{"id":3074,"date":"2017-09-19T17:15:07","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T14:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.systemcodegeeks.com\/?p=3074"},"modified":"2017-09-19T11:37:42","modified_gmt":"2017-09-19T08:37:42","slug":"install-debianlxde-android-tablet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.systemcodegeeks.com\/linux\/debian\/install-debianlxde-android-tablet\/","title":{"rendered":"How to install Debian+LXDE on ANY Android Tablet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Running a linux distro on android devices is a hot topic these days, and why not? After all, android is already based on linux kernel, but a pretty much locked-down and dumbed-down version of it. The OEM doesn\u2019t give you root and in most cases, not even an open source bootloader or kernel.<\/span><\/p>\n

That way, its good for maybe the most average user who doesn\u2019t care about the OS and just want to use their phones. But for a power user, that\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The so called apps available in the Play Store don\u2019t allow you to utilize the full power of your linux device. A power user always wants to have the power of a full linux distro (such as Debian or Ubuntu or Fedora) on his\/her device.<\/p>\n

For a long time, I researched for the best way to install a linux distro on a tablet, preferably one that didn\u2019t involve rooting or partitioning the device. The\u00a0debian guide<\/a>\u00a0lists down several methods and apps to do this such as Linux Deploy, GNURoot, Termux, etc. Out of them, the least risky and one that supports most android devices (including my KitKat tablet) is\u00a0GNURoot-Debian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once you install this app on your tablet, it creates a self-contained\u00a0chroot<\/code>\u00a0install of debian using a tool called\u00a0Proot<\/a>. Once that is done, all you need to do is open up the app terminal and just start using it:<\/p>\n

apt-get update\r\napt-get install tmux vim gcc python python3 python3-pip<\/pre>\n
Of course, these are just some of the packages that I\u2019ve installed, you can do whatever you want with your linux installation. The only limitation is regarding multiple user logins. By default, the app will login you as\u00a0root<\/code>\u00a0and while you can create additional users using\u00a0useradd<\/code>\u00a0command, don\u2019t expect things like\u00a0setuid<\/code>\u00a0and\u00a0setgid<\/code>\u00a0to work. The only way to switch user is using the\u00a0su - yourLogin<\/code>\u00a0command (whilst the\u00a0login<\/code>\u00a0command should work too in theory, I\u2019m having a few problems with it presently, it might need some fixing in \/etc\/pam.d\/* configuration files).<\/p>\n
Further, if you have good amount of RAM on your tablet, you may consider using a desktop environment along with your headless installation (LXDE is recommended as it performs best on minimal resources). In order to do that, you\u2019ll need two things:<\/p>\n
    \n
  1. XServer-XSDL app<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. LXDE\/XFCE desktop installed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    The former is used to interact with the headless XServer installation of your debian and provide you a graphical desktop environment. For the latter, you\u2019ll have to just\u00a0apt-get install lxde<\/code>\u00a0(or lxde-core depending on your choice). Then, in order to use the desktop any time on your tablet:<\/p>\n
    1) Open XServer-XSDL app, follow the instructions until you reach a blue screen.<\/p>\n
    2) Go to the debian installation and run:
    \nexport DISPLAY=:0 PULSE_SERVER=tcp:127.0.0.1:4712
    \nstartlxde &<\/p>\n
    3) Go back to XServer-XSDL app to interact with the desktop.<\/p>\n
    If all goes well, you should be able to see an lxde desktop like the one shown in the above screen. Coupled with the keyboard case and a bunch of great linux apps (such as vim, emacs, geany, inkscape, eclipse, etc.), you should be able to convert your mobile tablet into a great development machine on wheels.<\/p>\n
    References:<\/p>\n