Linux distro on the Nexus 7 - Nexus 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi everyone,
I consider buying a this nice little tablet I just wonder if anyone managed to install a complete Linux distribution on it like ArchLinux ARM natively (not emulation/virtualization not even chroot) with everything working. I guess that even if it's not done up to now it will be quite easy to do as everything is open source.
Thanks

So as a few months passed since the Nexus 7 is available and I just bought one yesterday, I thought that I could do a little up...
Hope mods won't think it is offensive to make alive an old thread with some kind of what I think is a good reason.
If no one can help me, I will probably work on a native ArchLinux ARM on my nice new tablet in the next days. But first I have to make sure I can get it back fully stock from a fully rooted/unlocked/repartitioned state. If I have no choice I will dd my entire N7's internal memory to a slightly bigger USB stick to recreate exactly the partition table. But I am not sure I can have a complete access to the internal flash memory (all of the partitions with the boot loader, recovery etc). If someone can confirm if I have only one memory drive or more to backup or if there is no chance that I cannot recrate then entire Android stock system from a corrupted partition table for example... I would appreciate it right!
Thanks in advance!
Sorry if this is already answered I have to confess that I didn't search for the last part, I don't have time this morning.
Sent from my Nexus 7

Yeah installing Linux on the N7 has been done. I think the Ubuntu Distro is the one that was used for the successful install.
I did a little searching and found it for you:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1585009
Hope that helps

Wilks3y said:
Yeah installing Linux on the N7 has been done. I think the Ubuntu Distro is the one that was used for the successful install.
I did a little searching and found it for you:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1585009
Hope that helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer but I was looking for a native installation, not a chroot if possible that I can use hardware
acceleration (maybe that I still could with virtualGL though).
It is already a good point that it has been done in chroot, wich I am not surprised.
Sent from my Nexus 7

johnride said:
Thanks for your answer but I was looking for a native installation, not a chroot if possible that I can use hardware
acceleration (maybe that I still could with virtualGL though).
It is already a good point that it has been done in chroot, wich I am not surprised.
Sent from my Nexus 7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest mate, I'm not into it all that deep, couldn't even tell ya the difference between chroot and a native client, perhaps you could explain for me?

the chrooted version is the android kernel with the ubuntu "programs" running. you can access the ubuntu desktop only via a vnc client, as there is no "real" x server running. think of it as ubuntu running as a service in the background which you then access via local network from your android.
would be interested in a native version as well.

kendong2 said:
the chrooted version is the android kernel with the ubuntu "programs" running. you can access the ubuntu desktop only via a vnc client, as there is no "real" x server running. think of it as ubuntu running as a service in the background which you then access via local network from your android.
would be interested in a native version as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That explains it, so basically on chroot the Ubuntu is a virtual machine in essence?

johnride said:
Hi everyone,
I consider buying a this nice little tablet I just wonder if anyone managed to install a complete Linux distribution on it like ArchLinux ARM natively (not emulation/virtualization not even chroot) with everything working. I guess that even if it's not done up to now it will be quite easy to do as everything is open source.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has not been released yet, but definitely check out this: http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android

Nooo there is a big difference between chroot and virtualization. On a chroot you still use the same kernel which allows to have the same speed or almost as a native client for what does not require hardware acceleration. the point in getting and Native Client working is that we could get advantage of the GPU after some more or less hard work. I bought this tablet to replace my sold laptop the best I could so that's why I'm interested in this.
When you do virtualization, CPU instructions are converted from a type to another and this is very heavy on the CPU and this way you cannot have good performances.
Think of a road: in chroot you only have to make the instructions take a turn without slowing down while in virtualization you have to stop the "convertible" instructions "remove the roof" and then you can continue. That's why virtualization is much slower than chroot.
Edit:
Chroot says what it does: it changes the root. This means that programs that run in the chroot environment will think that the / is another folder than what it is really. For example if you do chroot /sdcard/ and you have a file named derp.txt on your sdcard than type rm /derp.txt it will work since your / is now /sdcard/. The most come in case of uses of EC truth is when you have a Linux machine not booting anymore so you have to repair the boot loader, you will boot on a Live CD of the same distro (Ubuntu for example), mount the drive with the broken installation, chroot to this installation regular root and perform the same reparation as if this install would be booted, still using the kernel and binaries from your live CD (unless you specify that you want to use those from the chrooted environment).
Hope this is clear.
Sent from my Nexus 7

