary much. additionally it is quite iphone-y imo to force this value on us without an easy possibliity to customize it to our own preferences/use cases, but that's another story of course. ^^
i would really appreciate any information, suggestion or help on this issue, i am quite desperate by now and have no more ideas where to look or what to try.
thx and greetz,
sUsH667

Linux Installer 3.3 is out

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.galoula.LinuxInstall
New every thing. Redesign of everything every where, rewite of all English parts, many bug fixes.
What for ? install Debian using debootstrap in chroot, and use your Android device like if you had installed Linux on a standard computer.
Bugs shall be reported to [email protected] .
Misc questions about how to use and feature request and general discussions to [email protected]
Market description:
This application will allow you to install a complete Debian distribution in your Android device. Based on chroot, it will perform a standard debootstrap and install a legacy Debian so that you can install, and run any classic Linux command, tool, daemon or service.
The package has few limitations; it is not restricted to Debian; we already offer the choice to use Ubuntu, and will add more distributions in close future. Each distribution is available in several tastes (stable, testing ...). It will not require to reboot; chroot is run inside Android. Installation can be done on any storage device, either on SD card, or inernal memory; no need to repartition any thing, run mkfs or fdisk. We do with what you let use. If you have almost nothing, the package will manage with almost nothing; if you can afford for a large ext4 partition on your SD card, the package will be happy to use it.
It will allow you to install all classic LAMP services like Apache, MySql, PHP, Samba, Netatalk, or just any classic Linux tool like vim, xterm, aterm, Abiword, Firefox, dillo, wget, cron, Perl, Python ... just everything.
Package utilisation will require a rooted device.
Reasons to install this package can not be listed. Just too many: want a cron daemon ? want to have gcc inside your phone ? want to recompile some kernel driver because the legacy Android driver for your Wi-Fi card has is bogus or limited ? want to use vim, or the real full featured desktop ls, ip, nmap, or top commands ? this package will give you all this for free, and much much more.
Requierments:
- an Android device based on some Linux kernel
- a rooted environment
- 300M free space
That's all.
Optionnal registration on our website, http://android.galoula.com/LinuxInstall/Register.php , will allow you to use advanced management features, and install package from within the application interface. You will not need to type any strange command in any terminal. And you will be able to make some services start automaticly at phone boot, and/or application start.
Online documentation: http://android.galoula.com/en/LinuxInstall/
Quick installation guide: http://android.galoula.com/en/LinuxInstall/QuickTutorial.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Free space must be on sd-card or phone memory?

Both accepted You choose where to install.
500M by default on SD card using loop method (on ext2 or fat). Down to 180M using the directory method (does not work on FAT).

thanks for this man.

Sorry if this is a noob question but will this in any way brick/soft brick my device?
Sent from my GT540RR using XDA App

Yes, it can.
But this app is underdevelopment since almost two years, and nobody ever bricked yet. I have written a very long complete tutorial, where I say what you should NOT do. I could easily tell you how to brick in 5 steps.
But we have been working very hard on default settings, to make default settings as much safe as possible.
There are many bugs, many known bugs; but 99.999% bugs will just make the chroot not work. Data loss is very rare. Data loss was highly probable in previous version 3.2 . But default settings are now safer. And if you do not do what we claim to be dangerous ... you are safe.
The most frequent case with 3.2 was complete wipe of /sdcard and /data . This have been fixed.
We never ran into wipe of /system until now. Never bricked.
And since Galoula and me are working on it, we are the most exposed ones. We test every single feature, in all possible situations. And when we find a wipe case, we repro it dozen time until we understand why, and how to fix, so that it won't happen to YOU.
3.3 is way safer than 3.2. And nobody reported wipe on 3.2 ...
But if you blindely clik any where, yes it can. And if I tell you where to click, you can brick in 5 steps for sure And it won't be a soft brick. I promise a good real brick where even HTC will be in trouble to repair it It's explained in the tutorial.

