Ubuntu on vega (other method) 05/04/2011

[Guest owenoliver1]

Originally on XDA

Links to Ubuntu 10.10 Image and Startup Script (around 1.5GB download):

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L9S70C8V

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MS1KUUGW

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YCMNO224

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H6XZX9JB

Open with 7Zip or similar to unzip.

What is this?

An ubuntu 10.10 maverick (with LXDE window manager) machine in your pocket. Perfectly usable from the phone itself using a VNC client, this allows you to install any ubuntu software onto your phone and have it with you always. Coupled with the (potential) ability for your phone to be hooked up to a television with TV Out (works with the Nokia TV Out cable available on eBay), and for (supposedly any) HID-compliant bluetooth keyboard and mouse to be linked up to the phone (requires Android 2.2), this really does become a PC in your pocket.

Requirements:

- android phone

- superuser + busybox

Included:

- 3.5GB virtual machine image (ubuntu.img) with ubuntu and certain applications pre-installed (listed below). The image is resizable with uec-resize-image, although FAT32 (the most likely format of your SD Card) has a maximum file size of <4GB.

- A script to boot into ubuntu from android (ubuntu.sh)

- A script to start the VNC Server and other startup commands. This is contained within the ubuntu.img file at /root/init.sh, accessible and modifiable once ubuntu.img has successfully booted.

How to boot:

- Place ubuntu.sh and ubuntu.img in the same directory in your SD storage.

- Enter a terminal and enter 'su' to become a superuser (root).

- Navigate to the directory where you placed the files (e.g. "cd /sdcard/external_sd/ubuntu").

- Execute the script by typing "sh ubuntu.sh".

Tip: Some android terminal emulators (e.g. better terminal) allow you to specify an initial command that is run as soon as you launch the application. Multiple initial commands can be defined by pressing return between each command when you define it, so for example the initial command:

su <return>

cd /sdcard/external_sd/ubuntu <return>

sh ubuntu.sh <return>

will boot you into ubuntu and start the VNC server as soon as you launch the terminal application. All that remains is to VNC into it before you can start using it.

Note: I have noticed that some android apps with process/activity management options (e.g. Spare Parts) possibly interfered with the running of Ubuntu and would kill "inactive" shell emulators (even when they were just idling) - thus killing the idling ubuntu environment. Also, I found it to be at its most stable after a fresh reboot of the phone.

How to connect:

Once you have booted the image (see instructions above), you simply need to fire up your VNC client of choice (androidVNC or pocketcloud VNC are good options), and simply add a new VNC server with address localhost, port 5900, and password 'ubuntu' - then hit connect.

- androidVNC has the advantage of pinch to zoom and generally feels nicer - set colour to 24bpp when adding the connection, and Input mode to touchpad once connected (this sometimes resets and needs re-doing at the start of a session).

- pocketcloud VNC has the advantage that no intermediate text input window is required when doing text input and may be preferred by some people.

- It has been suggested that the Dingul hangul keyboard is good for direct access to common command line characters such as / and * etc. It is however in Korean but can be set to use a QWERTY keyboard.

What software is pre-installed?

Base System (with all updates as of 19/02/11:

Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick) Core

LXDE (Lightweight Windows-like GUI) with tightvnc server.

Applications (with all updates as of 19/02/11):

Firefox, Thunderbird, openoffice.org suite, GIMP Image Editor, Emacs Text Editor (geared towards programming), C and C++ build-essential, Java JDK, Python, TeXlive and TeXmaker LaTeX editor, Transmission BitTorrent Client, eVince PDF Viewer, File Manager, Terminal, Image Viewer, Leafpad Text Editor, Synaptic Package Manager and Ubuntu Software Center with all repositories enabled (Ubuntu Software Center is pretty and well organized - but bloated and slow), SSH server, Gnash (GNU flash player/plugin for Firefox - as there is no official generla flash pluging for armel CPUs)..

Obviously, you are free to add and remove apps as you see fit (through Synaptic or Ubuntu Software Center)..

I hope people find this useful, and that it works without too many problems.

Martin Rhodes ([email protected], fire314 @ XDA).

Note: If anyone ends up creating a custom ubuntu.img using rootstock, remember to create the directory /data/local/tmp within it as this is where the linux system will be expecting to find its temporary directory if booted (chroot'd) from android - and it is not there by default.