Stevenator21 said:
Has not been released yet, but definitely check out this: http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that's a very nice project but I want the desktop on my tablet, no docks and all. This is also in chroot I believe. Probably that I will install ArchLinux in chroot and try to make VirtualGL work but it's not really what I want.
Sent from my Nexus 7

johnride said:
When you do virtualization, CPU instructions are converted from a type to another and this is very heavy on the CPU and this way you cannot have good performances.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Small clarification. You're describing emulation here. Emulation is one processor pretending to be another. The Android SDK provides an android emulator that pretends to be an ARM device while running on your x86 PC.
Virtualization is a special feature of some processor architectures that allows multiple, virtual memory spaces to be created that are isolated from each other at a very low-level. I seriously doubt (but don't know for sure) that the ARM architecture has much support for virtualization. VMWare and its ilk use virtualization.
Anyway, virtualization runs at full processor speed. However, access to everything but main RAM and the CPU may be emulated in most implementations. Particularly, it's very tricky to get proper access to the GPU via virtualization, so it is often emulated.
Trivia-time: The presence of a primitive form of virtualization in the 386 is what allowed Linux to be written back in the day. The 286 didn't support switching between normal and escalated privilege modes (aka kernel vs user process space) on the fly. Oh crap. Now I'm starting to show my age. Um, get off my lawn!?!
The more you know...

Thanks for the clarification old chap!
I knew about material virtualization with some CPU's but did not realize that there was no emulation for the biggest part of the instructions. Will sleep less dumb.
Sent from my Nexus 7

kendong2 said:
would be interested in a native version as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mhmmm as we are probably not alone to be interested in this, I think I will open a topic in original development section to see how many would be interested and what direction I should take. If anyone supports that idea I will create the thread. I think it would be easier to put together all the good ideas in the dev section.

Ah you beat me to it!
Well we (the linuxonandroid team) have been running a device fund which has just finished.
One of the devices i will be getting from this is a nexus 7 which is being bought for two goals.
A) fixing tegra chip bugs with our chroot builds (after all chroot for many is a good way forward as it leaves android intact)
B) building native linux distro installs. Starting with ubuntu but expanding to as many distros that support ARM as possible (debian, backtrack, archlinux, fedora etc etc).
So prehaps you would like to PM me and maybe we can team up for this
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

zacthespack said:
Ah you beat me to it!
Well we (the linuxonandroid team) have been running a device fund which has just finished.
One of the devices i will be getting from this is a nexus 7 which is being bought for two goals.
A) fixing tegra chip bugs with our chroot builds (after all chroot for many is a good way forward as it leaves android intact)
B) building native linux distro installs. Starting with ubuntu but expanding to as many distros that support ARM as possible (debian, backtrack, archlinux, fedora etc etc).
So prehaps you would like to PM me and maybe we can team up for this
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am currently working on developing on booting ubuntu on the nexus 7. Check this thread out - > http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1842915

Related

[INFO][WIP] Linux on the TF101 (coming soon (I assume))

