Print this page. Recommend
Slashdot it! Delicious Share on Facebook Tweet! Digg

Debian Lenny on Android Phones

Nov 12, 2008

Thanks to a hack a few days ago, BusyBox has been running on the T-Mobile G1 mobile phones with Google's Android platform. Now Jay Freeman, alias saurik, goes a step further: in his blog he describes how to install Debian Lenny by way of root access on the device.

All is well, according to Freeman on his website, because Debian already supports ARM EABI. EABI stands for Embedded Application Binary Interface developed by ARM to be the interface port for the same-named 32-bit microprocessors.

Freeman established a special hacker's mailing list to discuss the G1. The steps to your own Debian phone, however, are not trivial. Among other things you have to add a filesystem to the kernel and pack root into a filesystem image that you then mount on Android's 16-Gbyte FAT.

Beginners beware of such experimentation, unless you inherited a trust fund. Parts of the world where G1s are not yet available can only watch as those that do have them promptly turn them into bricks. The next updates to the device are already on the way, so Freeman advises users to play with it "while you still can." Unfortunately saurik's website doesn't show pictures of the result of his successful hack.

(Kristian Kissling)

Comments


Print this page. Recommend
Slashdot it! Delicious Share on Facebook Tweet! Digg
Related Articles
Candidates for Google Summer of Code 2009
OpenOffice 3.0 Downloads Reach 10 Million
Moblin Brings 2.0 and More
Sierra Wireless Releases Linux SDK
Etch: Security Update No.7
Debconf 8 Scheduled for August 2008 in Argentina
Live Streaming from ApacheCon Europe 2009

All about Apache in 19 talks

Watch 3 days full of Apache talks live from Amsterdam on March 25-27 in the convenience of your home or office. Topics are: Apache Hadoop, Tomcat for Developers and Administrators, HTTP Server Administration and much more.

Find out more

 

In the US and Canada, Linux Magazine is known as Linux Pro Magazine.
Entire contents © 2009 [Linux New Media USA, LLC]
Linux New Media web sites:
North America: [Linux Pro Magazine]
UK/Worldwide: [Linux Magazine]
Germany: [Linux-Magazin] [LinuxUser] [EasyLinux] [Linux-Community] [Linux Technical Review]
Eastern Europe: [Linux Magazine Poland] [Linux Community Poland] [Open Source DVD Poland]
International: [Linux Magazine Brazil] [EasyLinux Brazil] [Linux Magazine Spanish]
Corporate: [Linux New Media AG]