Wow. Thanks for the reply. At least i have an idea now. Is the tut on the app itself? I'll nake sure to read it very carefully coz i wanna learn all about this stuff
Sent from my GT540RR using XDA App

A not so short tuto is inside; but since most mobile devices have only one screen, you may want to read the online tuto on your computer: http://android.galoula.com/en/LinuxInstall/
Default settings are safe. Just follow the guide.

Will go ahead and read this tut. I'll make sure to give feedback. Thanks for paying attention to this noob
Sent from my GT540RR using XDA App

this is just great, are there any videos or screen shots?
edit: nevermind i just checked the market

Feel free to send us screen shots; I am not good at doing that (i can to shots, but I don't know what could be nice to upload).
We would apreciate shots of working (of course ) VNC clients connected to server running localy, or local consoles (like Connectbot) doing funny things.
Send to support. Thanks.

Spent the whole weekend on this...
I'm trying o get an X- GUI on the Samsung Captivate, (hope i said that right) like Ubuntu so i can VNC to a linux desktop environment. I'm on FASTY and wondering why I keep running into refusal of connection. I have the password and localhost as well as the port correct. I've lost sleep on making this work. Can anyone help...?

You question is somehow off topic.
You seem to have a basic VNC connexion issue.
Could not help without deeper description. And I rarely use VNC, i have very low experience.
First point: do you have free space in the distro ? depending on installation method, and what you installed, you may have run out of disk space (especially Ubuntu, uses lot more than Legacy Debian).
The distribution manager is still beta AOT. It may report the VNC service to be up and running, when it could not rally run. First thing to check is: is it up ?
- from local machine, to ps, and check if process is up
- from remote machine, just scan your IP for the device. VNC should be port 5800 or 5900, forgot which one.
Your VNC password is *NOT* your distribution password. VNC password need to be set at a different place (this is VNC specific; VNC is not UNIX, and never claimed to be fully a *UNIX "merged" service*).
Never used VNC in LinuxInstaller. Never yet. Not enough time to test it. We take report, and will test only major and frequent issues. We have many "easy success" reports, so, we don't worry about it. We have much more issues about rooting (getting root on phone), and starting debootstrap; this is what we focus on.
Make sure you have enough free space (at least 50M free left), then join any Debian or Ubuntu forum. They will ask you if you have a CLI; you shall use either adb shell, or connectbot. Fact you are in a chroot is not an issue, chrooting is not frequent for debian users, chrooting is the normal procedure to install Gentoo; and all debootstrap users use chroot daily; forums should not reject you for this reason. As long as you have a CLI.
Good luck.

Lost me fast...
Sorry..but you lost me, and FAST! I really don't have the terminology down...but I do have the Linux 3.3 Installer running properly...it indicates so. I was assuming that this would allow me to somehow load Ubuntu on my Captivate..as I've seen on some screen shots...I guess I'm just lost...a little knowledge is dangerous...I have a little. Just enough to accomplish the basics..but the vernacular is LOST to me. Guess I'll have to wait for the Ubuntu apk...thanks for trying...

I've got this errors...(see attached files).
I have busybox 1.19, connectbot and the superuser (v2.3.6.3 and su binary v2.3.2, the latest from the maket)...
What can I do?

you guys are still lucky.your able to make it work...
im running the ongoing cm7 2.3.5 on moto defy...
kernel is not supporting this yet.

hailmary what's missing in your kernel ? I don't know any Android that won't have ext2 in; if you have an Android without any ext2 filesystem, please contact me in private, I know it could be done, and I would be VERY CURIOUS to see how HTC did it.
If you are missing loop support in kernel, try block or directory method. Blocck will require ext2; directory won't (but will work only over ext FS ... so ... unless you can use NFS )
dugryce , ScumpinatoS, I will come back later (maybe today, maybe not).

