Database Users

(for tereg) NoRecovery custom recovery

Hi tereg,
[SIZE=-1](If you are not tereg, you can stop reading this. I didn't PM because I needed to ship an attachment)[/SIZE]
Have a look at the attached (custom) recovery (pick it apart and diff it against the leak-V3/RUU recovery.img) using split_bootimg.pl and the gunzip | cpio pipeline.
You can flash it to your recovery partition and run it if you like, it doesn't do anything dangerous. Basically, it is the same thing as the Leak-V3(=RUU = OTA-2.1) recovery, with two major changes:
- /sbin/recovery service is turned off so this doesn't run automatically (and as a result you won't see the splash screen change from the 3 skating droids). You can run it manually, though, from the adb shell - just wait 8-10 seconds and adbd will come up.
- I added the shell (sh) and a few of the diagnostic tools (dmesg, dumpstate, logcat... and supporting dynamic link libraries, the linker, etc), and dropped in there both /system/bin/toolbox (HTC) and /system/xbin/busybox and created some of the symlinks so that an adb shell has a useful set of tools available. (Oh yeah, I added an /etc/fstab as a convenience for /system/xbin/mount. Note the system mtd partition mounts at /os-system so it won't cover up all the installed tools underneath /system in the boot image)
- I altered the init.rc (and default.prop) so that adbd will always come alive - not just when a race is won.
The base of this image (kernel, bootscripts, /sbin), is the leak-V3 recovery.img; everything else such as dynamicly linked executables and supporting dynamic libraries comes from Jcase's Plain Jane, which in turn comes from Leak-V3/OTA/RUU, so, essentially everything in this bootable recovery comes from HTC except the version of busybox in /system/xbin and mods to the init scripts and default.prop
Note that the NAND flash partition in the mtd device for the recovery is only something like 5.2 MB - I would have added more, but was starting to get tight on space.
If you want it to run as close as possible to the timing of the HTC leak-V3 recovery.img, what I would do would be the following:
- defer all the symlinking in init.rc (except for the "sh" and "ln", of course) and package that up into a shell script that you can run after the recovery has booted
- uncomment (re-enable) the "recovery" service (/sbin/recovery)
- maybe experiment and see if you can get the complete kernel boot sequence from dmesg without starting logcat as the first service (that's not done in the normal recovery).
The only other useful piece of info that I can think of at the moment is that you need to use the ---base option with mkbootimg with an address that starts with something like 0x11208000..... (I can't recall and my machine is down - crap.) You can discover the value of the kernel base address load offset for the Eris by snooping through a hexdump of the beginning of any valid Eris bootable image
cheers
bftb0
MD5s
5801babcdf4e6e5d51e5f775aad0a09e ErisNoRecovery-recovery-v0.9.0.img.zip
4d280b367be75e7e75563a6357575ea7 ErisNoRecovery-recovery-v0.9.0.img
Sent via my nearly dead crap Pentium II booted from a 2003 version of Knoppix - 256 megs of EDO RAM - woot!

Sorry, here's the attachment

I read it anyway.
Suck it.

Hungry Man said:
I read it anyway.
Suck it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same Here Brosidon,
Well, actually i attempted to read it. Then I got confused and went and got some beef jerkey.

mmm beef jerky. i read it to maybe there will be a fresh recovery menu for the eris.

i read somones got beef jerkey and not sharing *waves fist* four messin up kid
j/k
it would be nice if we got an updated recovery. especially now learning that we won't need/be able to format our sdcards using FroYo.

Actually, I don't mind if anybody reads or uses that - it just gets me off the hook when somone asks
"But what is this for?"
Now someone will ask, LOL
bftb0

bftb0 said:
Actually, I don't mind if anybody reads or uses that - it just gets me off the hook when somone asks
"But what is this for?"
Now someone will ask, LOL
bftb0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but what is this for??? can i root my eris 2.1 v3 leak??? can it make pizza out of code? jk jk lol,

Thank you, I got it now.
I will definitely be experimenting with this. I'll let you know if I have further questions.

Tereg, I'll be online tonight and can help with testing.

Debian working niceley on Desire.

