Re: Installing Debian on an android device
From: joel.rees@gmail.com
To: debian users <debian-user@lists.debian.org>
On Wed, Jul 5, 2017 at 8:58 AM, Fungi4All <fungilife@protonmail.com> wrote:
> Although I despise such devices, my only experience has been
> helping a friend out locating certain settings and installing the proper
> software for specific uses.
> Lately, a problematic one, ended up in my hands as the owner
> gave up on it and purchased a better one. The problem seemed
> to be either bad ram cells that the system couldn"t probably read
> after writing, insufficient ram, or bugs on the system utilizing ram
>
> I thought maybe a debian installation could possibly identify the
> issues.
If only we had a common BIOS for the ARM devices.
Unfortunately, we don"t. So we can"t just boot a CD/USB/SD.
so this is the primary reason we are limited and android is in control?
One of the first things I tried was lshw but it produced junk
> It seemed possible, even though there is no root access
> on the system.
I don"t know why you would think it possible without root.
I thought it may have been possible to have read rights to take
a glance of how the system is organized. With gnu-root it seems
as debian is contained within an android app. Android can not see
where this installation is and debian can't see android. Like there
is a wall between them, but the android side does have an exit.
> I managed to install debian with a package of
> gnu-debian.
>From the playstore, I presume? Maybe gnuroot debian?
Yes, sorry, it was gnuroot debian. Is there a better one?
I used no-root debian or some such for a while.
Pretty much anything else I tried seemed to require root
access, so I presume some of these devices allow you such
luxury while the cheaper generic types are locked?
> Then, after it seemed as a painless successful installation, I
> tried to get some gui action. I installed an x-server and up it went.
>
> 1 The pointing device doesn"t seem to work as described.
Unfortunately, the touchscreen user interface has been redesigned,
and does not cooperate well with the mouse paradigm.
I was able to use a usb mouse through a usb hub on no-root debian.
I may try this because it gets nearly my tolerance to convert it into a
frisbie
> 2 Through browsing the system from debian I can"t find where
> android is stored as only the debian installation seem to exist,
> although it is clear that android runs as a base still.
Without root, an install of another Linux environment is just the
environment only, linked up so the Android kernel and system tools
substitute for the Debian kernel and some of the Debian system
tools.
It"s incomplete, and it"s in a sandbox or jail. You aren"t allowed
access to the real system.
You can compile and such things, but the object you get runs in the
sandbox with the rest of gnu-root debian.
> 3 Would anything past jessie work? Should I try it?
It"s a rather fragile arrangement, and requires a lot of work to get as
much as you have. Odds are very good you"ll break something if you
try that. But, most likely, only in the debian environment.
> 4 It feels like running in VM but it isn"t. No root no logins
> no user.
Exactly.
Installing a real debian will require first jailbreaking the device,
then getting access to the drivers that the manufacturer provides
and customizing them for Debian, then cross-compiling a lot of stuff ...
It isn"t easy, and that"s why we don"t find a debain architecture for
any android devices.
It seems as there is a variety among them. The architecture gnuroot
identified is armhf and I haven't investigated far enough to see what
its peculiarities are. I am wondering though whether this is the true
architecture or a simulation by gnuroot to build the environment within
the container.
If you give/force gnuroot to go through orbot to connect to the net,
would it be safe to assume anything contained in it connects through
socks5 proxy?
Is the main obstacle of all this is to crack through the root passw of
android? Would one then be able to replace one system for another?
--
Joel Rees
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