[gentoo-embedded] Android phones

[gentoo-embedded] Android phones

[wireless]

Hello,


Can the gentoo embedded, openmoko, or any other
embedded linux stack run on the (verizon) Android
(verizon droid) phone?


Isn't the Android(2.0) phone just somebody's Linux
stack? If so, is it an open/hackable embedded
linux stack for an Arm?

Verizon(Droid) is the one my son will not shut up
about. So and data dumps on the intricacies are
appreciated.

I'm still looking for a cool eGentoo on a fast ARM
as my next (gentoo) toy..... Who know, maybe I
teach the neighborhood delinquents (kids I mean)
how to hack gentoo onto a cell phone....
Verizon is the net of choice, but only if they
hardware is amicable to embedded gentoo.....

James

Re: [gentoo-embedded] Android phones

[Sven Rebhan]

2009/10/30 wireless <wireless@tampabay.rr.com>:
> Hello,

Hey!

> Can the gentoo embedded, openmoko, or any other
> embedded linux stack run on the (verizon) Android
> (verizon droid) phone?

The openmoko overlay does not have any ebuild for Android
and i doubt any other overlay has so far. But if you are
willing to provide ebuilds... ;-)

> Isn't the Android(2.0) phone just somebody's Linux
> stack? If so, is it an open/hackable embedded
> linux stack for an Arm?

And here the trouble starts. Android only uses the Linux
kernel, but the userland has nothing to do with a GNU/Linux
userland AFAIK. I had no deeper look, but  you probably
need another toolchain option... many ebuilds... and I'm
not even sure you can completelty rebuild Android as some
parts are proprietary IIRC.


> James

Sven

Re: [gentoo-embedded] Android phones

[Christopher Friedt]

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 8:34 PM, wireless <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> Can the gentoo embedded, openmoko, or any other
> embedded linux stack run on the (verizon) Android
> (verizon droid) phone?

yes.

my suggestions would be to

1) cross-compile busybox statically for armv5tel
2) push the busybox binary (and symlinks) to the device using adb
3) download a gentoo stage3 filesystem for armv5tel
4) extract the filesystem to a suitable memory card
5) log in to the device using 'adb shell'
6) execute '/bin/ash' (the busybox shell)
7) mount proc sys dev -o bind to your memory card, where the gentoo
root is installed
8) chroot to the gentoo root filesystem

If you do that, you'll have android and gentoo 'running' on the device
at the same time. I'm not sure how easy it is to do all of that on a
Motorola Droid, and you might need to make some software modifications
to start the adb (android debug bridge) service on the device.

You can of course do the same with an OpenMoko filesystem image
instead of a Gentoo filesystem image. Unfortunately, you won't be able
to use the framebuffer while Android is using it (AFAIK).

> Isn't the Android(2.0) phone just somebody's Linux
> stack? If so, is it an open/hackable embedded
> linux stack for an Arm?

I would suggest that you ask Motorola to release the source code for
their Droid Linux kernel. Aside from that, all of the available source
and documentation for Android is at http://source.android.com . Note
that most of the 'good' Android apps are not open source - they (e.g.
Google, Motorola, HTC) can get away with that because the userland is
made available under an Apache-2.0 license.

If you really want to experiment, then try to modify the Droid boot
loader so it will boot into your Gentoo root on /dev/mmcblk0p1 or
something instead of /dev/mdtblockX (where Android resides). You'll
probably want to check out mtd-utils to do that. Warning: You'll most
likely void your warranty by doing so, and you might end up with a
bricked device.

IMHO - the best (current) device you can use for a hackable handheld
is the Nokia N900 - I wish I had one myself.

Good luck!

Re: [gentoo-embedded] Android phones

[wireless]

Christopher Friedt wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 8:34 PM, wireless <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
>> Can the gentoo embedded, openmoko, or any other
>> embedded linux stack run on the (verizon) Android
>> (verizon droid) phone?
> 
> yes.
> 
> my suggestions would be to
> 
> 1) cross-compile busybox statically for armv5tel
> 2) push the busybox binary (and symlinks) to the device using adb
> 3) download a gentoo stage3 filesystem for armv5tel
> 4) extract the filesystem to a suitable memory card
> 5) log in to the device using 'adb shell'
> 6) execute '/bin/ash' (the busybox shell)
> 7) mount proc sys dev -o bind to your memory card, where the gentoo
> root is installed
> 8) chroot to the gentoo root filesystem
> 
> If you do that, you'll have android and gentoo 'running' on the device
> at the same time. I'm not sure how easy it is to do all of that on a
> Motorola Droid, and you might need to make some software modifications
> to start the adb (android debug bridge) service on the device.
> 
> You can of course do the same with an OpenMoko filesystem image
> instead of a Gentoo filesystem image. Unfortunately, you won't be able
> to use the framebuffer while Android is using it (AFAIK).
> 

Nice to know.