Debian for Desire.
If you are able to try this on another android device, please do as I will be very interested in the results.
Download
http://www.multiupload.com/79TSI1AAF9
You will need.
-Root access.
-Busybox (included in most custom roms)
-1.4gig free on SDCARD
-VNC Client (ie. AndroidVNC)
-Terminal Emulator (ie. ConnectBot)
-7zip
Instructions
-Extract the file deSIREbian.7z on your PC using 7zip.
-Copy the contents (debian.img and deboot) to root directory of SDCARD.
-On your phone in terminal emulator type
su
sh /sdcard/deboot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should get a blank screen showing "localhost:/#" after a couple of seconds.
-On your phone in your VNC client log in using these details
Password - password
Port - 5901
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nickname and Address are not needed, call it what you want though.
Changing the colour to 24bit and enabling local mouse pointer and full screen bit map are not neccesary but reccomended.
-Thats it.
Notes.
-You can log in via ssh, (gives a much better terminal, ie works properly with aptitude). Use [email protected] and password "toor"
-The version of Debian is Armel Lenny, installed using debootstrap.
-It is just the base package with LXDE on top, you only get a desktop, a file browser, an internet browser, and a pic viewer.
-If you want more packages there's tonnes of room on the image. eg apt-get install openoffice.org or apt-get install abiword or apt-get install any flipping thing u want
-You can access the SDCARD from Debian at "root/sdcard" (read-write)
-You can access Debian filesystem from Android (When Debian is running) at "sdcard/debian" (read only)
-debian.img is mounted at "sdcard/debian" using "dev/block/loop5"
-So far the only rom i have come accross that this dont work with is one of the cyanogen nightlies from last week. apart from that, working on opendesire, cyanogen, defrost, leedroid, official 2.2 with busybox...
Issues.
Debian cannot be shut down. You need to reboot the phone to do this. (You can kill the VNC server with "vncserver -kill :1" there is an icon on the festoons to do this.)
Update log.
deSIREbain.
-First release.
deSIREbain2
Fixed
-Loading a second terminal no longer breaks vnc.
-You no longer need to create the folder debian on sdcard.
Added
-ssh server (login with root and toor)
Removed.
-The image has been downsized from 2 gig to 1.4

Hey,
thank you for your work, i will test it so far and will tell you the results
got this error:
Code:
# su
su
# sh /sdcard/deboot
sh /sdcard/deboot
mount: No such file or directory
mount: No such file or directory
mount: No such file or directory
mount: No such file or directory
mount: mounting /sdcard on /sdcard/debian/root/sdcard failed: No such file or di
rectory
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1
chroot: can't change root directory to /sdcard/debian: No such file or directory
#
If you have the same problems try out
su
mkdir /sdcard/debian
losetup /dev/block/loop3 /sdcard/debian.img
mount -t ext2 /dev/block/loop3 /sdcard/debian
ls /sdcard/debian
thx to mercianary for help
greetings

I found this guide quite helpful at getting a bootstrapped Debian setup running.
http://www.saurik.com/id/10
I didn't need to insert the ext2 module as it's already loaded for me, I guess G1s didn't have that convenience back then.

blackstoneuser5 said:
I found this guide quite helpful at getting a bootstrapped Debian setup running.
www . saurik.com/id/10
I didn't need to insert the ext2 module as it's already loaded for me, I guess G1s didn't have that convenience back then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used parts of this for reference too. Its a great guide, explains things really well.

i've just updated this. link is in the first post.
Fixed
-Loading a second terminal no longer breaks vnc.
-You no longer need to create the folder debian on sdcard.
Added
-ssh server (login with root and toor)
Removed.
-The image has been downsized from 2 gig to 1.4

debian for desire--help please
hi
I spent much time for searching debian or ubuntu for desire, but nothin worked
know i found this and i have download everything and start to install over the terminal
but the " sh /sdcard/deboot" is not workin to
there's only this answer:
# su
su
# sh /sdcard/deboot
sh /sdcard/deboot
[: not found
losetup: not found
mount: No such file or directory
mount: No such file or directory
mount: No such file or directory
mount: No such file or directory
busybox: not found
sysctl: not found
chroot: not found
may somebody help me?
i really want to have it on the desire
thanks

It looks like you had not installed busybox
Which ROM do you use ?

oh i'm sorry
i'm a newbie and don't really know what a rom is
but i had problems with busybox and there was a somebody who said i can get the app titanium and let it install the busybox

could you please show me a tut how to install busybox
maybe a german tut
thanks

Getting error at: sh /sdcard/deboot
line 5: syntax error near unexpected token `else'

Rosi1337 said:
Getting error at: sh /sdcard/deboot
line 5: syntax error near unexpected token `else'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dont know why that happened.. works on mine. syntax looks ok to me.
try with this one (attatched), it's the same but without the bit that's not working for you.
what rom are you using, i shall try to replicate the error so I can try to fix properly.

thepuechen said:
could you please show me a tut how to install busybox
maybe a german tut
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There should be a guide on installing busybox somewhere if you want to search for it, i know i remember seeing one a while ago.
Too be honest, your better off just flashing a rom that includes busybox, it would be MUCH easier.
have a look here and see what takes your fancy, I would recomend defrost, because it is stable and easy to overclock.