ScumpinatoS said:
I've got this errors...(see attached files).
I have busybox 1.19, connectbot and the superuser (v2.3.6.3 and su binary v2.3.2, the latest from the maket)...
What can I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reading the first message, you as, as said, a CPU issue. What's your CPU ? device model ?
run in some console:
uname -a
which tail
Application could not load viable environment to work; it is an issue, but it can be fixed. I can help digging, but I won't give you any solution. Send an email to Galoula; the bug report system via the console should work for you.

doublehp said:
Reading the first message, you as, as said, a CPU issue. What's your CPU ? device model ?
run in some console:
uname -a
which tail
Application could not load viable environment to work; it is an issue, but it can be fixed. I can help digging, but I won't give you any solution. Send an email to Galoula; the bug report system via the console should work for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a Huawei Ideos CPU: MSM7225 without GPU.

I am use it and try install Ubuntu Natty but after download all deb package i get error installation, "issue binary, try other version"
Can someone help me what distro (Ubuntu/Debian) and what version of it that have installed succesfully.. please...
Sent from my GT-S5570 using XDA App

Attaining root on Crystalview (Wondermedia) NB4-3/5788

Believe it or not, this netbook comes already rooted, but how to access it is hidden. The original adventure is posted below if you're interested,but I'll put the tl;dr up top.
You'll need to side load the app USB Debug by tatibana. This will shortcut to the hidden developer options. Slide the developer options on. You may or may not need to reboot, I was too focused on USB Debug to notice the SuperUser Options... The default is Always Deny. Set to Always Allow, then you can replace with your choice su manager (I installed Chainfire's SuperSU).
That's it. The rest below is my original posts up to this point, including getting a Linux working prior to figuring out root. Enjoy the read.
Edit 2: You can pick up new posts from this point by going directly to post #11.
Original Post:
---
Okay, this one is a bit puzzling and I haven't found any good info in searches. This is an Android netbook with Jellybean. Pointer control is a single point touch pad which makes zooming out on several apps impossible; I wish to attain root so I can install desktop Linux in parallel and use some desktop apps in place of some Android apps. I know I could use something like qemu but I'd rather install root and use arm binaries than take a performance hit using non-root methods.
This netbook comes with an installed su binary and busybox 1.19.4 but trying to invoke su results in
su: uid 10084 not allowed to su
Settings is also a bit crippled; no Developer Options section means no option to invoke USB Debugging. Anyone have any good ideas?
---
Sent from my C5155 using XDA Free mobile app

addendum
There also is no physical volume or photo buttons, and no obvious way to get into fastboot mode. My guess is that the original OS image was made in root mode, then the CV dev created a default user with almost no permissions, then backed it out effectively locking it out of root forever. I have also discovered that the busybox doesn't have access to the network as this user 10084, negating half its usability. No Play Store either (using Amazon instead), though I can (and have) install to my phone and copy to this if necessary.
This has a cool little form factor and I think has so much potential for a cheap device if I could just bust this major barrier. Does anyone know any sh or setuid tricks that might fake this thing into a root mode, or at least manage to give me enough permissions to edit /system files?
system seems to be owned by user 1003 and group 120, if that helps.
---

Mmmmmm, tasty foot...
So apparently this is normal behavior for the stock android su (see guys, I'm learning >P ); only the user shell (and root) can use su. This thing using a shared uid for apps might or might not have an effect, don't know yet. The normal way around it is to adb shell and su in, then overwrite with a custom su binary such as ChainsDD. I don't know if I have that option since there's no USB Debugging option, and I'm too tired to find out tonight. I will update this adventure later.

USB failed, but not anything to do with adb, didn't even get that far. The netbook failed to even register to the desktop (Linux)... lsusb didn't show anything. I don't know if it's a cable thing (tried direct A-A patch and the MiniUSB charge port- charge port predictably didn't support data and neither standard port showed any reaction) or a hardware limitation.
I also took a crack at adb over wifi but as usual it was the catch 22 of needing root to invoke adbd into tcpip to attain root.
Still open to suggestions... please?
---
Sent from my C5155 using XDA Free mobile app

Developer Options?
This is driving me up a new wall. Based on what I have been reading all day, Developer Options are a core function and cannot be removed, only hidden. This thing has not been giving me much confidence in that statement, however. I have been through the settings over and over again with a fine tooth comb and the whole thing eludes me.
This is Android 4.1.1. The 4.2+ trick (7 clicks on Build Number) doesn't work, and it's not in the App settings either, nor is there any sections renamed "Advanced" or the like. It may not be an end-all but I feel it would at least be a step in the right direction. I might be able to use an exploit such as Poot or Framearoot, which are currently ineffective.
I also haven't had any luck with getting into a recovery boot mode, not sure it's possible with this keyboard (I suspect it's soft driven; inactive until the kernel and modules are loaded). This seems to be just one shut down after another. I need more ideas, pointers, whatever. Don't forget, it can also help the next sap stuck with this model...

