from Hacker News

Linux on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

by djvdorp on 10/19/17, 6:28 AM with 251 comments

  • by JorgeGT on 10/19/17, 7:53 AM

    It's quite interesting that with the power of today's mobile devices (multicore 1GHz+ CPUs, GPUs, 2Gb+ RAM) we still don't have a standardized interface to plug them into desktop peripherals and launch a desktop OS/GUI.

    One would thing that such an universal interface would quickly become a standard offering in airports, hotels, libraries, conferences, etc.

  • by jpalomaki on 10/19/17, 1:11 PM

    What I would like to do is use my phone as portable storage device and then plug it in to external processing unit and boot from my phone. The external processing unit could be desktop computer, laptop or tablet.

    The reason? When sitting behind my desk at home or office I don't like to be limited with the mobile CPU. I have the required kWhs to power a proper CPU, GPU and run 64GB of memory. I also don't want to run separate computers on each location, because keeping these in sync (OS settings, applications, databases etc) is painful.

    Technically we are almost there. We can put reasonably fast flash storage to the phone. USB-C should provide enough bandwidth. On OS software side we would need some work to make plugging in/out convenient. I don't want to do a full reboot every time I "unplug" the phone from desktop processing unit and move it somewhere else. As I move between processing units I would like to keep my apps open, maybe just doing a hibernate/sleep and then waking the system up connected to a different processing unit.

    This solution means double spending on CPUs and memory, but desktop hardware is relatively cheap.

  • by nickcw on 10/19/17, 7:58 AM

    I think termux ( https://termux.com/ ) does most of what I need when I need a bit of emergency Linux on my phone.

    Termux provides a recompiled debian distro which runs as a android App. It doesn't chroot or need root and it works amazingly well. No desktop apps though.

  • by saagarjha on 10/19/17, 10:30 AM

    > Linux on Galaxy allows the latest Samsung Galaxy smartphone users to run their preferred Linux distribution on their smartphones utilizing the same Linux kernel that powers the Android OS to ensure the best possible performance. (emphasis mine)

    I knew there was a catch somewhere. I seriously doubt there's a technical reason why older Galaxy models can't support running Linux as well. I don't understand why it's so difficult for Android manufacturers to allow users to install whatever they want–I bought my phone, now let me install what I want. Sure, void the warrant or refuse to support it, but don't get in my way.

  • by herpderperator on 10/19/17, 8:38 AM

    I did something like this (shared kernel and chroot) on an old Nexus S back in 2012 with Gentoo. You can use a precompiled stage3 tarball which contains the fundamental filesystem layout and utilities (for the target architecture), and then for anything else that you need, you just use Portage (Gentoo's package manager) to compile stuff for you. Not super practical in terms of battery life and time if you're constantly compiling packages but a cool project nonetheless. This wasn't the exact guide I used, but it's the same idea: http://thinkmoult.com/installing-gentoo-android-chroot/

  • by camillomiller on 10/19/17, 7:49 AM

    Maybe 2018 is finally the year of the Linux desktop. Wait... :)

    Jokes aside, I can see how this would be useful for sysadmin and devs - bring along your smartphone and you're set - but this would never fly for a general, even if geeky, public. Very nice approach though, curious to see where this ends up going.

  • by 5h on 10/19/17, 8:23 AM

    I've been using termux and a fold out bluetooth keyboard for django development & code review for quite a while on my pixel XL.

    I absolutely love having my dev work on my phone, being able to hack away or do code review for 5 minutes wherever is incredible.

    At home using a chrome-cast and have it on a big screen.

    It would be nice to have a window manager I suppose - but i'll probably end up in a full screen terminal anywya.

    When mobile the biggest problem for me is just plain old screen size - I'm tempted to get a cheap Chinese tablet and use it as a remote screen somehow - leaving my phone in my pocket.

  • by dobecker on 10/19/17, 8:26 AM

    >> Thank you for showing your interest in the Samsung for Galaxy project

    This should be Linux for Galaxy right?

  • by nopacience on 10/19/17, 10:13 AM

    We need phone drivers! To enable us to install any distro or OS. I would love to download X distro directly from their website > install on the smartphone somehow > boot > install phone drivers > make calls

    I have nothing against Android. I would like to choose who creates the OS used on my smartphone

  • by djvdorp on 10/19/17, 7:41 AM

  • by ericfrederich on 10/19/17, 12:34 PM

    Ubuntu wanted to do this but it never went anywhere... and they didn't open source their code. What an absolute shame.

    I really loved the idea of it. You had the whole Android / Java / Bionic runtime sharing the same kernel as your GNU stuff. They had a way that you could even access your Android stuff from within your desktop environment like apps, contacts, text messages, etc.

  • by pjmlp on 10/19/17, 7:50 AM

    Given how Tizen has been managed thus far I am not having big hopes for it, but lets see.

  • by 0xFFFE on 10/19/17, 1:54 PM

    I miss my N900, I could run full fledged Debian on it. The Maemo OS also had Terminal app with full SSH client & server app. I used to SSH into my phone from my laptop just for kicks. And then Nokia had to go and fuck it all up.