So as we all know soon we will have the files to access nvflash. This for one will hopefully allow us to install any OS we want.
Here is a guide to flashing ubuntu through nvflash onto a tegra 2 device:
http://tegradeveloper.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/workaround-run-ubuntu-now
Now lets hope once the nvflash tools get released in the coming days we will be able to do this.
You're my hero men !!!!
I love you
very nice, ubuntu with unity desktop would be great on tf
xufuchang said:
very nice, ubuntu with unity desktop would be great on tf
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely
Asus would dominate the tablet market with this due to the dock that makes it into a possible real pc now. Did asus give any indication on releasing tools for nvflash?
Will dual-boot be possible, too?
Otherwise that would be nothing for me, cause for multimedia Android is much better and I have a netbook.
cowballz69 said:
Asus would dominate the tablet market with this due to the dock that makes it into a possible real pc now. Did asus give any indication on releasing tools for nvflash?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RayMan and bumblebee already got tools set up, and they're releasing soon.
Will dual-boot be possible, too?
Otherwise that would be nothing for me, cause for multimedia Android is much better and I have a netbook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's been done on other Android devices so I don't see why not.
Ubuntu on this.....I am salvatating already....ooooooohhhhhh yea....this would definely rock my world
seshmaru said:
It's been done on other Android devices so I don't see why not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be amazing and probably with the dock one of the best devices ever!
When you really think about it.....Android IS a variant of linux.
Digiguest said:
When you really think about it.....Android IS a variant of linux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the same as saying OSX is a variant of Unix.
Android borrows the Linux kernel, but aside from that the user interface and feature set is completely different from the typical desktop environments like Gnome and KDE in other Linux distributions. If Android was actually able to provide anywhere close to the same capabilities as a desktop Linux distribution, people wouldn't be asking for a way to install Ubuntu instead.
earlyberd said:
That's the same as saying OSX is a variant of Unix.
Android borrows the Linux kernel, but aside from that the user interface and feature set is completely different from the typical desktop environments like Gnome and KDE in other Linux distributions. If Android was actually able to provide anywhere close to the same capabilities as a desktop Linux distribution, people wouldn't be asking for a way to install Ubuntu instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Linux" is the kernel, while Ubuntu, Android, Fedora is the distribution in full. But those are all powered by Linux... and btw OSX is Unix, since XNU (the kernel, funny enough it's open source) is certified as such.
Clearly if you cripple the potential of the platform with an interface and toolset suited for mobile use like Android or iOS, you lose some features and gain usability. A tradeoff most are happy with
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk
AlexTheStampede said:
"Linux" is the kernel, while Ubuntu, Android, Fedora is the distribution in full. But those are all powered by Linux... and btw OSX is Unix, since XNU (the kernel, funny enough it's open source) is certified as such.
Clearly if you cripple the potential of the platform with an interface and toolset suited for mobile use like Android or iOS, you lose some features and gain usability. A tradeoff most are happy with
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Linux kernel that actually makes it into the final builds of Android is not the same kernel that you would find in desktop and server distributions. Mainly, it is missing the X Window system and doesn't support all of the GNU libraries, and has tons of other Android-specific additions and architecture changes for the sake of security and interoperability with certain mobile device standards. You can't just throw together the Android-ified Linux kernel with any desktop environment of your choosing like you can with the actual Linux kernel that ships with Ubuntu and Fedora. Furthermore, the changes that Google does make to the kernel do not get included into the mainstream kernel, and that fork has existed for quite some time. That is why Android is Linux-based, and not actually a Linux distribution.
ive had that page bookmarked since the week before i got my tab xD