[Guest ezynow]

This sounds really good :D

Few questions:

Is this a full linux environment? For example are we using android wifi drivers or actual mainstream linux.

Never used vnc to connect to linux as such - is this the cli?

Can a graphical desktop environment like gnome be used?

Does it have tegra driver support or glx es (cant remember the name)?

Finally, can xmbc (tegra version if exists) used with this?

Cheers.

[Guest Lupulus]

I tested this today, and it almost works. Sort of.

I get a grayish background with black and white mouse pointer "X" which reacts to touch events, but I can't get it to actually do anything. It does not react to key events or mouse clicks.

It may well be The Little X That Could, but to me, it just sits there.

[Guest warwound]

This is COOL!

Got it working no problems using PocketCloud.

warwound

[Guest warwound]

How to shutdown the Ubuntu virtual machine..?

Using the GUI menu > Log out > Shutdown or Reboot does nothing.

And using the 'shutdown 1' command in the terminal doesn't work either.

The terminal says shutting down in one minute but it doesn't.

Any ideas?

warwound.

[Guest Zebrahead]

How to shutdown the Ubuntu virtual machine..?

Using the GUI menu > Log out > Shutdown or Reboot does nothing.

And using the 'shutdown 1' command in the terminal doesn't work either.

The terminal says shutting down in one minute but it doesn't.

Any ideas?

warwound.

sudo shutdown -h now

no?

Zeb

[Guest warwound]

sudo shutdown -h now

no?

Zeb

I can't test that right now as Ubuntu is no longer working :) .

I boot it via terminal and it looks ok but PocketCloud fails to connect with a 'Session Disconnected...' message.

Presumably the virtual machine image is damaged and not bootable.

warwound.

[Guest mxbob]

i finally got round to giving this a go

works really well

only problem i have is shutting it down

non of the options mentioned above seem to work

anyone have any other ideas?

thanks

[Guest raz0r38]

Great work! Works perfect!

https://picasaweb.google.com/10769368412011...feat=directlink

Edited May 3, 2011 by raz0r38

[Guest xathras]

I finally found a clean way to exit.

From your running Ubuntu hit your Home button to get back to your Vega desktop. Then open your terminal app again. You should still be able to see the part in the ubuntu.sh script that ends "this may take some time......". Now type exit and hit Return. You should then see the last part of the ubuntu.sh script execute the sync and unmount commands.

NOTE: The confusing part of this is that when you type "exit", there is no # symbol prompt and the keystrokes are NOT echoed to the screen; so type slowly and carefully.

[Guest Ramnath]

Cool.

This work, however, however, when I connect through androidVNC client, I cant seem to find a way to actually resize to full screen in my vega, at best what I can get is the linux desktop centered to the vega display, and both the sides in dark area. Also, looks like I am not able to connect to internet. Anyone else with the problem?

Edited May 13, 2011 by Ramnath

[Guest mxbob]

Cool.

This work, however, however, when I connect through androidVNC client, I cant seem to find a way to actually resize to full screen in my vega, at best what I can get is the linux desktop centered to the vega display, and both the sides in dark area. Also, looks like I am not able to connect to internet. Anyone else with the problem?

i never got it working fullscreen (best I got was it showing fullscreen but having to scroll to get to stuff that didn’t fit) but my internet is definitely working in it and transmission seems to download torrents directly to my vega quicker than I can download them on my windows pc

[Guest Ramnath]

Ok. I got the fullscreen working.

you need to boot the ubuntu, and open /root/init.sh and change the RESOLUTION from 800x600 to 1024x600. Reboot ubuntu,

As far as the internet is concerned, I am still trying. Can you tell me if you changed something in install.sh or something inside ubuntu?

On a side note, I am bit concerned about connecting to Internet as root. have you tried creating a new user and logging in through that?

i never got it working fullscreen (best I got was it showing fullscreen but having to scroll to get to stuff that didn’t fit) but my internet is definitely working in it and transmission seems to download torrents directly to my vega quicker than I can download them on my windows pc

[Guest HypoTurtle]

Ok. I got the fullscreen working.

you need to boot the ubuntu, and open /root/init.sh and change the RESOLUTION from 800x600 to 1024x600. Reboot ubuntu,

As far as the internet is concerned, I am still trying. Can you tell me if you changed something in install.sh or something inside ubuntu?