Thanks mercianary,
It works fine!,
I use customised DeFroST_0.9b_uvonly with USB-host patch.
By the way I would like to add more options to kernel line.
Where can I find like a menu.lst file ? or How to add it to kernel line.
There is no /dev/graphics/* in running Debian console.
I would like to use FrameBuffer on running Debian.
thanks,

Android VNC won't connect Trying to get a handshake, but then says that VNC connection failed

please paste at that time log
jacobtc said:
Android VNC won't connect Trying to get a handshake, but then says that VNC connection failed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please paste at that time log.
Maybe vnc server does not running.

tknv said:
Thanks mercianary,
It works fine!,
I use customised DeFroST_0.9b_uvonly with USB-host patch.
By the way I would like to add more options to kernel line.
Where can I find like a menu.lst file ? or How to add it to kernel line.
There is no /dev/graphics/* in running Debian console.
I would like to use FrameBuffer on running Debian.
thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should understand that this is not a really booted native linux. Instead you are working in a chroot environment. So there is no kernel running that can get parameters. Only the the stock kernel of your DeFroST. Also there is no FrameBuffer as the graphic hardware ist not accessible. Instead this approach uses a vnc-server to which you can connect via a local viewer.
The advantage of this approach is clear:
- run almost any linux package available in the debian repository
- use your phone as before with the nice android
The disadvantage:
- no graphic output, so no 3D-games (which are rare under linux on the arm platform ;-)
- you can crash your android by eating up to much ram (not such a problem - it restarts on its own and if not you just have to reboot)

Thread is dead?
It seems this thread is dead. The problems many users seem to have come from a dirty setup. The image is broken in many terms:
- wrong file permissions on important binaries, like su
- wrong file permissions on many device files under /dev, so the ttys are only accessible by root
- wrong permissions on other places so there are always errors when installing additonal software (e.g. with the man pages)
- wrong setup that uses the root user for the desktop - instead an unprivileged user should be used
- missing packages for timezones and locales so the time is only right, if you are in a UTC region and console programs having trouble displaying anything else then plain english
I can not recommend using this setup image. It is better to use one of the instructions available online to get a clean setup.

Su doesn't work because your allready root.
Getting anything but root to work would be a real pain.
As you said its a chroot environment, its never going to be perfect.
The image was made using debootstrap just like all the other 'clean' ones.
Yep, it is broken as hell, but it works for what most people would need it for...make,gcc,python,a proper web browser,torrents, and some emergency word processing on the train to work.
The problem most people have is not being able to mount the image, this is due to fro-yo a2sd taking up all the loop devices.

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents.
I tried this on a MIUI rom and the scripy didnt do anything - ie i ran it using:
"# sh /sdcard/deboot"
.....and all it said was:
"#"
I entered all the lines in the shell script but the last one said it failed to launch VLC and no commands registered property (not even ls)
So i tried it on Defrost 5.1, and the script still didn't work.
But when i entered everything manually, it did work. Not too sure about the green theme though.
But thanks alot! Saves me spending a few hours trying to coax a working debootstrap out of my computer.
Thanks!
Josh.

mercianary said:
Su doesn't work because your allready root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. Actually su works only for root. It's missing the setuid root flag like all other binaries that should have it set.
mercianary said:
Getting anything but root to work would be a real pain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. I am always working as a normal, unprivileged user in my chroot. You just have to be in the proper groups. No need to work as root. Android works also with an unprivileged user.
mercianary said:
As you said its a chroot environment, its never going to be perfect.
The image was made using debootstrap just like all the other 'clean' ones.
Yep, it is broken as hell, but it works for what most people would need it for...make,gcc,python,a proper web browser,torrents, and some emergency word processing on the train to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I do not understand. There is no need that it is broken, as mine works without any errors. So I think something went wrong in creating yours. For sure a chroot is no running OS but you can server almost any service with it and run anything you want (if your ram does not get exhausted ;-).
mercianary said:
The problem most people have is not being able to mount the image, this is due to fro-yo a2sd taking up all the loop devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Everyone with a good rom should have a2sd+ (aka the old a2sd) which saves more space than the froyo one and leaves your loop devices for you.
jo

Minimal UI for LUKS encryption on the Wildfire

This is a basic gui I wrote to unlock my encrypted partitions during boot.
I'm running my /data and /sdcard partitions encrypted, and the "luksunlock" binary is launched from init.rc to read the password and unlock the encrypted partitions.
I have included my somewhat modified init.rc for those interested.
For more information about LUKS on Android see this blogpost, written by shawn (Seems I'm not allowed to have urls in the post, but Google for 'android luks' , first hit)
This works good on Wildfire, altough it should work fine on other phones as well. Just remember that you need to set up your partitions as in the luksunlock.c (or change the defines).
Dont forget to backup before you start playing around!
Good luck!

Thanks! i'll give a try!

Hi,
I tried to use your cryptsetup binary from your blog, but I have some issues that you'll sure have an answer:
I run ./cryptsetup luksFormat -c aes-plain /dev/block/loop2 and after i put the luks password it says 'Command failed', no logs, no other output, even using the -v flag...
Any clue?
Thanks in advance!
PS: the module dm-crypt is necessary for cryptsetup? could be this the error? I don't have it installed on the system because I can't find it for 2.6.35.9-cyanogenmod

tusabe said:
Hi,
I tried to use your cryptsetup binary from your blog, but I have some issues that you'll sure have an answer:
I run ./cryptsetup luksFormat -c aes-plain /dev/block/loop2 and after i put the luks password it says 'Command failed', no logs, no other output, even using the -v flag...
Any clue?
Thanks in advance!
PS: the module dm-crypt is necessary for cryptsetup? could be this the error? I don't have it installed on the system because I can't find it for 2.6.35.9-cyanogenmod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM6.1 for wildfire uses a 2.6.32 kernel (see HCDR.jacob's post about his custom kernel for more info)

tusabe said:
PS: the module dm-crypt is necessary for cryptsetup? could be this the error? I don't have it installed on the system because I can't find it for 2.6.35.9-cyanogenmod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah you really need dm-crypt support, either compiled into the kernel or as a module. You also need the AES ciphers support.