Linux is just the kernel. Ubuntu, fedora etc are distributions with everything else needed to make the OS work.
earlyberd said:
The Linux kernel that actually makes it into the final builds of Android is not the same kernel that you would find in desktop and server distributions. Mainly, it is missing the X Window system and doesn't support all of the GNU libraries, and has tons of other Android-specific additions and architecture changes for the sake of security and interoperability with certain mobile device standards. You can't just throw together the Android-ified Linux kernel with any desktop environment of your choosing like you can with the actual Linux kernel that ships with Ubuntu and Fedora. Furthermore, the changes that Google does make to the kernel do not get included into the mainstream kernel, and that fork has existed for quite some time. That is why Android is Linux-based, and not actually a Linux distribution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
<pedantic>
Pretty sure the Linux kernel proper does not come with X-Windows or GNU libraries (although it does rely heavily on the GNU toolkit, hence GNU's insistence that it be called GNU/Linux - http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html)
</pedantic>
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
jhanford said:
<pedantic>
Pretty sure the Linux kernel proper does not come with X-Windows or GNU libraries (although it does rely heavily on the GNU toolkit, hence GNU's insistence that it be called GNU/Linux - http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html)
</pedantic>
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was that really necessary?
The point of this discussion is that Android is not Linux, does not include the vast majority of libraries found in standard Linux distributions, is thus incompatible with the vast majority of Linux applications, and is otherwise missing large portions of functionality. The fact that Android has some basis in Linux does not solve the problem of there being thousands of users out there that need to be able to do more than just basic word processing and web browsing on their mobile devices, but also want hardware that won't soon be neglected by developers.
Some people need VLC, Eclipse, GIMP, or various Oracle applications to get their work done. Telling people that Android has some similarity to Linux doesn't make those applications any easier to port, and would be pointless anyway if the same hardware can run Linux distros natively.
you made it to he news
earlyberd said:
The Linux kernel that actually makes it into the final builds of Android is not the same kernel that you would find in desktop and server distributions. Mainly, it is missing the X Window system and doesn't support all of the GNU libraries...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
......
Your kernel has the GNU libraries in it? and X Windows? Must be pretty large...
earlyberd said:
Was that really necessary?
The point of this discussion is that Android is not Linux
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, it is.
Linux == The Kernel. Everything else is just the distribution. Honeycomb is basically a Linux distribution, just like Ubuntu, RedHat, and Gentoo are. It is just highly specialized. And if you think that because it doesn't have the GNU libraries makes it somehow not Linux, you are DEAD wrong. There are a plethora of devices and distributions that do not use the GNU libraries or toolchain.
Aside from this, the fact that you seem to continuously confuse the kernel with the distirbution indicates to me you aren't really qualified to discuss this topic, so I would stop arguing it.
earlyberd said:
Was that really necessary?
The point of this discussion is that Android is not Linux, does not include the vast majority of libraries found in standard Linux distributions, is thus incompatible with the vast majority of Linux applications, and is otherwise missing large portions of functionality. The fact that Android has some basis in Linux does not solve the problem of there being thousands of users out there that need to be able to do more than just basic word processing and web browsing on their mobile devices, but also want hardware that won't soon be neglected by developers.
Some people need VLC, Eclipse, GIMP, or various Oracle applications to get their work done. Telling people that Android has some similarity to Linux doesn't make those applications any easier to port, and would be pointless anyway if the same hardware can run Linux distros natively.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you even go to the gnu link? Linux is the kernel. Android uses the Linux kernel. It's the tools on top of it that are missing (hence busybody)
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

