[HOWTO] All-in-one solution for Ubuntu 10.10 Linux on Android

Links to Ubuntu 10.10 Image and Startup Script (around 1.5GB download):

NOTE: YOU NEED SPEEDMOD KERNEL FOR THE GALAXY S FOR THIS TO BOOT

OTHER USERS ENCOUNTERING ERRORS MAY LIKE TO TRY REMOVING "-o noatime" FROM ubuntu.sh OR RE-INSTALLING THE LATEST BUSYBOX


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L9S70C8V
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MS1KUUGW
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YCMNO224
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H6XZX9JB

MD5 Sums (in case any of the downloads corrupt)
b243ded14a3e7d96c12a752c1480e9f8 ubuntu.zip.001
e01f7934478062172a4c7a0a4a376b92 ubuntu.zip.002
76d69b740bfb2ddb9c0d26abca969b89 ubuntu.zip.003
567c842b8a9433535665353a26368338 ubuntu.zip.004

Open with 7Zip or similar to unzip.



What is this?
An ubuntu 10.10 maverick (with LXDE window manager) machine in your pocket. Perfectly usable from the phone itself using a VNC client, this allows you to install any ubuntu software onto your phone and have it with you always. Coupled with the (potential) ability for your phone to be hooked up to a television with TV Out (works with the Nokia TV Out cable available on eBay), and for (supposedly any) HID-compliant bluetooth keyboard and mouse to be linked up to the phone (requires Android 2.2), this really does become a PC in your pocket.

Requirements:
- android phone
- superuser + busybox

Included:
- 3.5GB virtual machine image (ubuntu.img) with ubuntu and certain applications pre-installed (listed below). The image is resizable with uec-resize-image, although FAT32 (the most likely format of your SD Card) has a maximum file size of <4GB.

- A script to boot into ubuntu from android (ubuntu.sh)

- A script to start the VNC Server and other startup commands. This is contained within the ubuntu.img file at /root/init.sh, accessible and modifiable once ubuntu.img has successfully booted.

How to boot:
- Place ubuntu.sh and ubuntu.img in the same directory in your SD storage.
- Enter a terminal and enter 'su' to become a superuser (root).
- Navigate to the directory where you placed the files (e.g. "cd /sdcard/external_sd/ubuntu").
- Execute the script by typing "sh ubuntu.sh".

Tip: 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:

su <return>
cd /sdcard/external_sd/ubuntu <return>
sh ubuntu.sh <return>

will boot you into ubuntu and start the VNC server as soon as you launch the terminal application. All that remains is to VNC into it before you can start using it.

Note: I have noticed that some android apps with process/activity management options (e.g. Spare Parts) possibly interfered with the running of Ubuntu and would kill "inactive" shell emulators (even when they were just idling) - thus killing the idling ubuntu environment. Also, I found it to be at its most stable after a fresh reboot of the phone.

How to connect:
Once you have booted the image (see instructions above), you simply need to fire up your VNC client of choice (androidVNC or pocketcloud VNC are good options), and simply add a new VNC server with address localhost, port 5900, and password 'ubuntu' - then hit connect.

- androidVNC has the advantage of pinch to zoom and generally feels nicer - set colour to 24bpp when adding the connection, and Input mode to touchpad once connected (this sometimes resets and needs re-doing at the start of a session).
- pocketcloud VNC has the advantage that no intermediate text input window is required when doing text input and may be preferred by some people.
- It has been suggested that the Dingul hangul keyboard is good for direct access to common command line characters such as / and * etc. It is however in Korean but can be set to use a QWERTY keyboard.


What software is pre-installed?

Base System (with all updates as of 19/02/11:
Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick) Core
LXDE (Lightweight Windows-like GUI) with tightvnc server.

Applications (with all updates as of 19/02/11):
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)..

Obviously, you are free to add and remove apps as you see fit (through Synaptic or Ubuntu Software Center)..


I hope people find this useful, and that it works without too many problems.

Martin Rhodes (martin.rhodes@gmail.com, fire314 @ XDA).