sigkill1337 said:
Yeah you really need dm-crypt support, either compiled into the kernel or as a module. You also need the AES ciphers support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi! Yeah, that's what I was afraid of.... ok, but the problem is that i'm running CM6.1 with 2.6.35.9 which has no dm-crypt module neither compiled in kernel... where can i find some kernel with this modules included? Is for an HTC Desire (@Sympnotic )
Thanks in advance!

Great work and thanks for sharing @Sigkill. Working on building it here for my NexusOne with CM6.1.
BTW, I’m the lead on a project working on general secure Android distro – we’ve ported Tor, have an OTR IM app, and have supported other projects along those lines. Would love to talk more about supporting anyone working on this specific capability.

wow! awesome work!!! Very exciting news. Gonna give this a go on my MyTouch Slide

NathanFreitas said:
Great work and thanks for sharing @Sigkill. Working on building it here for my NexusOne with CM6.1.
BTW, I’m the lead on a project working on general secure Android distro – we’ve ported Tor, have an OTR IM app, and have supported other projects along those lines. Would love to talk more about supporting anyone working on this specific capability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems really nice. I like the secure phone concept.

New Makefile and wiki info up
_hc from the @guardianproject has a new build process up for Crypsetup/LUKS which includes a Makefile compatible with Android NDK r5.
We have new instructions up on our wiki, as well.
I cannot post links under this account, but you can find the info on github if you search "LUKS" or just under our guardianproject account.

How did you create the encrypted partitions? Could you give some pointers for that. I am familiar with using dmcrypt/cryptsetup on desktop linux, I guess this works similar. What are the relevant device names? Did you run into any problems?

Calavera1 said:
How did you create the encrypted partitions? Could you give some pointers for that. I am familiar with using dmcrypt/cryptsetup on desktop linux, I guess this works similar. What are the relevant device names? Did you run into any problems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, sorry for the late answer,
/dev/block/mtdblock5 is the "userdata" partition. I formatted it and mount it to /encrypted-data during init:
mount yaffs2 [email protected] /encrypted-data nosuid nodev
The only file on this partition is "data.encrypted" file, which gets created in init.rc as a loopback device:
exec /system/bin/losetup /dev/block/loop0 /encrypted-data/data.encrypted
I created the "data.encrypted" file on my computer with cryptsetup and losetup, and copied all files from my old unencrypted userdata partition to it and then copied it back as a file to the formated userdata partition.
The sdcard "/dev/block/mmcblk0p2" partition is formated with "cryptsetup luksFormat", I did this also on my computer, saves some time. And then copy everything from the old unencrypted sdcard.
I did run in to one problem recently, my phone hung during boot, about 4 months after I started encrypting my phone.
Had to copy my data.encrypted file to my computer, mount it as a loopback device and do a fsck, and then copy it back to my phone.
I suspect this has to do with the filesystem not being umounted properly. (I have had this on my to do list for a while hehe)
Probably should make a script run during shutdown to cleanly "luksClose" the encrypted partition and then umount them. Not doing this is probably very crazy
I also want to fix it so my "/dev/block/mmcblk0p2" partition gets presented to my computer when i attach my usb cable (as it should do), so i can unlock it in ubuntu and copy images and files. Right now i have to take my memorycard out and put it into the computer.
I hope this post makes sense, it was written in haste =) Good luck!

sigkill1337 said:
Hi, sorry for the late answer,
/dev/block/mtdblock5 is the "userdata" partition. I formatted it and mount it to /encrypted-data during init:
mount yaffs2 [email protected] /encrypted-data nosuid nodev
The only file on this partition is "data.encrypted" file, which gets created in init.rc as a loopback device:
exec /system/bin/losetup /dev/block/loop0 /encrypted-data/data.encrypted
I created the "data.encrypted" file on my computer with cryptsetup and losetup, and copied all files from my old unencrypted userdata partition to it and then copied it back as a file to the formated userdata partition.
The sdcard "/dev/block/mmcblk0p2" partition is formated with "cryptsetup luksFormat", I did this also on my computer, saves some time. And then copy everything from the old unencrypted sdcard.
I did run in to one problem recently, my phone hung during boot, about 4 months after I started encrypting my phone.
Had to copy my data.encrypted file to my computer, mount it as a loopback device and do a fsck, and then copy it back to my phone.
I suspect this has to do with the filesystem not being umounted properly. (I have had this on my to do list for a while hehe)
Probably should make a script run during shutdown to cleanly "luksClose" the encrypted partition and then umount them. Not doing this is probably very crazy
I also want to fix it so my "/dev/block/mmcblk0p2" partition gets presented to my computer when i attach my usb cable (as it should do), so i can unlock it in ubuntu and copy images and files. Right now i have to take my memorycard out and put it into the computer.
I hope this post makes sense, it was written in haste =) Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured most of that out without your post and tried it on my desire (I created the luks partitions with adb on the phone though, worked anyway ). Then I couldn't figure out where my regular init.rc is stored (I could only find the one used by Clockwork Recovery), and then I figured I already spent enough time, tried a reboot (which of course didn't work). Then I couldn't even get into recovery (probably because its init.rc tries to mount /data which doesn't work? I didn't investigate any further). Flashed my backup with fastboot and was stuck again with my un-encrypted pre-experiment state
Oddly enough, it was no problem to unlock my encrypted SD-card from my computer (running ubuntu) while in recovery (clockword has an option to present the sd card to a computer connected via usb). Maybe the booted system handles this differently than recovery though? I didn't get a chance to try, as I couldn't boot after my encryption attempt.
I will try again after my algorithm and data structure exam this friday and report back

