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I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

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Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#231

Post by tech4bot »

bnabholz wrote: post #140
tech4bot wrote: post #2

I reverse-engineered a Doogee U10 (Rockchip RK3562) to boot Debian natively from an SD card. No BSP, no kernel source, no vendor documentation — just a DTB extracted from the stock Android firmware and rebuilt from there. The tablet boots Linux directly from SD without modifying internal Android storage. Remove the card and Android still boots normally. The process is intentionally simple: write the image to an SD ca…

Ordered one today, I think this is a cool project. Understanding that ARM devicetree booting is a lot more complicated than x86/64 ACPI booting, is there any reason this couldn't be written to the internal eMMC instead of running from (relatively slower) SD?

Based on my experience with other Linux handheld projects, most people prefer to keep Android intact and use Linux as a second option.

In the DTB, I also added eMMC support, so you have full access to it from Linux. This means you can dd everything to the eMMC if you want.

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#232

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

electroly wrote: post #106
Aurornis wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and it's clear all of their replies are human-written. The AI use is stated up front in the readme. The Very much not the case with the comment I responded to. There is a stark contrast between the AI written first comment and some of their other comments. I know many here don’t like any accusations of AI writing because they aren’t as attuned to picking it up, but the comment I responded to was as blatant as it ge…

Yes, I'm obviously aware of that. We're all capable of seeing em dashes and staccato sentences. My reply mentions, explicitly, that their top-level comment was AI written (reusing portions of their AI-written readme) and that their replies are human written. I chose my words carefully; HN itself uses the terminology "comment" for top-level messages and "reply" for sub-level messages, and I used the phrase "top-level"…

> HN itself uses the terminology "comment" for top-level messages and "reply" for sub-level messages

Does it? I can't see any distinction in https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html or https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

Rereading your comment now with this in mind, I can make out the distinction, but I don't think you made it clearly.

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#233

Post by Fnoord »

JansjoFromIkea wrote: post #224
Fnoord wrote: post #166

I'm in the market for a tablet for my kid. Currently using an iPad Pro which cannot be used with Linux, sadly. The iPadOS version on it does not get updates anymore. You might wanna run something like pmOS on it though, with a UI focussed on touchscreen. Not sure which one is best these days.

Potentially worth looking into old Surface Go's; from what I know they run Linux fairly reliably now and can be gotten suprisingly cheaply (the Go 2 with m3-8100Y processor seemingly being the sweet point of often appearing on ebay for crazily low prices relative to the performance boost if has compared to older/weaker models) Yet to set one up though so can't vouch 100% there.

That might be something, then. I do need to take into account repairability and battery replacement.

I have a GPD Pocket 2, and was wondering if I could/should repurpose that to such, or if I should give them access to my Hackberry Pi 5 (it has a Blackberry keyboard, perfect for little hands). Both have a touchscreen, but it isn't really made for say multitouch AFAIK. Still, he could at least use touch on the device. On our laptops he sometimes swipes. His big sister has a tablet (iPad Pro), and I like the parental controls on iPadOS, but OS does not get any updates anymore. I'm going to have to replace the battery of it at some point, not looking forward to that. GPD Pocket 2 and Hackberry Pi 5 battery replacement are a piss.

We also still have two MBPs from 2015 lying around. One my wife still uses for work, other one is backup. They'll both get their battery replaced after nearly 8 years, and both have 16 GB RAM, so these are still nice machines. With third party tooling, they can still run macOS, but macOS on x86-64 is coming to an end, and when that happens, Linux awaits. They can even run a Linux desktop on my NAS with remote session, if preferred. But I am not sure how decent multitouch is these days remotely. If it is any good, I'd be interesting running 'Android' (some AOSP-based OS) in a VM instead. I've done that in 2021/2022, using Waydroid, but not extensively. Just a few specific apps.

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#234

Post by dakolli »

exe34 wrote: post #171
dakolli wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer not letting my brain rot. You do you though.

I bet you don't understand any of the maths/physics that I work with. You see, I prefer not to waste my time with things that machines can do faster. Some people like the illusion of mastery though.

the illusion of mastery is the Dunning Kruger llms are giving to everyone.

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#235

Post by shrubble »

mikerg87 wrote: post #221
shrubble wrote: post #95

Such a system with 4GB is eminently useful for many applications; I have an old Acer Chromebook I installed Linux on and have it sitting in the corner quietly and coolly emulating a VAX system with performance equivalent to a Vaxstation 4000/60 or so.

Are you doing this with https://opensimh.org/ ?

Yes.

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#236

Post by ge96 »

ge96 wrote: post #215
sciencejerk wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How?

Just am, granted my app is basic JavaScript/Electron but yeah, I get these compulsions to buy old tech and use em. Like I bought 3 different ASUS Eee PC laptops and got pydantic ai to run on em with Python. It took hours to build the python wheels. The 2008 MacBook has a weird smell, it has a new battery but yeah. thought it was perfume from the old owner but I guess it's a thing with these laptops. I do have to use…

Zooming a picture can crash the UI/make VS code go blank

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#237

Post by tomaskafka »

SoftTalker wrote: post #212
tomaskafka wrote: post #167

This is exactly what I want from the iPad Pro. Unlock the virtualization support to let me have a debian/ubuntu VM with a complete development environment that I could take for holiday to make emergency fixes, and leave the precious MBP at home.

Sounds like defeating the purpose of a holiday.

Well, as an indie SaaS owner, my options are: - risk being hungry for upcoming months - risk losing macbook pro to beach sand in car boot - Apple actually unlocking the iPadOS

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#238

Post by tomaskafka »

fsflover wrote: post #187
tomaskafka wrote: post #167

This is exactly what I want from the iPad Pro. Unlock the virtualization support to let me have a debian/ubuntu VM with a complete development environment that I could take for holiday to make emergency fixes, and leave the precious MBP at home.

Here is the tablet that can do this: https://puri.sm/products/librem-11 . It can even run Qubes OS.

Yes, but I already have an iPad and they have an excellent hardware and keyboard. I'm mad at the thought that I'd buy additional hardware instead of Tim Shareholder Value enabling a single boolean flag.

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#239

Post by imtringued »

prmoustache wrote: post #122
nine_k wrote: post #23

Booting into Debian with most devices fully functional is great. What I'd like to know is what software runs adequately under it in 4 GB RAM. Web browsing should definitely be possible, but I suppose it's limited to very few tabs. Some very lightweight DE could likely make it more usable. Running something like WezTerm + tmux as the DE could be even more economical, leaving some room for e.g. development tools.

What software doesn't run with 4GB of ram is the real question.

The Claude Code installer doesn't.

Re: I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation

#240

Post by fsflover »

tomaskafka wrote: post #238
fsflover wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the tablet that can do this: https://puri.sm/products/librem-11 . It can even run Qubes OS.

Yes, but I already have an iPad and they have an excellent hardware and keyboard. I'm mad at the thought that I'd buy additional hardware instead of Tim Shareholder Value enabling a single boolean flag.

You made the wrong bet. Apple will never give its users freedom to run what they want. Free software can guarantee it though.
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