Installing a regular Linux distribution on an Android device opens a whole new world of possibilities. You can turn your Android device into a full-blown Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP server and run web-based applications on it, install and use your favorite Linux tools, and even run a graphical desktop environment. In short, having a Linux distro on an Android device can come in handy in many situations. You can install Linux on an Android device in several ways, and I'll look at some of the available options.

KBOX: No Root Required

In many cases, installing Linux on Android usually means going through the rigmarole of rooting the Android system with the risk of bricking your Android device. If you don't find this idea all that appealing, then you might appreciate KBOX [1]. This miniature single-user Linux distribution is integrated directly into a terminal emulator, and it can be installed on non-rooted Android devices (Figure 1). KBOX is not available in the Google Play Store, so you have to download the APK package from the project's website and install it manually. By the way, the author of KBOX provides not only the ready-to-use package but also some technical descriptions of KBOX's inner workings [2].

Figure 1: KBOX is a miniature Linux distribution that doesn't require rooting.

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