I have several noob questions about Linux on mobile
- Why can you brick android phone by installing custom ROM. But such thing can't happen on x86? Or how likely is that. From what I read it is because it doesn't have bios and you can overwrite phone hardware drivers how true is that with recent devices? And I assume it is impossible to recower from software bricking?
- Is that true that on Halium kernel distribution you can't use universal packages (flatpak, nix, snap, appimage), only precompiled for its specyfic system only? Is there any bypass of that to use something like apk like on android? Or are there any disadvantages to use it apart from EOL security.
- Is there any good list how to start with Linux on phone? List of devices (probably oneplus 6, pixel 3a, fairphone 4), distros (probably Ubuntu touch, mobian, postmarketOS). The smoothest experience, preferably with dual boot.
- Is there some recomended tablets to test with Linux mobile? It seems preferred way for me considering calling, camera and other issues which are on Linux mobile. Is recomended devices from postmarketos tablet tab?
- Why battery life is worse on Linux than on android, I watched some reviews and they complained about short battery life.
- I watched someone run Linux distros by clicking on android quick settings tray and it opened Linux desktop, but it was not mobile. How it is called and is there a way to run it with plasma mobile?
- Is porting for newer devices getting easier with time or is getting harder?
- How is process of jailbreaking with locked bootloader done? Can it be automated?
- Is there megatread or some wiki with some basic question like these?
Thanks for answers. Sorry for long text.
15 Comments
GaumBeist@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 128d
You need to OEM unlock the bootloader, which is either as simple as toggling a setting or as hard as getting access to cryptographic keys that are tightly controlled by the OEM (or developing an exploit that circumvents the need for those keys), depending on the phone's OEM. Then you go into fastboot and either flash a custom ROM (if by "jailbreaking" you mean installing a custom OS) or a patched init image (if by "jailbreaking" you mean breaking out of the chroot jail on stock Android)
Almost certainly no, as that would require violating several major security boundaries that keep random apps (e.g. malware) from giving themselves root privileges and completely compromising your device. Obviously some devices are accidentally this insecure, and therefore lend themselves to automated jailbreaking, but you shouldn't want that (for obvious reasons)
Although some steps can be automated—e.g. GrapheneOS only requires you to unlock the bootloader, and then takes care of everything else via USB thru their website (and a Chromium-based browser)
mecen@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 128d
Even for very old devices, 2 GB ram era tablet? Because it has android 5 or something there is probably plenty of wurneabilies in this version of android?
Manufacturer stopped releasing OEM keys for this device for may years.
GaumBeist@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 128d
To be brutally honest, I don't know. I'm not as familiar with the hardware ecosystem of that era. If I had to guess, I would assume they were probably using the same basic security model at the time, but you know what they say about assuming.
Are there any threads about unlocking/rooting/jailbreaking your device on xdaforums.com?
mecen@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 128d
https://xdaforums.com/t/help-how-to-unlock-huawei-mediapad-t3-7-bg2-w09-bootloader.4198377/
https://www.reddit.com/r/androidroot/comments/m36s00/rooting_huawei_mediapad_t3/
Seems no any luck
poVoq@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 128d
ivan@piefed.social · 4 pts · 128d
I'd add to 3 , that most mobile distros have a list of supported devices - postmarketOS Wiki for example.
And about battery optimizations ( 5 ) - Android devices have quite a number of tricks for battery optimizations, such as few levels of sleep - depending on how long the phone wasn't touched - with deepest one being very low power consumption mode with only very basic functions active and occasional data refresh for push notifications of high importance. Mobile Linux isn't yet at that level of optimization, but it will get there eventually.
mecen@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 128d
1 in comments he written that bricking by installing os incorrectly, can be repaired by reinstalling system? https://blorpblorp.xyz/home/posts/https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.ca%2Fpost%2F63446804/comments/https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.dbzer0.com%2Fcomment%2F25574555
2 so halium main disadvantage is only EOL kernel and proprietary drivers? And halium seems pretty similar to 6 point from this post or not?
6 can it be a good method to test waters with Linux on mobile?
8 Even for very old devices, 2 GB ram era tablet? Because it has android 5 or something there is probably plenty of wurneabilies in this version?
poVoq@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 128d
(1) sometimes, yes. It really depends 🤷
(2) And some stuff like the camera api is different from what mainline linux uses, so you need a special camera app etc. And the Android kernels lacks some features like virtualisation afaik.
(6) I haven't tried it, but it seems to be mainly for running desktop linux distributions.
(8) Again, device specific. There are basically no standards in the ARM space for that, especially for old Android devices.
tu11ebukk@piefed.social · 3 pts · 128d
Have a look at Droidian - it’s aim is to be as close to Mobian / Debian, but running Halium instead of mainline kernel
mecen@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 128d
Does it make it better?
poVoq@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 128d
In theory much wider hardware support.
tu11ebukk@piefed.social · 3 pts · 128d
Depending on what you’re looking for .
UT is great, but if you’re familiar with Linux, Droidian is closer to what you’re used to from your desktop. You’ve got APT, flatpak and the terminal on your phone.
fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 128d
PCs have a well documented and standard bios (UEFI now), and the process of booting of external media is standard. Plus hardware is extremely custom in ARM land.
Also when people "brick" their phone they usually just loaded a bad rom on it and soft bricked it. Most of the time you're not flashing anything that would actually hard brick it. Delete system32 and now you've "bricked" your PC.
mecen@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 128d
So you can recover from bricking when installing rom just by reinstalling system?
fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 128d
If all you did was install a bad OS then usually yeah. Just install the right one or restore a backup.
Making sure you have the right one/backups beforehand is the key. Sometimes manufactures don't post restore images or have good ways to restore.