Is it possible to natively run Linux rather than on top of Android for Nexus One?

I've bought a new phone however I do not want to waste my Nexus One. The idea came to my mind firstly was to make it a small 'server' running at home.
Technically I bet it's possible however I don't have a clear path to do that... I've googled for a while and I saw a lot tutorials about how to run Ubuntu on top of Android. However what I want is to get rid of Android and run Linux directly on the hardware.
I think that should have been done by some guys... any help thanks in advance!
zhangxiao83 said:
I've bought a new phone however I do not want to waste my Nexus One. The idea came to my mind firstly was to make it a small 'server' running at home.
Technically I bet it's possible however I don't have a clear path to do that... I've googled for a while and I saw a lot tutorials about how to run Ubuntu on top of Android. However what I want is to get rid of Android and run Linux directly on the hardware.
I think that should have been done by some guys... any help thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IIRC, Android is Linux.
If you mean the computer OS, I have no idea.
Theshawty said:
IIRC, Android is Linux.
If you mean the computer OS, I have no idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I understand that - However I meant Linux such as Ubuntu or Arch distribution...
zhangxiao83 said:
Yes I understand that - However I meant Linux such as Ubuntu or Arch distribution...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running Ubuntu has been deemed possible.
Yes, but why and who will make a port (isn't this simple)? And not all drivers are open source and available to public.
BTW, android is linux and you can even port some applications (a time ago sometime is talking about porting glibc to android, don't remember if this get done, but I think is useless somehow).
It will happen
Word on the street is that Android drivers are being merged back into the development branch of the Linux 3.3 kernel. It's not too surprising considering Android developers were working with the Linux kernel developers until the 2.6.33 Linux kernel.
I bet we will see Debian or Ubuntu running on our N1s eventually. The N1 has a great developer backing since it was pitched as a developer phone, so I bet one of the many talented developers out there will eventually cook up a native Linux ROM. Besides, there are native ports for other devices out there so they can't be too far off.
You can currently install Ubuntu on your N1 but honestly it's pointless. Yes There are great apps to use but compatibility isn't 100% on the phone AND the apps run too slow to actually be useful.
You'd have better chances developing an app for android to do what you want lol.
If this helped hit THANKS
http://nexusonehacks.net/nexus-one-hacks/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-your-android/ Check this link for a how-to.