>> Isn't the Android(2.0) phone just somebody's Linux
>> stack? If so, is it an open/hackable embedded
>> linux stack for an Arm?
> 
> I would suggest that you ask Motorola to release the source code for
> their Droid Linux kernel. Aside from that, all of the available source
> and documentation for Android is at http://source.android.com . Note
> that most of the 'good' Android apps are not open source - they (e.g.
> Google, Motorola, HTC) can get away with that because the userland is
> made available under an Apache-2.0 license.

I do not think I'll be leading the charge here.
Just looking for folks that I can follow on
putting eGentoo on a cell phone, with wifi and
compatible with Verizon.

> If you really want to experiment, then try to modify the Droid boot
> loader so it will boot into your Gentoo root on /dev/mmcblk0p1 or
> something instead of /dev/mdtblockX (where Android resides). You'll
> probably want to check out mtd-utils to do that. Warning: You'll most
> likely void your warranty by doing so, and you might end up with a
> bricked device.

I do not think the DROID phone is what I want,
after looking more closely... However, I am wedded
to Verizon, for a variety of reasons, so the cell
phone I choose should run Gentoo and work with
Verizon and WiFi.

> IMHO - the best (current) device you can use for a hackable handheld
> is the Nokia N900 - I wish I had one myself.

I do not see much about this phone on Verizon's
wireless plans..... I could consider T-mobile?
I'm not sure about how good the T-mobile coverage
is in Florida?


James

Re: [gentoo-embedded] Android phones

[Raffaele Recalcati]

remind that the kernel has inside android patches, not, even if your
gentoo is chrooted, it could have some pb anyway

2009/11/5 wireless <wireless@tampabay.rr.com>:
> Christopher Friedt wrote:
>> On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 8:34 PM, wireless <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
>>> Can the gentoo embedded, openmoko, or any other
>>> embedded linux stack run on the (verizon) Android
>>> (verizon droid) phone?
>>
>> yes.
>>
>> my suggestions would be to
>>
>> 1) cross-compile busybox statically for armv5tel
>> 2) push the busybox binary (and symlinks) to the device using adb
>> 3) download a gentoo stage3 filesystem for armv5tel
>> 4) extract the filesystem to a suitable memory card
>> 5) log in to the device using 'adb shell'
>> 6) execute '/bin/ash' (the busybox shell)
>> 7) mount proc sys dev -o bind to your memory card, where the gentoo
>> root is installed
>> 8) chroot to the gentoo root filesystem
>>
>> If you do that, you'll have android and gentoo 'running' on the device
>> at the same time. I'm not sure how easy it is to do all of that on a
>> Motorola Droid, and you might need to make some software modifications
>> to start the adb (android debug bridge) service on the device.
>>
>> You can of course do the same with an OpenMoko filesystem image
>> instead of a Gentoo filesystem image. Unfortunately, you won't be able
>> to use the framebuffer while Android is using it (AFAIK).
>>
>
> Nice to know.
>
>>> Isn't the Android(2.0) phone just somebody's Linux
>>> stack? If so, is it an open/hackable embedded
>>> linux stack for an Arm?
>>
>> I would suggest that you ask Motorola to release the source code for
>> their Droid Linux kernel. Aside from that, all of the available source
>> and documentation for Android is at http://source.android.com . Note
>> that most of the 'good' Android apps are not open source - they (e.g.
>> Google, Motorola, HTC) can get away with that because the userland is
>> made available under an Apache-2.0 license.
>
> I do not think I'll be leading the charge here.
> Just looking for folks that I can follow on
> putting eGentoo on a cell phone, with wifi and
> compatible with Verizon.
>
>> If you really want to experiment, then try to modify the Droid boot
>> loader so it will boot into your Gentoo root on /dev/mmcblk0p1 or
>> something instead of /dev/mdtblockX (where Android resides). You'll
>> probably want to check out mtd-utils to do that. Warning: You'll most
>> likely void your warranty by doing so, and you might end up with a
>> bricked device.
>
> I do not think the DROID phone is what I want,
> after looking more closely... However, I am wedded
> to Verizon, for a variety of reasons, so the cell
> phone I choose should run Gentoo and work with
> Verizon and WiFi.
>
>> IMHO - the best (current) device you can use for a hackable handheld
>> is the Nokia N900 - I wish I had one myself.
>
> I do not see much about this phone on Verizon's
> wireless plans..... I could consider T-mobile?
> I'm not sure about how good the T-mobile coverage
> is in Florida?
>
>
> James
>
>
>