Note: If anyone ends up creating a custom ubuntu.img using rootstock, remember to create the directory /data/local/tmp within it as this is where the linux system will be expecting to find its temporary directory if booted (chroot'd) from android - and it is not there by default.

@Syntex123 - You VNC (Remote Desktop) to the Ubuntu FROM your android device, so basically, you access it through a VNC Client on your android, just like any other app - you can switch back and forth between android apps (including of course the one that you make calls from etc.)

I believe there are numerous threads on ubuntu for the galaxy tab, just search "ubuntu on galaxy tab" in the forum search bar.

@Legolas - the file is 3.5GB, but can be resized from within another Linux machine using uec-resize-image. To shut it down, just type 'exit' in the terminal emulator that you started it from and wait.

@ Everyone

The fourth link not working is a general megaupload.com error probably caused due to heavy load. Try again later if you experience it..

Cheers.

ubuntu.sh below:

#!/bin/sh
##################################################################
# Ubuntu/LXDE bootscript for Samsung Galaxy S (and others) #
##################################################################
# by Martin Rhodes (fire314)- martin.rhodes@gmail.com #
# compiled with trial and error and help from a number of blogs. #
# credits: coralic, David Jensen, debdroid, blog commenters, XDA #
# Tested on Ultimate 7.0 and Darky 9.3 #
###########################################################################
# to re-enable error output, remove the " > /dev/null 2>&1" from commands #
###########################################################################

echo "WARNING: If you have more than 255 apps installed on the SDCard, then mounting the ubuntu.img will fail!"
echo
echo "Apps on the SDCard associate with an encrypted loop device, and there are only 256 available to the system."
echo
echo "You have to go to Settings -> Manage Applications -> On SDCard, and move some apps back to phone storage in order to free up a loop device for ubuntu. Make sure you reboot the phone after doing this, then try again."
echo
echo "Please wait while booting ubuntu.img.. This can take some time..."
echo
###################################################################################
# export environment variables #
###################################################################################
export HOME=/root
export USER=root
export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin:$PATH
export TERM=vt100
###################################################################################


########################################################
# make directories required by the chroot environment #
########################################################
busybox mkdir /data/local/mnt > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox mkdir /data/local/mnt/proc > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox mkdir /data/local/mnt/sys > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox mkdir /data/local/mnt/dev > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox mkdir /data/local/mnt/dev/pts > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox mkdir /data/local/mnt/sdcard > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox mkdir /data/local/mnt/external_sd > /dev/null 2>&1
########################################################


###########################################################
# create a loop far, far away and mount ubuntu.img on it #
###########################################################
busybox mknod /dev/block/loop255 b 7 255 > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox losetup /dev/block/loop255 ./ubuntu.img > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox mount -o noatime /dev/block/loop255 /data/local/mnt > /dev/null 2>&1
###########################################################


######################################################################
# mount the phone's sdcard storage so it's accessible from ubuntu #
######################################################################
busybox mount -o bind /sdcard /data/local/mnt/sdcard > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox mount -o bind /sdcard/external_sd /data/local/mnt/external_sd > /dev/null 2>&1
#######################################################################


#################################################################
# mount linux system on our chroot environment and chroot to it #
#################################################################
busybox mount -t proc proc /data/local/mnt/proc > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox mount -t devpts devpts /data/local/mnt/dev/pts > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox mount -t sysfs sysfs /data/local/mnt/sys > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox chroot /data/local/mnt /root/init.sh > /dev/null 2>&1
#################################################################


#########################################
# chroot exited: umount everything #
#########################################
echo
echo "Exiting chroot environment and sync'ing memory to storage.."
echo "DO NOT EXIT until finished - doing so may corrupt the ubuntu.img!"
echo
busybox sync
busybox umount -f /data/local/mnt/sys > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox umount -f /data/local/mnt/dev/pts > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox umount -f /data/local/mnt/proc > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox umount -f /data/local/mnt/sdcard > /dev/null 2>&1
busybox umount -f /data/local/mnt/external_sd > /dev/null 2>&1
##########################################

Yep - it's full blown Ubuntu so Wine will work fine! But because it's using VNC sound doesn't work...