I decided to not lose sight of my original reasoning and move forward anyway with an app that claims to install Linux without root. I installed Gnuroot Wheezy which taught me some more f'd up things about this netbook but it at least in concept is working. What more things I have learned...
One of the issues with running Linux without root is the inability to use the external SD-card, at least native, because you can't mount an external partition/file that hasn't already been set up in the mount scripts outside of userspace. Gnuroot uses a chroot off the secure asec in /data. With about 3G user space available on this netbook, you'd think that wouldn't be a problem... but it is, because of another setup issue with this netbook...
See, while the external SD card does mount to /sdcard,/mnt/sdcard, that is NOT where Android app setup calls SDcard... there is a so called internal SDcard that is really a fake vfat via fuse mount off /data mounted to /mnt/local. This means it does no good to move my plethora of other apps to the "SD Card," actually, it makes the problem worse on this device. I imagine it was done so you could swap SD cards without affecting your apps, good move for flexibility but poor for expandability.
For those who would try it, that's also a big hint for getting it working. This device does not have access to the Play market*, so you will have to move helper apps from another Android device over. Don't bother with 3rd party repositories, you will not get everything you need. The biggest issue is the WheezyX obb file. It on install ONLY from the Play store will be located in /sdcard/Android/obb/champion.gnuroot.wheezyx/main.2.champion.gnuroot.wheezyx.obb , on this netbook the file must be moved to /mnt/local/Android/obb/champion.gnuroot.wheezyx or it will not be recognized, and because of the play store issue, can't be downloaded and gnuroot will exit with error.
Anyway, so now WheezyX is actually running and I am attempting to install an Openbox/LXDE desktop... the problem I am hitting now is the space limitation... It said it needed about 330 MB space and I had 360MB available on start... I'm now about 1/4 through and the netbook has come to a dead crawl due to... yep, very little space left (about 55 MB free on /data)... WTF! I feel like I am just not meant to win at like anything...
---
*Edit: Once rooted, the play store can be installed to the system partition and does work pretty good.
---
Sent from my C5155 using XDA Free mobile app

Some success with Linux
Well, it took quite a bit of monkeying and persistence but I do have desktop Linux running via the above described method. I found Synaptic was useful for finding packages but as the GNURoot author warned, for the love of all that's holy, use apt-get to actually install the packages. It seems trying to install a desktop environment via Synaptic totally overthrew the system. Also try installing only a few packages at a time and clean up after each one, especially where space is a premium.
What's left now is experimenting with vnc viewers a/o X11 environments. I'm presently using PocketCloud but it doesn't seem to like this keyboard (right shift = 6, no down arrow, Ctrl is sticky- forget combo keys; at least the included soft-keyboard does work, just a productivity killer) and getting a right mouse click is almost impossible, so I want to see if I can do better.
The environment is OpenBox with lxpanel and the background is set with qiv. I am confident now that providing space wasn't such an issue I could run pretty much any basic Linux program I want. I have not tested audio and I already know just being vncserver that motion video is a bad idea; this was mostly proof of concept until I can open up some space. I may now see how far I can take this (e.g. link large trees to the SD card, such as bin directories; since it's already running fake-root, I'm not too worried about user permissions. I may also experiment with fuse).
Edit:
This does not mean I don't still want to get a true root. If nothing else, even if I can't take Linux off the internal storage, root will allow me to force Android apps on to the external SD; either solves the current space issue and thus is still desirable. I'm just not as stuck in the mud now. Ideas still very much appreciated.
Done and done.