Is anybody using the UI on another device than the Wildfire? Does it work?
How much is the performance drain when using an encrypted /data partition?

Amazing work!

Did anyone manage to make sigkill1337's luksunlock build from source ?
I would like to change the path of the data/sdcard partitions to match my device but I tried many ways using the NDK and I can't get it to compile properly.
Is there any way to do this ?
I have been trying for days, I am getting literaly insane !
@sigkill1337 : could you give me some pointers ? I would appreciate a lot.

mount manpage said:
The bind mounts.
Since Linux 2.4.0 it is possible to remount part of the file hierarchy somewhere else. The call is
mount --bind olddir newdir
or shortoption
mount -B olddir newdir
or fstab entry is:
/olddir /newdir none bind
After this call the same contents is accessible in two places. One can also remount a single file (on a single file).
This call attaches only (part of) a single filesystem, not possible submounts. The entire file hierarchy including submounts is attached a second place using
mount --rbind olddir newdir
or shortoption
mount -R olddir newdir
Note that the filesystem mount options will remain the same as those on the original mount point, and cannot be changed by passing the -o option along with --bind/--rbind. The mount options can be changed by a separate remount command, for example:
mount --bind olddir newdir
mount -o remount,ro newdir
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If nothing helps, you should always be able to bindmount it

I'd rather get sigkill1337's UI to compile...
Lots of nice security tweaks and settings could be done with a pre-boot GUI
Anyway, concerning encryption, I'll use the bind option for now, thanks for the tip.
But if anyone here could give me some pointers about compiling this stuff it would be great.
I managed to compile it by integrating luksunlock in Android source externals and main.mk but when I push it to my phone and modify init.rc to call it, it just does not work...
Other modifications are working (mount, mkdir, etc.) but the GUI won't show up

Sorry for the late reply.. But you could try running it from a shell when the phone is booted, just to verify that the binary starts (thats how I tested it without having to reboot my phone all the time)
My environment for building the source was setup using one of the tutorials online, nothing out of the ordinary
Im still running this on my phone, for almost 8 months now, I havent noticed that much in performance problems, the Wildfire was slow before i started using luks.
When i get a new phone (maybe SE Arc) i will be easier to see if performance is affected

There is an Issue for getting CM support for encrypted filesystems during boot:
Issue 2736: support encrypted filesystem from boot
If you want to get that feature, just "star" it, so it may get more attention.

Tabuntu: my screenshot

twitpic.com/8bmci1/full
How is it?
Edit:
www.twitpic.com/8bmci1/full

This is a useless reply just to say i'm not allowed to post links bcoz i am noob.... *noob at the moment

I will be verymuch thankfull if somebody can post the image back from my link http ://www .twitpic.com/8bmci1/full (bcoz it is not letting me to do so! )

twitpic.com/8bmci1/full
There you go. By the way, I like it!

i've built ubuntu 12.04 arm chroot image and it worked great! But i'm stuck with dbus scripts;

By the way. Is this a theme or an actual Ubuntu distro on your tab?

bfmetcalf thanks

bfmetcalf said:
By the way. Is this a theme or an actual Ubuntu distro on your tab?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is ubuntu12.04 arm LXDE customised to look in that way, i have built a chroot image(of 3.5GB making more space for packages) from core and added Lxde window manager to it.

That is awesome. I enjoyed Ubuntu when it was on 10.10 with gnome 2. Now I'm running arch with nothing but openbox. Love the minimalism of it all, ha. How did you get it installed on the tab if I can ask? I'm not a total noob, but still no expert on all of that.

bfmetcalf said:
That is awesome. I enjoyed Ubuntu when it was on 10.10 with gnome 2. Now I'm running arch with nothing but openbox. Love the minimalism of it all, ha. How did you get it installed on the tab if I can ask? I'm not a total noob, but still no expert on all of that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use linux mint 12 on pc. I simply love it.
This is a non-risky process called "chrooting" or sometimes "chroot virtualisation" :
*android will be running as usual and by terminal emulator we need to start ubuntu shell(by mounting ubuntu's filesystem somewhere to android filesystem)
*but the actual problem is android lacks xserver workaround is vnc
*so, when we we get ubuntu shell, from that run vncserver and use vnc viewer app on android to connect loopback address127.0.0.1
*then we get gui
If somebody can show how to repartition /sdcard to make an ext4 partition then this will go even better.

