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Linux on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

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Re: Linux on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

#101

Post by NoGravitas »

saagarjha wrote: post #55

> Linux on Galaxy allows the latest Samsung Galaxy smartphone users to run their preferred Linux distribution on their smartphones utilizing the same Linux kernel that powers the Android OS to ensure the best possible performance. (emphasis mine) I knew there was a catch somewhere. I seriously doubt there's a technical reason why older Galaxy models can't support running Linux as well. I don't understand why it's so…

Probably the docking station is the only technical reason blocking older devices, and Samsung doesn't want their customers running Linux on Galaxy without the docking station.

You've got several choices for running a GNU/Linux container on Android/Linux already: Lil Debi for rooted devices, GNURoot for a full distro on non-rooted devices, and Termux for a quick-to-get-running and reliable CLI distro.

Re: Linux on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

#102

Post by swiley »

Brakenshire wrote: post #72
simonh wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're all used to having desktop computers with generic x86 compatible processors and highly standardized internal interfaces and components, and compiling our software and installing it on any x86 computer we want. Smartphones with ARM SOCs aren't like that because they aren't just a CPU, they also include a crapload of additional system components. Even SOCs like the Snapdragon within a specific model will offer ma…

> the kernel needs to be tailored to the specific phone Out of interest, would it be possible to operate an ARM SoC system like a generic x86 system, if drivers were upstreamed? Or is there too much SoC specific code?

The problem is that in many cases there's no nice automatic way to probe for devices, you just have to know the board config ahead of time. That's why device tree is so great, if the hardware manufacturers cooperate and upstream their code then you'll end up with something like the IBM PC.

Re: Linux on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

#103

Post by tinco »

morganvachon wrote: post #77
tinco wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Swearing? Don't you mean jubilating? Isn't Ubuntu on Samsung Galaxy phones exactly what he would want?

Who said it will be Ubuntu? If this is anything like past attempts at a Linux desktop running from a mobile phone, it will be a Samsung optimized (i.e. locked down) half baked chroot monstrosity with limited tools and locked to the phone's ancient, bastardized kernel with zero security updates from launch forward. I think it would be awesome and amazing if I was completely wrong about all of that, but I'm not holding…

Elsewhere in the thread I saw mentions of it running Ubuntu. I agree with you that it's unlikely that they'd give us any freedom, but if they did it'd be great.

There's a picture linked elsewhere in the thread of a Samsung device running Ubuntu at some convention.

Re: Linux on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

#104

Post by swiley »

morganvachon wrote: post #83
nopacience wrote: post #50

We need phone drivers! To enable us to install any distro or OS. I would love to download X distro directly from their website > install on the smartphone somehow > boot > install phone drivers > make calls I have nothing against Android. I would like to choose who creates the OS used on my smartphone

> "I would love to download X distro directly from their website > install on the smartphone somehow > boot > install phone drivers > make calls" Unfortunately it will never be that simple. First, the distro you want would need to have an ARM port targeting the same version of ARM SoC in the phone. ARM isn't like x86 with just two targets (32 bit and 64 bit), it's a quagmire. Second, your distro of choice would need…

>Unfortunately it will never be that simple. First, the distro you want would need to have an ARM port targeting the same version of ARM SoC in the phone. ARM isn't like x86 with just two targets (32 bit and 64 bit), it's a quagmire.

People say this a lot but that's not my experience. I have a lot of ARM machines and move binaries and complete distros (sans kernel) between them all the time without recompiling. Everything after ARMv7 is pretty well behaved.

Re: Linux on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

#105

Post by erikb »

smichel17 wrote: post #91
erikb wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the natural desire in a free market to gain monopoly status and the desire to decrease the support matrix. Therefore most smartphone companies will try to log you into their own choice of OS. It's not an asshole move, it's just the most logical conclusion given the context they are in. The way to get around that is supporting such kind of project (like fairphone, ubuntu mobile, linux on samsung) and gaining a tr…

> It's not an asshole move, it's just the most logical conclusion given the context they are in. I don't think those two are mutually exclusive.

Agreed. Depends on your POV.

Re: Linux on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

#106

Post by xxs »

pjc50 wrote: post #70
sametmax wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How was it revolutionary ? USB worked pretty well.

Until USB-C it doesn't carry analog audio. Like the iPod itself, it's not a question of new functionality, but better usability/popularity of existing functionality. The revolutionary aspect was that you could just drop an iPod into the dock and it would start playing your music through the dock's speakers, while also charging. This didn't require the dock to be "smart", it was analog audio.

>>This didn't require the dock to be "smart", it was analog audio.

Not smart, just have a 30pin connector. Having DAC on board would be trivial (esp. after paying the royalties for the connector). So calling it revolutionary is just being an Apple shill.

Re: Linux on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

#108

Post by dragonwriter »

pwdisswordfish wrote: post #53
jon-wood wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USB-C is that standard interface - when working at my desk I can plug a single USB-C cable into my laptop and it gains two monitors, external audio, keyboard, mouse, webcam, and all the other things you'd expect.

Apple did that with Thunderbolt quite some time ago.

Thunderbolt is hardly a universal means of connecting mobile devices (even from Apple) to desktop peripherals.

Re: Linux on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

#109

Post by herbst »

albertgoeswoof wrote: post #84
JorgeGT wrote: post #10

It's quite interesting that with the power of today's mobile devices (multicore 1GHz+ CPUs, GPUs, 2Gb+ RAM) we still don't have a standardized interface to plug them into desktop peripherals and launch a desktop OS/GUI. One would thing that such an universal interface would quickly become a standard offering in airports, hotels, libraries, conferences, etc.

We are almost reaching tipping point here - my laptop is still more powerful than my phone, but only just. If USB-C can really support this connectivity (2 monitors, plus keyboard, mouse and a couple of usb ports), a really great implementation could work well. I think Apple are the only company that can pull this off right now, everyone else is too fragmented to get the hardware/software integration right, and popul…

I dont think this will ever be a thing. For me phones are (sorrily) throw away products, usually not build to last. Computers are expandable, upgradeable machines that you build for your use case and have for years without having to worry to much.

Even mac folks have their Macbooks at least twice as long as their phones.

So i dont see this happening for any kind of professional use anytime soon. But who knows.

Disclaimer: My last phone (downgraded recently, because battery life > 4k screens) is more powerful than my Laptop.

Re: Linux on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

#110

Post by herbst »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #69
digi_owl wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do believe you can actually get a desktop going by installing https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=x.org.server and setting the display environment variable in termux.

Yeah, but you need the actual programs, and when I last looked termux didn't build packages that use X and didn't include the libraries to compile them yourself (or at least I couldn't find them)

Some software could probably be compiled on a different ARM machine. Or would work when distributed in binary form. (Just speculation, but i dont see why not)
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