Launch Angstrom on Android

06 Aug 2013 | android linuxdeploy

You can run the Ångström distribution on Android using Linux Deploy.

Playbook

• Create a system image (rootfs) in tar.gz format on the website narcissus.angstrom-distribution.org and get a link to the archive.

• In the Linux Deploy 1.4.1+ application, create a new profile and specify the following in the parameters:
  • Distribution - RootFS;
  • Mirror URL - the previously received link;
  • Installation type - File;
  • Installation path - the path to the image file (for example, /sdcard/angstrom.img);
  • Image size (MB) - 100 (possible more);
  • User name - android;
  • Desktop environment - XTerm.

• Start the installation via “Properties” -> “Install”. As a result, a disk image file must be created on the memory card and the rootfs archive unpacked into it.

• Install the required packages and perform the basic configuration. To do this, from any Android terminal, perform (through the ConnectBot program or another terminal, perform from the root):

  linuxdeploy shell "opkg update"
  linuxdeploy shell "opkg install initscripts sysvinit sysvinit-pidof shadow bash \
    localedef glibc-localedata-en-us glibc-localedata-ru-ru tzdata dropbear sudo \
    xserver-xorg-xvfb x11vnc xinit xterm"
  linuxdeploy configure
  

• Start SSH Server:

  linuxdeploy shell "/etc/init.d/dropbear start"
  

  Now you can connect via SSH: login - android, password - changeme, port 22.

• Stop SSH Server:

  linuxdeploy shell "/etc/init.d/dropbear stop"
  

• Start VNC Server:

  linuxdeploy shell
  xinit /bin/su - android -c 'export DISPLAY=:0; ~/.vnc/xstartup' -- /usr/bin/Xvfb :0 -screen 0 800x400x16 -nolisten tcp -ac &
  su - android -c 'x11vnc -forever -display :0 -wait 10' &
  

  Now you can connect via VNC: password - changeme, port 5900.

• Stop VNC Server:

  pkill -9 Xvfb
  

• Configuring automatic SSH start/stop via Linux Deploy (START/STOP buttons):

  linuxdeploy shell "cp /etc/init.d/dropbear /etc/init.d/ssh"
  

• Configuring automatic start/stop of VNC via Linux Deploy (START/STOP buttons):

  linuxdeploy shell
  cat << EOF > /usr/bin/vncserver
  #!/bin/sh
  [ $# -eq 0 ] && exit 1
  VNC_DISPLAY=$1
  shift
  while true
  do
    case $1 in
    -depth)
        VNC_DEPTH=$2; shift 2; continue
    ;;
    -geometry)
        VNC_GEOMETRY=$2; shift 2; continue
    ;;
    -dpi)
        VNC_DPI=$2; shift 2; continue
    ;;
    *)
        break
    ;;
    esac
  done
  if [ -n "$VNC_DEPTH" -a -n "$VNC_GEOMETRY" -a -n "$VNC_DPI" ]
  then
    Xvfb ${VNC_DISPLAY} -screen 0 ${VNC_GEOMETRY}x${VNC_DEPTH} -dpi ${VNC_DPI} -nolisten tcp -ac &
    x11vnc -forever -display ${VNC_DISPLAY} -wait 10 &
    sleep 1
    DISPLAY=${VNC_DISPLAY} ~/.vnc/xstartup &
  else
    pkill -9 Xvfb
  fi
  EOF
  chmod 755 /usr/bin/vncserver
  

Notice: In order for the linuxdeploy command to be available from the Android console, you need to allow creating a symbolic link in the system (“Settings” -> “Create a simlink”) and updating the working environment (“Settings” -> “Update ENV”) in the settings. However, this is an optional requirement, and you can call the linuxdeploy command using the full path ENV_DIR/bin/linuxdeploy, where ENV_DIR is the directory of the working environment, by default /data/data/ru.meefik.linuxdeploy/linux.