Just a quick update to say the project isn't dead, just dormant. I have successfully turned on USB debugging thanks to a shortcut app called "USB Debug" by Tatibana. Thank you
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Framaroot, Universal Androot, and Poot have all failed.
:banghead:
Have yet to see if physical USB will now work... I don't exactly live alone.
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SUCCESS!!!!!
IDFBT! I must have not been paying enough attention before or something, or maybe it was one of the half dozen greyed out options before... not sure, but after I was again unable to connect via direct USB, I decided to double check the developer options to make sure noting was reset by the last reboot.... and there in bright white last in the top section... Superuser Options (set to Always Deny)! I set it to Ask and tested, but it promptly rebooted as soon as I tried to su, and again on that boot, so I had to set to Always Allow. Amazon doesn't have SuperSU and last I knew ChainsDD Superuser is still adrift in the doldrums, so I'll have to sideload (as usual), but, I just wanted to share. This netbook does come rooted, you just need to turn on the hidden developer options, reboot, and go back and allow SuperUser.
Will report more as I progress. Banzai!!!

Adventures in Linux land
Well, I had mentioned before how space was an issue. Thanks in part to Link2SD, I managed to curb that problem.
Problem still though was my base graphical Linux install was taking 1G of my /data space. Since I made 2G available on the Link2SD ext4 (/data/sdext2) partition, I found I had about 1.3G available after moving most apps over, I decided I'd try a manual data move. I was slow with this since I didn't know how Link2SD or the system was going to handle it. That turned out to be a good thing.
When using Link2SD, one thing that should be obvious is to never move essential apps off the internal storage. These would be things like Link2SD itself, a Terminal emulator, and your superuser manager (e.g. SuperSU); basically, things you absolutely cannot lose access to even temporarily.
Okay, so, to test the behavior, I went into the emulator..
su
cd /data/sdext2
mkdir Linux
That's all. I then did a normal power off and restart. When rebooting, an "Android is Updating..." box came up and went away in a few seconds. The launcher came up and I waited for everything to load normally. Then I started getting a rash of "App is not installed" messages... uh oh. The only reason this turned out to not be a big deal is Link2SD and SuperSU were still on internal storage, and Link2SD is designed to deal with this problem. I simply launched Link2SD, clicked the tab bar on the upper left, and selected "Relink all application files," after which it requested a reboot, and I complied.
With a semi-disaster averted, I went back into /data/sdext2 to see if the Linux directory was still there. Hallelujah it was. Next was finding the GNURoot wheezyx root. This turned out to be fairly easy:
/data/data/champion.gnuroot/app_install/roots/wheezyx . I decided for potential future expansion to move the whole roots directory. Being cautious as I try, I do a copy.
su
cd /data/data/champion.gnuroot/app_install
cp -a roots /data/sdext2/Linux/
(... go make a sammich ...)
rm -R roots
(... go make and eat dinner ...)
ln -s /data/sdext2/Linux/roots roots
This appeared to work at first, until I tried to install something (abiword). I discovered that the permissions were not copied to the lib directories (android security quirk?). This would probably not be an issue if this were a true root install but being a fake root app install, it effectively prevented the installation of libraries. This was fixed simply by doing a chown and chmod on the lib directories.
Contined from above:
cd roots/wheezyx
chown 10102.10102 lib
chmod 771 lib
chown 10102.10102 usr/lib
chmod 771 usr/lib
*note: the app id number may be different on your copy. This will be fairly obvious with a simple ls -lh .
After that, the install completed and this thing is running pretty good. I am now considering this a complete success. While technically solved, I'll keep this thread open for questions or updates (for as long as the mods don't mind).
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Screencap op
Assuming the uploads work this time, attached are some screencaps. Enjoy.

Need to reduce ram reserved by Android...

I remember there's an closed module for this, but since I couldn't get xposed to work with/on magisk for Max 3, I hope to found another solution.
I want to keep certain apps in memory because their loading time is way to long. Changing NICE is one way, but essentially most phones are too aggressive on preserving memory, and the size of the android OS doesn't help at all.

You should post your full device name or at least the android device version you are running to find a meaningful answer.