Windows 8 - not the desktop os

Okay so i think we know that windows 8 desktop os cant be done, but what if we took the phone os, are they different would it work, or would we get just a big phon
You would get big nothing. It is not possible to run Windows (Phone) 8 on Iconias and will never be as MS will never publish sources for the drivers etc which would be required to even start thinking about this.
This is a totallly different scenario than running Windows Mobile 6 on a device with Windows Mobile 5 device, as there already was support for windows mobile drivers for specific devices. Rom makers just had to do some magic with file mixing from different releases and they were able to make more or less stable roms. But here we don't have any Windows drivers for our tablets at all.
So just forget about it and stop asking such questions.
yaworski said:
You would get big nothing. It is not possible to run Windows (Phone) 8 on Iconias and will never be as MS will never publish sources for the drivers etc which would be required to even start thinking about this.
This is a totallly different scenario than running Windows Mobile 6 on a device with Windows Mobile 5 device, as there already was support for windows mobile drivers for specific devices. Rom makers just had to do some magic with file mixing from different releases and they were able to make more or less stable roms. But here we don't have any Windows drivers for our tablets at all.
So just forget about it and stop asking such questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhhh.... suppose I shouldn't ask about iOS?
But hey, they still have a ton of W500 and W501's for sale here. Wonder why?
MD
@Moscow Desire maybe it's the price? At least in my country cheapest w500 was about $150 more expensive than 64GB version of a500.
Sent from my A500 using xda premium
yaworski said:
@Moscow Desire maybe it's the price? At least in my country cheapest w500 was about $150 more expensive than 64GB version of a500.
Sent from my A500 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's definitely the price.
Over here, they will keep them at the same price forever. Even when the supposedly "surface" tablets come out.
Can you believe they want $750 for a W500/16 mb????? And they have a "ton" of these windows tablets they can't sell.
But a birdie in MS told me, they don't plan on upgrading the OS.
Heck, if they dropped the price to $250, I might get one just to add to the collection of unused gadgets I need some for a new business though.
Insane.
MD
It seems to be cheaper in Poland if you take memory size into consideration. Only the 32GB version is available in two options: with Window 7 Home Premium (about 690 USD without dock and 800 USD with dock) or Windows 7 Professional (850/880 USB without or with dock).
Those prices are from the largest polish computer shop network komputronik.pl (PLN/USD currency exchange rate from Google) and they even don't have the lowest prices on the market.
About the OS update, it is basically a PC hardware (AMD dualcore x86-64 processor and AMD Radeon graphics card) so I don't see a reason why couldn't it run Win8 desktop version. I don't know how hard it is to install new OS in w500 though.
jnktechstuff said:
Okay so i think we know that windows 8 desktop os cant be done, but what if we took the phone os, are they different would it work, or would we get just a big phon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1842228
haha lol no i dont see that happening anytime soon even if i dont see a port coming over maybe something like a chroot enviremont but not a port the only os's ive found runnable on the acer a500 are ubuntu, backtrack 5, some of the older mac os's, win95, bodhi linux, win xp (not worth it) and ARMEDslack
gears177 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1842228
haha lol no i dont see that happening anytime soon even if i dont see a port coming over maybe something like a chroot enviremont but not a port the only os's ive found runnable on the acer a500 are ubuntu, backtrack 5, some of the older mac os's, win95, bodhi linux, win xp (not worth it) and ARMEDslack
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that it is a good thing to mix natively running systems (Linux based) with those that require emulation (Mac OS, Win 95 or Win XP). In my opinion OS that requires emulator doesn't qualify to be categorized as "runnable" on specific hardware, as the hardware they are using are 100% software emulated and they are running on top of another OS after all.
Chroot won't allow you to run Windows, as chrooted environment is using currently running kernel, so you can only run Linux based systems this way.
yaworski said:
I don't think that it is a good thing to mix natively running systems (Linux based) with those that require emulation (Mac OS, Win 95 or Win XP). In my opinion OS that requires emulator doesn't qualify to be categorized as "runnable" on specific hardware, as the hardware they are using are 100% software emulated and they are running on top of another OS after all.
Chroot won't allow you to run Windows, as chrooted environment is using currently running kernel, so you can only run Linux based systems this way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that os's that equire emulation are slow and pretty much useless but i dont see any arm in running them
gears177 said:
I think that os's that equire emulation are slow and pretty much useless but i dont see any arm in running them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's all a matter of meaning of the "runnable" one chooses. For me to categorize system as a runnable on specific hardware it must be able to run natively on this hardware without the help of additional software layers, i.e. system's kernel and drivers must communicate with the hardware directly.
To run Windows on our tablets you need an emulator which presents additional software layers on top of a host system (Android/Linux) which create emulated hardware layer which is not equal to device's real hardware. This of course allows you to run the system on a variety of hardware which isn't supported by the OS itself, but this does not mean that it is runnable on this hardware.
I'm not against emulation. As a matter of fact I'm using VirtualBox a lot (in both ways: Windows guest on Linux host and Linux guest on Windows host). Of course to emulate different kind of hardware you need to have powerful enough real hardware. If you take into consideration that the host system also using CPU and RAM at the same time and emulator does full CPU emulation (x86 on ARM) you simply cannot expect that Windows XP will work efficiently emulated on Tegra2 with 1GB RAM.
yaworski said:
It's all a matter of meaning of the "runnable" one chooses. For me to categorize system as a runnable on specific hardware it must be able to run natively on this hardware without the help of additional software layers, i.e. system's kernel and drivers must communicate with the hardware directly.
To run Windows on our tablets you need an emulator which presents additional software layers on top of a host system (Android/Linux) which create emulated hardware layer which is not equal to device's real hardware. This of course allows you to run the system on a variety of hardware which isn't supported by the OS itself, but this does not mean that it is runnable on this hardware.
I'm not against emulation. As a matter of fact I'm using VirtualBox a lot (in both ways: Windows guest on Linux host and Linux guest on Windows host). Of course to emulate different kind of hardware you need to have powerful enough real hardware. If you take into consideration that the host system also using CPU and RAM at the same time and emulator does full CPU emulation (x86 on ARM) you simply cannot expect that Windows XP will work efficiently emulated on Tegra2 with 1GB RAM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed completely thats why the setup is not even worth it but if you do go through the grunge work of setting it up then when you actually get it running its completely usueless win95 you can atleast play minesweeper at decent fps but winXP is nearly impossible to do anything on even move the mouse with decent fps but still the option is there

[Q] Development in VM?

