On Mon, Oct 22, 2012 at 01:42:51PM -0700, Yasha Karant wrote:
> ... I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7 (USA version) ...
> [with] Android, ... ARM CPU platform.
> ... I am considering attempting to switch it it to Linux.
Gaaahh! Crazy Yasha is back!
> Evidently, there is both an Ubuntu and Arch distribution for some
> versions of the ARM platform -- any versions of EL for this
> platform? Anyone using Linux on this platform?
There is a major misunderstanding regarding the ARM "platform".
An "ARM platform" does not exist.
Unlike the "PC platform" where "PC hardware" is highly standardized
and almost any OS can run on almost any vendor hardware,
the "ARM platform" is more like the early Linux days where instead
of 3 video card makers there were 23 of them, all incompatible,
all without Linux drivers. If you had the "wrong" video card,
too bad, no soup for you.
In the ARM world, there is a zoo of different ARM processors,
all incompatible with each other (think as if each Android device
had a random CPU - a 16-bit i8086, or a 32-bit i386, or a 64-bit i7 -
the variation in capabilities is that high).
Then each device contains random i/o chips connected in it's own
special way - there is no PCI/PCIe bus where everything is standardized.
There are several WiFi chips, several Bluetooth, USB, etc chips. Some
have Linux drivers, some do not.
As result, there is no generic Linux that will run on every ARM machine.
It is even worse.
There is no generic Android OS that will run on every ARM machine:
Look at CyanogenMod - a community effort to port "generic" Android
to every available phone or tablet. They have to port the code specifically
to each device:
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Devices_Overview
>
> If not, and there are any members of this list who also use this
> sort of platform under Android, off list correspondence and
> recommendations would be appreciated (e.g., how to get bash working,
> how to get non-GUI file and directory manipulation commands, etc.).
>
There are android apps for some of these things, but all the good
stuff is outside of the google "play" store. Much open source
android apps (MyTracks, etc) live on the google project hosting
site: http://code.google.com/hosting/search?q=label%3aAndroid
> Typical amateur end-user material that I have seen on some of the
> Android lists (e.g., the use as an entertainment device) is of less
> use to me. Several of my students have discussed "rooting" Android
> to get around the limitations imposed by the environment and getting
> closer to the underlying linux core (that is missing most of the
> support programs and APIs that make functional a regular linux
> distribution), but I need to more fully understand the consequences
> for this approach before proceeding (as well as getting detailed
> how-to instructions).
You may discover that you have to root your device to do anything
interesting at all.
In the nutshell, an android device is like a Linux PC with an unknown
root password. (actually the password is blank, but chmod u+s /bin/su
and /bin/sudo are missing so you cannot get in).
Rooting is like using a blow torch to open the hood of your own car that (for better
or worse) was welded shut by the car maker.
To extend the analogy, with Win8/WinRT MS require that the car hood
be made out of titanium, regular blow torch does not work, you have
to use an h-bomb (illegal is some countries).
--
Konstantin Olchanski
Data Acquisition Systems: The Bytes Must Flow!
Email: olchansk-at-triumf-dot-ca
Snail mail: 4004 Wesbrook Mall, TRIUMF, Vancouver, B.C., V6T 2A3, Canada
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