That is awesome! I may have to try it at some point. For now though, my transformer works great and I just don't have the time.

i have rooted my device and installed busybox too.
'fdisk -l' doesnt list any thing,,,,
If it can list then i want to find out 13.2GB vfat partition i.e mounted at /sdcard, shrink to make space for another ext2 partition (ext2 bcoz mkfs.ext2 command is working from busybox, )
Then need to place ubuntu ARM files in that for better performance

I heard there is a noticeable amount of lag because of all the work arounds, is this true? I've wanted to install a linux distro on my tab for some time. What method did you use? Could I use it to install say Arch Linux with no UI and just SSH into it?

Yes you are right, there is a considerable amount of delay/lag due to these workarounds.
Zedomax has given scripts to do it in an easier way,(thanks to him) which i used for ubuntu12.04
Currently there are some experts porting xserver to android(its almost done) www.androix.org , so I hope for it.
Till that happens easy for noobs like me, we use workarounds in a betterway, we can minimise lag to the extent we will be surprise.
>Since our /sdcard is not any ext* filesystem, so we need to create an virtual harddisk containing ext filesystem(as we do in virtualbox)
# So created ext4 filesystem which is faster than ext2
>prefer building ubuntu/arch from core, and install packages that are essential, so no place for buggy things which are not required
>use lxde which is light weight DE, runs faster than gnome,kde
>I even able to access android's /sdcard from ubuntu by adding a line to scripts (mount -o bind /sdcard $mnt/sdcard) so no need to use ssh workaround
>as there is no xserver support in android(cureently),we use vncserver
#need faster ui, set smaller display size which minimises traffic b/w viewer and server, like i did 800x800 geometry and hold it in portrait, using the bottom portion of screen for keyboard(recommended "hackers keyboard") i used official RealVnc which i dont recommend bcoz it isnt free.
How can we do much more better.
>if we can create ext4 partition by shrinking down /sdcard partition then it will be amazingly fast, believe me I tried it on N900(nokia internet tablet) so I imagined what this sgt 10.1 with dualcore 1GHz and 1 GB ram can do compared to that!
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Need a native install
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dextroamphetamine said:
I've wanted to install a linux distro on my tab for some time. What method did you use? Could I use it to install say Arch Linux with no UI and just SSH into it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is very easy one,
Lagging is only for using gui... practically there is no lag for running arch shell by android's terminal emulator,
Google it for "archlinux chroot on android" and follow the guide
Or if you wanna build one for yourself:
1)Get official ARM arch, may be from here http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms
2)understand and follow this excellent guide by making some changes
Http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1302630
Yes you can run SSH, if it is just for sharing files between android and archlinux, just mount your android's /sdcard also to archlinux
On first run:
mkdir $<your-mount-point>/sdcard
Later on:
mount -o bind /sdcard $<your-mount-point>/sdcard
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yogeshmha said:
Need a native install
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Native one is a risky process, and we may lose some functionality such as 3G, Camera,Wifi and multi touch etc. But it will be awesome.
canonical announced official ubuntu port coming to smartphones and tablets, so I hope for it.
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if thats the case...i would recommend a dual boot for honecomb and ubuntu

[DEV][WIP][Linux] Easy GNU/Linux on our tablet

Hi all!
Many of us are dreaming of having a real native desktop operating system on Galaxy Note 10.1 as a second system. Of course, the software there is not touch-optimized, but you can attach keyboard and mouse via USB-OTG and Bluetooth and imagine it's a netbook
exception13 showed us that it's possible and shared his work on in a forum and repo. X-Stranger could use it and shared compiled images of ArchLinux. But what if you want to do something more specific for your own needs and you are not such a great developer as both of them are?
My project is for all of you who want to have native GNU/Linux, who want to participate but don't know how yet. It's a guide how to build it from scratch. The problem is - I am not a superdev too and I couldn't do many things. Frankly speaking, all the remaining things seem to be small but I don't know how to overcome them. Maybe it's because I'm studying economics but not programming
Link to the guide.
I need help from anyone who knows how to overcome any of the problems on every step! Everything I managed to do by myself is already written there and currently I have a compiled kernel which is booting a partition on external SD but it freezes there.
If you have any ideas - you can just make a pull request out of Github's webinterface, if you don't know how to edit this html but know something about building Linux - you are welcome to open an issue or write it here and I will include it in the guide.
Let's make our Galaxy Note 10.1 better together!

,I just got my Note 101.1 earlier today. I'll look into the missing information and add to the webpage. Is there anything that you think I should look into first?