So, I just had to wipe my laptop. Clean install of Windows 7 Home Premium. Was wondering, now that I'm running with a clean slate, should I run a Linux VM for my Nexus 7 development? Would that be conducive to a better, more comprehensive development environment? Would I be better off just using ADB and Eclipse in Windows? If a Linux VM is preferable, is there a particular distro that is preferable? I've heard most of the dev tools are made with Ubuntu in mind, but I want to make absolutely sure of this before I make the jump to dev in Linux. Another solution which is less preferable, all things considered due to the repartitioning involved, but probably better in the way of integration with hardware, would be to set up a dual boot with Win7/Linux...what do you all think?
tl/dr; wiped my hard drive, I want to know what works best for development.
ikoniq said:
So, I just had to wipe my laptop. Clean install of Windows 7 Home Premium. Was wondering, now that I'm running with a clean slate, should I run a Linux VM for my Nexus 7 development? Would that be conducive to a better, more comprehensive development environment? Would I be better off just using ADB and Eclipse in Windows? If a Linux VM is preferable, is there a particular distro that is preferable? I've heard most of the dev tools are made with Ubuntu in mind, but I want to make absolutely sure of this before I make the jump to dev in Linux. Another solution which is less preferable, all things considered due to the repartitioning involved, but probably better in the way of integration with hardware, would be to set up a dual boot with Win7/Linux...what do you all think?
tl/dr; wiped my hard drive, I want to know what works best for development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're serious about development, I really recommend dual booting. If you just want to try it out then use a VM and then if you don't like it just delete the VM.
For the Linux distro I recommend Ubuntu or Linux Mint. They're both very easy to use.
Sent from my Nexus 7
veeman said:
If you're serious about development, I really recommend dual booting. If you just want to try it out then use a VM and then if you don't like it just delete the VM.
For the Linux distro I recommend Ubuntu or Linux Mint. They're both very easy to use.
Sent from my Nexus 7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I just like...I've wanted to get into dev for a while, and I just couldn't stand the workarounds and **** required for Android development in Windows. I know to build Android you have to be running Linux, and many of the guides are written taking a standard install of Ubuntu into consideration. I'll probably just start out with apps since most of my experience is in Java, maybe once I sharpen my skills with C I'll start into working on ROM mods and stuff. All I have to say is thank FSM for the AOSP.
I run VMware on Vista 64 (well I like vista) and I have a variety of Linux systems defined. Android, Rails, Reprap, etc. All Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
This works well for me. Android on native Windows was unusable.
And I really like Eclipse for an IDE.
Works well with the Android SDK and NDK.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

[request] Ubuntu Touch for Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 GT-5100/Gt-5110

