Booting Ubuntu on DROID?

Hey guys! I followed the link below and tried to see if I could get Ubuntu running through VNC on my Droid, as this guy was able to do on his N1. I know that the phones have differences, and unfortunately, I got to the "bootubuntu" part before it said it couldn't load, that my device was busy.

I am assuming that it just isn't working on the Droid, as the dev himself said it wasn't working on the Evo, but I was wondering if any of you wonderful Devs here at the forum have tried to do something similar on Droid. This would be awesome and HUGE geek points. Fingers crossed! Let me know if I can assist in anyway.

 

I know there used to be a post on the old Alldroid on how to install Debian on your DROID, but sadly all of that content is gone. It didn't mention Ubuntu, but it should be possible. I know it was supposedly a pretty finicky process, for one thing you had to have a minimum of ext2 enabled in your kernel or loaded as a module. I will search around and see if I can find an archived copy.

 

I am also interested in a Moto Droid version of it. I got interested after reading this site: http://nexusonehacks.net/nexus-one-hacks/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-your-nexus-oneandroid/. I also tried this Nexus One version and it doesn't work on the Droid (It's probably not supposed to anyway). I attached the output that shows all the error messages.


Basically it also says that the device is busy. It looks like it starts to fail at this part of bootubuntu, or before:

mknod: /dev/loop1: File exists
losetup: /dev/block/loop1
mount: No such device

I don't understand any of that. For what it's worth, I found this while searching around for a way to make it work: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-development/46838-debian-instructions-missing.html which lead to Debian fully working on the Motorola Droid! Included is an ext2.ko module for those of us running stock kernels that lack ext2fs support. (I will provide support in comments.) : Android which lead to Google Translate.

 

MKAYYYY.

I also boot ubuntu with chevys kernel so your in luck.

Get the ext2.zip from here Index of /froyo/4.3/kernels

and rename it update.zip and flash it.

Then boot back up and go to the terminal emulator and type
"su"
press enter
"/system/xbin/chevyno1/ext2"
enter again
"cd /sdcard/ubuntu"
ENTER
"sh ./ubuntu.sh"
Enter
"bootubuntu"

The reason you got the errors is because it couldn't mount the ext2 ubuntu image without a ext2 kernel module.\



Same for you manny.
How in the hell would it be limited to the nexus one anyway?
Debian, ubuntu, etc in chroot will work on any android phone providing the kernel has the ex2 module.

 

tried with no success

hello. i came across this forum and tried what you said. but still have no luck getting it to run on my moto droid. just wanted to know if either of you actually got it to work on your moto droid

 

That looked like the blue scren of death at first =)

 

Thanks for all the help! I will try it. But first, I have Bugless Beast v0.4 froyo. I have no clue what kernel I have. Can I just flash chevy's kernel from Rom Manager on top of what I have? I'm making a backup just in case before I try it.

 

By the way, my kernel version says:

2.6.32.9-g103d848
Android-build@apa26 #1

 

can someone put together some instructions on how to do this, from beginning to end?

 

I went ahead and installed the ext2 module by using the update.zip file (renamed from ext2.zip). On my current kernel. I tried running the ubuntu install script. The output looked the same. Ran bootubuntu and its output was the same as before too.

Then I flashed chevy1's 1ghz LV kernel and tried to install and boot ubuntu again. That didn't work either. I did not wipe cache and data when flashing the kernel.

Should I just go ahead and install simply stunning 4.4? Would that make a difference?

I don't have an ext2 partition on my SD card. Is that what I overlooked? Dammit, lol. I'm going to keep trying.

 

If i'm installing via CW, i can just install from SD and not rename update.zip correct? And its my thoughts that this is an extension file that goes on TOP of your existing chevy kernel, is that also correct assumption? And then one we get to bootubuntu, we just follow the rest of the video's steps to be able to boot on the go without being adb-ed in?

 

I used CW and reapplied the update.zip. It looked like it took it but I don't know. I type modprobe ext2 and it says no such file or directory.

I'm still getting the same error. I'm going to create an ext2 partition on my sd card when I get home from work. The install script may be looking for a partition to write to.

I'm using connectbot to run the commands locally instead of adb, since I'm at work. But I can't just back up my sd card here.

 

Yah, it was a no-go for me as well. Does that mean we need to reformat our cards?

 

I'm no expert at this stuff (as you can probably tell), but what I'm going to do is back up my sd card, format it, then use the "partition sd card" option in rom manager, the one we use to enable apps2sd by creating a hidden ext2 partition. If I'm right, then I will put the ubuntu folder back in my sd card and try it again. If it works, then I'll put all my stuff back on the card.

Crabs, can you tell us how you did it, what rom and kernel you have, etc? The video you made was great. Thanks!