I actually had a question.
Looks like you have the section "Harder Way - how to prepare binaries" split into Ubuntu and Arch. Instructions for compiling the kernel are the same.
I guess my question is why the choice to show the arch kernel being compiled under arch?
Might be easier to read the guide with all the kernel compiling done in Ubuntu.
**Edit**
What I didn't originally mention is that i really like it. Hoping to help contribute as well.

darksabre_x said:
I actually had a question.
Looks like you have the section "Harder Way - how to prepare binaries" split into Ubuntu and Arch. Instructions for compiling the kernel are the same.
I guess my question is why the choice to show the arch kernel being compiled under arch?
Might be easier to read the guide with all the kernel compiling done in Ubuntu.
**Edit**
What I didn't originally mention is that i really like it. Hoping to help contribute as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good question. The reason for that are that despite how close Arch Linux and Ubuntu are, the environments are different. Ubuntu usually has some sort of bash completion enabled by default whereas Arch Linux doesn't and of course each of them requires diferent packages installed to perform the same functions. I believe thermatk did each distro separately as to make things simpler for the end user. Pick a distro and go as each distro's guide can be tuned independent of the others.

Soul_Est said:
Good question. The reason for that are that despite how close Arch Linux and Ubuntu are, the environments are different. Ubuntu usually has some sort of bash completion enabled by default whereas Arch Linux doesn't and of course each of them requires diferent packages installed to perform the same functions. I believe thermatk did each distro separately as to make things simpler for the end user. Pick a distro and go as each distro's guide can be tuned independent of the others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't really answer my question considering the end kernel will be the same regardless of the distro being used. I think you took my question as "Why are there 2 options for kernel compilation?", which wasn't what I was asking.
Looks like thermatk actually addressed the question with a page update.
It now gives separate options depending on which distro you want to end up with on your Note 10.1, in addition to separate kernel compilation options.
What I was referring to was when it was Ubuntu only instructions from kernel compilation all the way to deployment on the tablet and Arch only instructions. The kernel and linux image instructions weren't independent of each other, as they currently are.

Update
I'm really happy to hear that someone else wants to use it and contribute! :victory:
darksabre_x, you are right I separated the guide into parts yesterday because the system where you compile kernel doesn't really affect anything on the tablet.
Soul_Est, thank you for helping with questions in the thread :good:
Now I understand that tabs are not the best way to do it, will start this day from trying to rewrite this to a navbar constantly on top which lets you choose options from a dropdown.
Also yesterday got the guide to the point when one path through can get ypu to a bootable distro! You can compile kernel wherever you want, you should be on stock based rom and choose to install Arch on separate partition which probably will be a partition on SD. What you have to add at the end is
Code:
pacman -S lxde
and copy xorg.conf from X-Stranger's post. Once rebooted, you will be able to enter android:changeme and
Code:
sudo lxdm
and the gui will start if you don't have USB-OTG and keyboard you won't be able to enter password but you can poweroff from the interface's right corner :good: Attention: if gui says that it has no permissions to write logs do
Code:
sudo mount -n -o remount, rw /
and retry but do not forget to write here about it!
What are the current problems:
Why exception13 and X-Stranger both hardcoded the whole cmdline for kernel and forced it not to be changeable from bootloaders. It's easy to fix in the config but there should have been some idea or i'm paranoic?
What's wrong with LinuxDeploy, separate partitions and CyanogenMod? hiruna filed a bug but meefik seems to be away for a week. If anyone else with CM has an idea on how to overcome this maybe with some special unmount commands CM is thinking that ext4 partition is th extSdCard and mounts it so that LinuxDeploy can't install anything there (seems that it's the problem) while stock can't mount ext4 as extsdcard and is not touching the partition.
How do we make Debian/Ubuntu to boot? Both ways - for separate partition and img are stuck one the problem that not any mkinitramfs or abootimg or their combinations could get to a better state than initramfs shell. Separate partition should be easier so focus should be on it for the start.
Adapt X-Stranger's guide about booting Arch from *.img. It's there and should be tested, rewritten and easied and some whitespaces should be filled. I know there are some as i have spent many hours in Arch with little dirty hacks like
Code:
ln -s /proc/self/fd /dev/fd
that are needed but no one ever wrote that they are.
What's wrong with basic video? While we get bootable Arch if you add lxdm and xorg.conf it should work with lightdm and boot there without console commands. If you try to install lightdm you will get nothing but a black screen if you start it with
Code:
sudo lightdm
... and it should boot automatically without touching console.
Oh and why is kernel from exception13 not building at all? XD

Redesign #2
Anyone dislikes the new design idea with navbar selectors instead of tabs?
I hope it's better.
Will soon update the guide with last steps to have Arch with LXDE bootable from separate partition.
That's fun as I started this project to get Ubuntu working... :angel:
If anyone can understand what should be done with mkinitramfs to make debian/ubuntu rootfs bootable - please do it.

First success!
If you choose any pc distro, arch on sgn with lxde on a seaprate partition you will now get a fully working guide that will give you a native bootable GNU/Linux =)
That's first success for me but still i hope to get help as i don't know things I asked two posts ago and it's difficult to move forward.