Ubuntu Touch has been ported the Note 2 and Note 10.1 (2013 version) with nearly identical internals. Ubuntu Touch is also based on CM 10 and requires a CM 10 port, the Note 8.0 already has a CM 10 port http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2457346 I see no reason why an Ubuntu Touch for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 would not be possible.
I agree with you...
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I might try my hand at this after I've sorted my university stuff - its been a while since I've done any ROM stuff
Thanks in advance if you're willing to try to port it, I'm really looking forward to this
Kernel and other stuff are the same, so theoretically you could use my sources (kernel, hardware, etc) with the n5110 device repo, and maybe it would work.
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Quoting OP of the Ubuntu Port thread for Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2168999
And is it possible to make it dual boot between Ubuntu Touch and Android?
PS. Please port Ubuntu Touch for GT-N5110
So is this project starting or has it begun?
Or how is the process going?
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I might start it this week, but theres a few things im not sure on
If bricked, how would I unbrick it? I'm experienced with HTC's and somewhat with Nexus, but not samsung at all
Would there even be any demand? I mean it won't support the S-Pen and all, and development is relatively slow as it is
My guess is yoou would just use Odin to reflash your device. And I know personally this is something I would back and be willing to test should you need someone.
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techhead11 said:
My guess is yoou would just use Odin to reflash your device. And I know personally this is something I would back and be willing to test should you need someone.
Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk
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wow to have a fully capable linux operating system working on our note 8 would be great!! but are there any apps like onenote from microsoft available for linux yet???
So I guess this is just a lost hope huh?
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Any news about this port? Now I try the news nightly cm10.2 and work fine.
Krumbalu said:
wow to have a fully capable linux operating system working on our note 8 would be great!! but are there any apps like onenote from microsoft available for linux yet???
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From what I know, Ubuntu Touch is just cyanogenmod with an Ubuntu UI. It is no more a full linux OS than Android, and in fact, both run on the Linux kernel and Ubuntu is basically a modified version of Android. I really don't understand why people are having wet dreams over the prospect of running Ubuntu Touch on their tablets. You're getting nothing in return except a different look and design of the OS and probably no access to Google Play. Oh, and all the bugs associated with CyanogenMod, and none of the functionality that is unique to the Note 8. I am all for giving people options, but Ubuntu Touch seems like the most unnecessary development to hit Android devices to date.
sputnik767 said:
From what I know, Ubuntu Touch is just cyanogenmod with an Ubuntu UI. It is no more a full linux OS than Android, and in fact, both run on the Linux kernel and Ubuntu is basically a modified version of Android. I really don't understand why people are having wet dreams over the prospect of running Ubuntu Touch on their tablets. You're getting nothing in return except a different look and design of the OS and probably no access to Google Play. Oh, and all the bugs associated with CyanogenMod, and none of the functionality that is unique to the Note 8. I am all for giving people options, but Ubuntu Touch seems like the most unnecessary development to hit Android devices to date.
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I may be wrong bjt im oretty sure that you actually have full access to the ubuntu software center for apps and such.
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techhead11 said:
I may be wrong bjt im oretty sure that you actually have full access to the ubuntu software center for apps and such.
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I would say you're wrong only because Ubuntu and Ubuntu touch are designed for different architectures (x86 vs ARM). This is no different than windows 8 vs windows RT in that you can't share apps between the 2 systems. Point is, if an application such as OpenOffice is not reengineered to run on ARM, it's not going to run on Ubuntu Touch. Ubuntu Touch is built on top of Android, and while it may have access to the ubuntu software center, it's still not going to have the apps to make it worthwhile unless it also can access google play. And I doubt that it will. But if I am wrong, please correct me.
sputnik767 said:
I would say you're wrong only because Ubuntu and Ubuntu touch are designed for different architectures (x86 vs ARM). This is no different than windows 8 vs windows RT in that you can't share apps between the 2 systems. Point is, if an application such as OpenOffice is not reengineered to run on ARM, it's not going to run on Ubuntu Touch. Ubuntu Touch is built on top of Android, and while it may have access to the ubuntu software center, it's still not going to have the apps to make it worthwhile unless it also can access google play. And I doubt that it will. But if I am wrong, please correct me.
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In a sense yes, but just like any new operating system, the app market will start out slow and as more interest grows, people are going to develop more and more apps for the market.
techhead11 said:
In a sense yes, but just like any new operating system, the app market will start out slow and as more interest grows, people are going to develop more and more apps for the market.
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You are assuming that interest is actually going to grow, and I can probably think of more new systems that are failing or have failed, than succeeded. And again, Ubuntu Touch is a port of Android with a questionable future. It brings nothing new in terms of the actual operating system to the table, and if a current dev who is making programs for Linux is not making similar programs for Android now, what would make them start coding for Ubuntu Touch? Likewise, why would a current Android dev start porting their apps to Ubuntu when they have a massive user base on iOS and Android? Look at BB and Windows Phone, which are actually very good, polished systems and not half-ass ports, and see how small their app ecosystems are.
But ask yourself this question: are you going to give up Android 4.2.2 on your Note for a half-ass port of Ubuntu Touch (pretty much all ports of CM are half-ass), lose the functionality of the S-Pen, and lose access to Google Play along with all of apps that make Android something more than just a device to browse the web? Because that's pretty much what you will end up with as it stands now. I will not discount the possibility that Ubuntu Touch will carve itself a niche market somewhere, but even if you can sideload Android apks, it is far more effort than most people will be willing to put up with.
I know this is an OLD thread, but I want to correct the people saying the x86/ARM difference means that software won't run on Ubuntu Touch. This is completely false. Ubuntu maintains repositories for all manners of architectures, including ARM. ALL OSS applications with full source will run under ARM (you can even do this on a Chromebook, which is amazingly nice.) as long as they have no proprietary binaries. This means that if you can download the source code, it can be compiled to work on ARM, and even done on the fly with apt.

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