Ever wanted to run Linux on Android mobile device?
Well now you can! The fact alone, that you are running a Desktop operating system on your mobile device is soooo exciting. You can finally run a Desktop application that is still not available in GooglePlay store.
We are talking about Linux On Android project. Linux On Android project brings Linux to your mobile Android device through a metod known as “chroot”. You simply download and install the Complete Linux Installer app and choose the Linux distribution you would like to run. Linux is downloaded from within the app and run similarly as a virtual machine would on your Android phone. This leaves your exsisting Android phone operating system intact and no damage to your phone is done!
The requirements to run Complete Linux Installer application are:
- ROOTED device
- Kernel that supports loop devices (see http://linuxonandroid.org/working-devices/ for known working kernels and ROMs)
- Armv7 processor (Debian does work on Armv6 but other distros do not)
- As much free RAM as possible (Are you are after all installing a desktop OS)
Guys running this project are mostly young students so their budget is limited. They got Linux running on over 400+ known working ROM/Device combinations on over 200+ devices. If you want to help you can donate on their site and get the ball rolling! You can get a full list of working devices here.
Currently supported Linux distributions are (more distributions comming!):
Check out this preview video of Complete Linux Installer application:
I don’t know about you but i am really excited about Linux On Android project!
I own an MK802 III Android device as a Media Center and i will give it a go when i get home (even if it is not on a supported device list). I will let you know how it goes!
Pingback: Linux on Android – Can You?()
Pingback: Google()
Pingback: Google()