  • by bfrog on 10/19/17, 3:28 PM

    Maybe I'm the only one that is getting tired of smart phones? I feel like it just takes over every ones life sometimes. I'm ready to go back to a $30 nokia that just f'n works for half a decade, doesn't die every day due to battery usage, and in general... doesn't spy on my entire life story for the supposed purpose of better targeted ads.

    I think there's some serious room back in the mobile market with the way these devices are going. Outrageously expensive disposables aren't sustainable forever. At some point people get tired of throwing $500 in the bin for the exact same thing they had last year, just so they can have a full day worth of battery charge again.

  • by kasabali on 10/19/17, 10:50 PM

    It's already mentioned in sub comments but I'd like to mention GNURoot Debian [0] in a top level comment.

    It is regular Debian (full repository of unmodified packages unlike Termux), and unlike variety of other chroot based solutions it doesn't require root access (utilizes proot).

    0: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gnuroot.de...

  • by jaclaz on 10/19/17, 8:30 AM

    As often happens, I don't understand why one would want to subscribe in order to be notified when it becomes public.

    I mean, I can understand subscribing in order to get a beta or pre-release, but if right now nothing is available and when it will be available it will be public, it seems to me nothing more than a personal data collection.

    When it will be public there will also be a lot of publicity about it, so it's not likely that one needs to be notified.

  • by SakiWatanabe on 10/19/17, 7:35 AM

  • by xchip on 10/23/17, 4:12 PM

    I've been using for 4 years and old cellphone as my home server.

    I run on it Nginx + PHP, OpenVPN, Samba, SSH, MiniDLNA, a git private server, AvaHi, python scripts...

    To get extra memory (not that I need it) I turn off the android UI and to save power I turn off the LCD.

    ping me if you want to know more!

  • by pedroaraujo on 10/19/17, 2:14 PM

    I'm surprised no one commented about this yet:

    https://maruos.com/

  • by dm319 on 10/19/17, 10:18 AM

    I can hear Shuttleworth swearing right now.

  • by emilsedgh on 10/19/17, 10:23 AM

    This is amazing.

    The reason we have high quality free software for desktops is that you can easily install anything you want on your laptops and PC's.

    Significance of this is that it allows free software stacks to be built for phones.

    Kudos to Samsung for such move. Let's hope other phone makers also open up the phones.

  • by MikusR on 10/19/17, 9:24 AM

    https://twitter.com/TizenHelper/status/920507238485233664 Some pictures from a demo booth. Runs Ubuntu 16.04.2 on 4.4.13-1.

  • by padraic7a on 10/19/17, 8:13 AM

    This is definitely interesting and I would be curious to see where it goes in the future.

    In the meantime however anyone who wants to use Linux on their phone today should check out https://ubports.com/

    It works now!

  • by neals on 10/19/17, 12:07 PM

    So can we go Samsung -> Linux -> Virtual Box -> Windows?

    Or is that not how this works?

  • by throwaway613834 on 10/19/17, 9:22 AM

    [OT] Does anybody have any idea when the Windows x86-on-ARM phones will come out? That's what I'm really waiting for and not seeing much information on.

  • by obenn on 10/19/17, 1:58 PM

    Will there be immediate driver support for the DeX docking stations? I have an S8+ and this might push me to purchasing one of the stations as well.

  • by jankotek on 10/19/17, 7:41 AM

    Can Galaxy even run without Linux kernel?

  • by TheChaplain on 10/19/17, 7:49 AM

    If I understand this correctly, it's a LXC with a distribution built by Samsung?

  • by diegoprzl on 10/19/17, 11:10 AM

    Just bought a Dex Station. If Emacs runs well enough then it will be a lifesaver.

  • by capdotnet on 10/23/17, 9:33 PM

    i wonder how it will compare to the "Complete Linux Installer"App project.

  • by themtutty on 10/19/17, 1:30 PM

    Why does this link go directly to a sign-up page?

  • by turbinerneiter on 10/19/17, 7:35 AM

    chroot ftw!

    (right?)

  • by byterollingbits on 10/19/17, 7:40 AM

    No thanks! I'm not buying a phone that won't get updated with security updates. My trash box is littered with Korean Android phones that have no upgrade path or ability to clean with a fresh install.

    I'm opting for a Pixel 2 and an iPhone X for work and personal. They're expensive at first, but way cheaper and far more convenient in the long run. They always have immediate security updates, and they update their OS for atleast 3 years. Korean phones are rip offs, they barely update at all. Every single one of my Korean phones are still waiting for security updates. It costs way more to own a Samsung or LG phone in the long run.

    Don't buy Samsung or LG phones.

  • by stephenr on 10/19/17, 11:50 AM

    This has exactly the same problem as Microsoft's WSL: they're conflating Linux with "distribution built around GNU userland".

    I'm not a gnu zealot. I think rms has many faults. But a major company saying "now you can run Linux on android" or "now you can run Linux on Windows subsystem for Linux" is beyond stupid.

    In the case of Samsung it's Like saying you can make a sandwich out of a sandwich. In the case of Microsoft it's like saying you can make a real roast chicken out of a soy chicken.