Re: [gentoo-embedded] Android phones

[Mike Dunn]

> IMHO - the best (current) device you can use for a hackable handheld
> is the Nokia N900 - I wish I had one myself.
>   

If you're just looking for a hacker project and not concerned about 
using a smartphone from the latest generation, you may also want to 
consider a Palm Treo 650 or Treo 680.  Support for the 680 just went 
into the mainline Linux kernel, and others have ported to the 650 as 
well.  You can pick them up pretty cheap on ebay.  I've been playing 
around with both phones using a gentoo embedded environment, focusing 
mostly on reverse engineering the hardware with an eye towards 
developing drivers for the hardware components not yet supported by the 
kernel.  I'm able to boot the kernel on both devices.  The usb client 
hardware on the phone is supported, so I'm also able to ssh into the 
phone from my desktop via usbnet.  At least one person has documented 
success at making calls on the 650 (not sure about the 680 - I haven't 
gotten around to it for either phone).  See http://www.hackndev.com as a 
starting point.  One of the principal guys on that site developed a 
Linux boot loader (cocoboot) for the Palm OS, and all their reverse 
engineering efforts are documented on the wiki hosted on the site.

Re: [gentoo-embedded] Android phones

[wireless]

Mike Dunn wrote:
> 
>> IMHO - the best (current) device you can use for a hackable handheld
>> is the Nokia N900 - I wish I had one myself.
>>   
> 
> If you're just looking for a hacker project and not concerned about
> using a smartphone from the latest generation, 

Ugh, that is exactly what I want. A smart phone
running eGentoo with WiFi on Verizon's net.......

sry for not making this clear.


James

Re: [gentoo-embedded] Android phones

[Christopher Friedt]

On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 8:21 PM, wireless <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> Mike Dunn wrote:
> Ugh, that is exactly what I want. A smart phone
> running eGentoo with WiFi on Verizon's net.......

Another good platform is the HTC Wizard ;-) There are several people
working on this at the moment, including myself. It runs android
(wing-linux) as well as a Gentoo (linwizard). It's GSM though, and I
think that the Droid is a CDMA phone.

Re: [gentoo-embedded] Android phones

[wireless]

Christopher Friedt wrote:

>> Ugh, that is exactly what I want. A smart phone
>> running eGentoo with WiFi on Verizon's net.......
> 
> Another good platform is the HTC Wizard ;-) There are several people
> working on this at the moment, including myself. It runs android
> (wing-linux) as well as a Gentoo (linwizard). It's GSM though, and I
> think that the Droid is a CDMA phone.

http://www.omapzoom.org/

Do you think this dev kit will run the code base
you guys already Have? I have a good relationship
with some of TI's FAEs.....


Which US cellular operators support GSM?

Re: [gentoo-embedded] Android phones

[Mike Dunn]

wireless wrote:
> Which US cellular operators support GSM?
>   

AT&T (formerly Cingular) and T-Mobile are GSM.  The other carriers are CDMA.

Re: [gentoo-embedded] Android phones

[wireless]

>> Which US cellular operators support GSM?

> AT&T (formerly Cingular) and T-Mobile are GSM.  The other carriers are
> CDMA.


OK, that's what I thought too. Look item 15 here
in this wikipedia doc:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators

GSM/GPRS are listed for Verizon. Maybe they were
part of the Alltel network?


Also, verizon sells the HTC "touch diamond" and
the HTC "Ozone". I guess these support cmda or
CDMA2000 ?

I'm leaning towards the HTC wizard device, if I
can ensure it works on Verizon's cellular net....


James