XFCE problems
XFCE is booting (not in the guide yet) but for working with fingers in XFCE one should probably disable multitouch S-pen works fine.
http://lists.x.org/pipermail/xorg/2012-July/054626.html
http://xfce.10915.n7.nabble.com/Xfwm-window-borders-do-not-respond-to-touch-screen-td17348.html
Will find a way to enable onscreen keyboard on LightDM and update the guide with XFCE. Still I was hoping to make it my primary DE and they are not supporting fingers moving windows upstream :crying:

I was hoping to contribute this weekend but unfortunately my only machine is down after mucking up the /lib folder when heimdall. To add insult to injury, I have no backups. Installing Arch Linux or Debian and configuring everything to my liking again will take a few hours.
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How to setup WiFi using wpa_supplicant.conf
How to setup WiFi using wpa_supplicant.conf​
1. Copy the "wifi" folder to "/opt"
- You will need gedit to edit the nameservers.
- You also need two dependencies before installing gedit.
- The two dependencies are : gtksourceview3-3.6.1-1-armv7h.pkg.tar.xz and libpeas-1.6.1-1-armv7h.pkg.tar.xz
2. Download them and copy over to ArchLinux
3. Install the dependencies first then gedit:
Code:
sudo pacman -U gtksourceview3-3.6.1-1-armv7h.pkg.tar.xz
sudo pacman -U libpeas-1.6.1-1-armv7h.pkg.tar.xz
sudo pacman -U gedit-3.6.2-2-armv7h.pkg.tar.xz
4. insmod the drivers:
***NOTE*** " 3.0.31-gedcc915 " is my kernel name. Change it to your
kernel name if it is different.
Code:
sudo insmod /lib/modules/3.0.31-gedcc915/kernel/net/wireless/cfg80211.ko
sudo insmod /lib/modules/3.0.31-gedcc915/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/bcmdhd/dhd.ko op_mode=0 firmware_path=/opt/wifi/bcmdhd_sta.bin nvram_path=/opt/wifi/nvram_net.txt_murata
5. Enable the wlan0:
Code:
sudo ip link set wlan0 up
6. Setup wpa_supplicant and ip address:
Code:
sudo wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -Dwext -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
sudo ip addr add 192.168.1.33/24 dev wlan0
sudo ip route add default via 192.168.1.1
7a. Add nameservers:
Code:
sudo gedit /etc/resolv.conf
7b. Go to the next available line and type:
Code:
nameserver 8.8.8.8
7c. Next line :
Code:
nameserver 8.8.4.4
7d. Save it
8. Go back to the terminal and edit the wpa_supplicant file:
Code:
sudo gedit /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
- wpa_supplicant.conf file should be like this:
Code:
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
eapol_version=1
network={
ssid="NETWORKNAME"
scan_ssid=1
proto=RSN
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP TKIP
psk="NETWORKPASSWORD"
}
9. And finally, to connect to your network, run
Code:
sudo dhcpcd
Open up a web browser and enjoy!
:good: :good: :good:

WiFi
I am currently including WiFi in the main guide as it's something everyone needs :laugh:

Soul_Est said:
I was hoping to contribute this weekend but unfortunately my only machine is down after mucking up the /lib folder when heimdall. To add insult to injury, I have no backups. Installing Arch Linux or Debian and configuring everything to my liking again will take a few hours.
Sent from my GT-N8010 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will be happy if you join :good:

thermatk said:
I will be happy if you join :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll get right on the Arch Linux instructions once I get an Arch based OS installed. Hopefully that'll be tomorrow.
Written on my Galaxy Note 10.1

is this project dead ?

Equilibrio said:
is this project dead ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great job! This is awesome.
Anyone else having dependency conflicts with bluez and obexd-client?

cctoro said:
Great job! This is awesome.
Anyone else having dependency conflicts with bluez and obexd-client?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did before but it really depends on what you have install at the time when you do the update.

Having a small issue
Ok, so I followed all the instructions and set the kernel up to boot from mmcblk1p2 (my ext4 partition on my sdcard I made for linux), and used dd to copy the prebuilt arch to the partition, and it boots and eveything seems to work but the wifi.... I repeated the process from the beginning all over and recompiled to make sure i didn't miss anything, but still no wifi... And since I'm using the prebuilt image copied to the sdcard for the distro, and everything works in it if i boot the .img from the internal storage and use the premade recovery, I'm assuming maybe there's something missing from compiling the kernel? In either case, if anyone has any ideas about this, please help, or if someone can make a properly compiled recovery.img that boots from mmcblk1p2, that would be super awesome.... I'm only mediocre in linux skill so any help would be appreciated!

K, so i was an idiot and forgot to copy the compiled kernel modules to /lib........ OOPS!
Arch linux distro booting from mmcblk1p2 with 1p3 as swap... all work awesome! Working on dri2 for the mali now.....
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Could you post a prepared .IMG, possibly? Thanks.
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