On a side note, I am bit concerned about connecting to Internet as root. have you tried creating a new user and logging in through that?

I cn't seem to be able to start anything, can open folders but thats it no firefox or openoffice etc. any ideas.

Have tried androidvpc and pocketcloud and would say that it works better with androidvnc

[Guest owenoliver1]

bumped becuase people want it

[Guest phil8715]

bumped becuase people want it

I tried this a few weeks back, I am not sure if the main image file downloaded properly, you say it should be 1.5gb but when I downloaded it the file size was about 250mb.

When I tried to run it I kept getting connections errors.

Edited July 3, 2011 by phil8715

[Guest geeky]

Right I must be having an old day, I downloaded all of the files above and tried to extract them with p7zip -d Ubuntu.zip.001 on my linuxmachine but it wouldn't work, something about a non recognized prefix?? Anyone managed to find a program to extract the zips either on android or Linux?

Any chance the image could be uploaded as a single file?

Thanks

[Guest geeky]

Right I must be having an old day, I downloaded all of the files above and tried to extract them with p7zip -d Ubuntu.zip.001 on my linuxmachine but it wouldn't work, something about a non recognized prefix?? Anyone managed to find a program to extract the zips either on android or Linux?

Any chance the image could be uploaded as a single file?

Thanks

Just wondering if anyone can help with the above please?

[Guest Zebrahead]

Just wondering if anyone can help with the above please?

7z should do it.

Not that a file extension means anything, but the fact that it ends in 001 implies that it may be the first of a couple of parts to the zip?

a) Are all of the parts in the same directory?

:blink: Are you sure you're trying to extract the "root" part?

Zeb

[Guest geeky]

7z should do it.

Not that a file extension means anything, but the fact that it ends in 001 implies that it may be the first of a couple of parts to the zip?

a) Are all of the parts in the same directory?

:blink: Are you sure you're trying to extract the "root" part?

Zeb

All of the files listed in the first post are in the same directory, I don't know which is root but I would have thought the p7zip -d Ubuntu.zip.001 would have worked.

[Guest geeky]

Anyone help me please?

[Guest swerv-o]

Hi Geeky,

Did you solve this problem? I have exactly the same problem now - I keep getting the same error message you did.

S

Anyone help me please?

[Guest mxbob]

<br />Hi Geeky,<br /><br />Did you solve this problem? I have exactly the same problem now - I keep getting the same error message you did.<br /><br /><br />S<br /><br /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

sounds like the download is dodgy

i would be willing to uplaod the image as a single files but its 3.5 gig unzipped and even zipped thats going to be to large for any of the file hosting services i know off

if anyone has any ideas how/where i could uplaod it give me a shout

[Guest swerv-o]

<br /><br /><br />

sounds like the download is dodgy

i would be willing to uplaod the image as a single files but its 3.5 gig unzipped and even zipped thats going to be to large for any of the file hosting services i know off

if anyone has any ideas how/where i could uplaod it give me a shout

Hey mxbob,

I think I have solved it now, and the download is fine. In Linux Mint, it is just a simple case of right clicking over the ubuntu.zip.001 file and then selecting 'Extract here' in the menu. It went off and did the rest itself. No need to concatenate the files together or anything.

The problem I have now is that it seems to hang when booting the ubuntu image - the terminal says:

'Booting Ubuntu image... This may take some time...'

and then just hangs there. I left it doing that all night, but it hadn't changed this morning, so I am assuming that something has gone wrong with booting the Ubuntu image.

Anybody have any clues?

S

[Guest mxbob]

<br />Hey mxbob,<br /><br />I think I have solved it now, and the download is fine. In Linux Mint, it is just a simple case of right clicking over the ubuntu.zip.001 file and then selecting 'Extract here' in the menu. It went off and did the rest itself. No need to concatenate the files together or anything.<br /><br />The problem I have now is that it seems to hang when booting the ubuntu image - the terminal says:<br /><br />'Booting Ubuntu image... This may take some time...'<br /><br />and then just hangs there. I left it doing that all night, but it hadn't changed this morning, so I am assuming that something has gone wrong with booting the Ubuntu image.<br /><br />Anybody have any clues?<br /><br /><br />S<br />

<br /><br /><br />

been a while since i used this but i have a feeling thats all it does just run the script and when you get that message load your vnc and try to connect