And any Linux distro like Samsung?

[vcatpt]

"Samsung to support Linux distributions on Galaxy handsets"

Samsung to support Linux distributions on Galaxy handsets [LWN.net]

What about FairPhone?

[AnotherElk]

https://forum.fairphone.com/c/software/alternative-oses

[ben]

I think what @vcatpt meant is Samsung Dex with Linux. Dex enables you to run a desktop like interface on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Note 8. Linux on Galaxy enables you to install a Linux distribution in the Samsung device that can be used in the desktop mode.

I find that a funny idea, I am not totally sold on its usability, but it’s nice. That said, don’t get your hopes to high yet. There a two reasons:

1. Samsung Dex and Linux on Galaxy are great engineering achievements, I guess it took Samsung years to develop that. The Linux on Galaxy feature was announced only weeks ago, so more then six months after Dex. Both are proprietary Samsung technology. And Samsung is a huge company with previous OS development know how. This is not something Fairphone can replicate. So unless there is an open source alternative developed by a community like Lineage or Samsung Open Sources the software, that’s simply impossible for Fairphone to achieve. And even if that happens, I suspect its still a lot of work.
2. The S8 and Note 8 are both very powerful devices. They have a very fast processor, fast internal storage and more ram. They might even have a special chip to enable HDMI output while connecting a mouse and keyboard via USB. Anyways, I suspect the FP2 will never be able to run a Linux desktop inside Android because of only 2GB of system memory .

[Stefan]

@stanzi aren’t you running Linux Debian in an emulator?

[Stanzi]

@Stefan oh yeah thank you for reminding me that this was a stupid idea. I mounted the internal storage to the Debian emulator (DON’T DO THIS IF YOU HAVE, UNLIKE ME, MORE THAN 0 BRAIN CELLS!!!). I uninstalled the emulator app and - badaboom - 10GB (!!!) of pictures, music, documents… G.O.N.E…

[M_Dammer]

Linux Deploy: Run real Linux on your FP2

I can recommend “Linux Deploy” for those who want a fully blown Linux installation on their FP2 or other Android devices. I tested it today and the performance running Ubuntu with LXDE desktop and desktop apps like LibreOffice was outstanding. Linux Deploy is not a virtual machine hypervisor but mounts the linux filesystem in a chroot “jail” and shares Androids kernel and the phone hardware. You can even run several distros in parallel. VNC viewer (on F-Droid) or any other VNC application dire…

[JeroenH]

Why didn’t you back it up (encrypted) in the cloud? Did you attempt data recovery?

You can run Termux (with Hacker Keyboard) and also you can remotely log in another machine via SSH. A smartphone is meant as a thin client not a standalone machine. Maybe if they’re stronger (CPU, RAM, storage, battery, etc).

Convergence pretty much commercially failed. We had Microsoft with Lumia, but Windows Phone flopped. We also had Ubuntu Touch which is discontinued and just a community project nowadays. If you want a portable OS another option is to just grab an Intel stick or equiv for ~100 EUR. You can run Windows 10, Linux, ChromeOS, and many other on it. It doesn’t run on your small phone screen but then again you don’t want a DE on such a small screen and if you do, you’re an irrelevant minority.

[petefoth]

@ben

So unless there is an open source alternative developed by a community like Lineage or Samsung Open Sources the software,

There is - it’s called Sailfish OS. According to this post on the Mer wiki it looks like it pretty much works

Pete

[oli.sax]

@JeroenH

We also had Ubuntu Touch which is discontinued and just a community project nowadays

Indeed Ubuntu Touch was discontinued by Canonical, but the community of UBPorts is doing a big job at improving it, the OS is stable and functional enough to be used as a daily driver, and “convergence” is already possible ! (with Aethercast/Miracast, as FP2 has no hdmi output)

[Roboe]

USB Mountr (Use your device as a USB flash drive) - https://f-droid.org/app/streetwalrus.usbmountr

With this app you can load an ISO file containing a Linux system. It can be a read-only live distro (like most distros installers, or TAILS) or a (manual) full-featured instalation.

[M_Dammer]

@Roboe, Usbmountr works the other way around: The app allows your device (in our case the FP2) to act as a generic USB storage device with the storage being the mounted ISO. This allows booting the ISO on the host (the PC the FP2 is plugged in to), but does not boot it on the phone itself. So if you have a large MicroSD card in your phone you can have several ISOs stored on your phone, ready to be used whenever you need an installer or live system. This comes handy when one does not want to carry a load of USB sticks around.

[AnotherElk]

I think @Roboe was saying it could be used as a sort of convergence that way.

[Roboe]

Yes, my brevity played against me —sorry for that. I was on-the-go.

[ChrisPHL]

Hi folks,

another know project of the Linux-on-Android idea is this one: https://f-droid.org/packages/org.dyndns.sven_ola.debian_kit/.
I call an old Samsung Galaxy S2 (i9100g) my own. So didn’t test this yet but I think it looks/sounds promising.