Debian gets ported to the G1, makes nice with Android

Recent firmware updates may have aimed to shut down such shenanigans, but it looks they were a little too slow to stop Jay Freeman (a.k.a. Saurik) from going to town with his newly jailbroken G1 and installing Debian on the handset. What's more, he apparently even managed to get Debian and Android to play nice with each other, letting you have a completely normal and unassuming phone by day and a nerd machine by night. As you might expect, however, it's not exactly as simple as installing an app from the Android Market, but anyone with a little experience in installing Linux distributions on unconventional devices should be able to follow the instructions fairly easily, although actually turning it into something useful is another matter. Hit up the read link below to get started.

[Via ModMyGphone]

[Dopefish @ Nov 10th 2008 12:11PM]

God this thing gets better and better!

[Windzilla @ Nov 10th 2008 5:30PM]

agreed

look out Maemo, integrate davik (sp) or get out of the way.


not that you can't run debian on the nXXX series anyway.

[cb88 @ Nov 10th 2008 5:24PM]

but they aren't phones...

[thedesolate1 @ Nov 10th 2008 12:11PM]

Ubuntu mobile should be next..... although I must admit I'm still waiting for my android rom image...

[Lars @ Nov 10th 2008 2:51PM]

Ubuntu uses Debian's code base.

Curious what kind of features would you want on the phone that Ubuntu would give over basic Debian?

[thedesolate1 @ Nov 10th 2008 3:20PM]

Just more user friendly thats all. Then again average Joe consumer wont be the one stuffing Debian into his Anrdoid.....

[KAIKAI @ Nov 10th 2008 3:41PM]

should the average joe even being useing android ???

[htd @ Nov 10th 2008 12:17PM]

ARM linux rules... so many fast native linux applications have the potential, instead of re-writing everything for iphone or gJava... one of the problem would be driver support, hopefully they can create some standard for that...

[Fusion Fuzo @ Nov 10th 2008 12:17PM]

NICE, that feature I need mobile OS and Desktop OS in one on a phone,

i already have this feature on my hacked eeepc 901,
so i know this is good idea on a phone

[Coolty @ Nov 10th 2008 12:21PM]

Really, you hacked your eeepc 901? What did you have to do? Connect a USB cd rom drive?
You hacker, you!

[Gerard @ Nov 10th 2008 1:24PM]

Your such a l33t H4X0R I'm sure Engadget will give you your own article!

Breaking News:
"Hacker 'Fusion Fusio' Hacks Eeepc 901 With Nothing But His Wits & an External Drive"

[Fusion Fuzo @ Nov 10th 2008 1:37PM]

You clowns, I ment the hardware on my eeepc hacked,

not the software anyone can install 3 os's one laptop

oh and coolty and gerald you use cd drives to install OS's on a netbook how sad

[mjg59 @ Nov 10th 2008 12:20PM]

The exploit used to get access to the filesystem has already been fixed (it's the same one that meant anything you typed was being interpreted as a shell command and executed as root), so if your phone's been upgraded past RC29 then there's no obvious way to get Debian on there.

[tom @ Nov 10th 2008 12:53PM]

It is a matter of time to get access again

[LondonConsultant @ Nov 10th 2008 1:00PM]

A way for RC30:
http://modmygphone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5261

[mjg59 @ Nov 10th 2008 1:07PM]

It's dependent upon you having a flasher that will accept unofficial signing keys, so if your phone's already been updated then you lose until it's re-rooted.

[McLovin @ Nov 10th 2008 12:20PM]

My opinion, backed by nothing more than owning a 12 smartphones including the G1:
Android is slowly going to take over the smartphone market.

[Macdelaney @ Nov 10th 2008 12:28PM]

Why do you have 12 smartphones? Did you ateal mine?!

[McLovin @ Nov 10th 2008 2:03PM]

Nope I'm simply an enthusiast that's all, and thanks for the low ranking, guys. You rule!
PS. I'm pretty sure that most people who low-ranked me don't even own a G1

[LondonConsultant @ Nov 10th 2008 2:33PM]

My opinion, backed by nothing more than eating 12 different pizzas including meat feast: pepperoni is slowly going to take over the pizza market.

[McLovin @ Nov 10th 2008 2:47PM]

@LondonConsultant
Nice One.
I was simply stating my opinion, I never claimed to be an industry insider/analyst or anything of the sort. I'm simply stating that I've have, and continue to use many higher-end smartphones intesively, and I think Android shows the most potential.

And I'm also going to use this time to address the the whole thing with Symbian being the #1 smartphone vedor. Ok here's the thing. Symbian may be the #1 sparphone vedor when you consider how many devices their OS is installed on, BUT not all of the itterations of their OS can be considered smartphones You see how the number's get skewed? WM, RIM, Apple every OS they have is smartphone Symbian on the other hand, the majority of their sales are from their basic, non-smart, OS that Nokia is married to.

The numbers get even more complex when you consider the differnt distribution methods. WM does not produce hardware, instead they license theier OS, to hardware manufactures, who often times release updates. Are those updates being counted as sales (eventhough their free to the consumer but not necessarily the hardware manufactures?).

Just my thoughts.

[liv @ Nov 10th 2008 5:05PM]

12 Smartphones... and you think Android is the best... This comment just begs for someone to mention the "you-know-what"Phone...

[dantaylor08 @ Nov 10th 2008 6:02PM]

just run away man, just run away.

[Randavance @ Nov 10th 2008 12:21PM]

sudo apt-get moo

[SonicEarth @ Nov 10th 2008 12:36PM]

Aptitude does not have magic cow powers.

[Scythe @ Nov 10th 2008 12:52PM]

Error: Couldn't find package your-mom

[Michael @ Nov 10th 2008 1:53PM]

that's funny your mom had no error finding my package last night!....*yay grade school humor!*

[Magallanes @ Nov 10th 2008 3:00PM]

Sudo make me a sandwich

[hamza @ Nov 11th 2008 12:00AM]

You guys are on a high ranking streak!

[Paul @ Nov 10th 2008 12:26PM]

My friend has Android. It seems like it has a lot of potential but google released it under-developed. It has a lot of work to go!

[tpadekar @ Nov 10th 2008 1:50PM]

Dude, stop referring to an OS as a disease: "My friend has Android"! Kinda makes me jittery to "get" Android! :-)

Android is a work in progress... it'll be good in a few years, and that's when I'll buy it. Like any technology, it takes a while to mature... think of it as puberty in humans! :-)

[Magallanes @ Nov 10th 2008 2:58PM]

For my surprise, Android is not really a "new kid on street" but a linux distro for ARM architecture plus some google api.
So, if Android is still green it is not because the technology used is too green but Google team mistakes.

[jake @ Nov 10th 2008 7:28PM]

@Magallanes
I feel your analysis is wrong. Actually the most significant part of Android is the custom Dalvik VM and the custom Google APIs. Without those, it'll just be another linux phone and not "Android". It's that VM & the APIs that allow for the possibility of the platform to reach other phones without the compatibility issues across phones. Another thing is your whole premise is linux for mobile phones is very well developed, which it isn't; it still has some way to go. So back to the point, which is Android is "green", because it is only v1.0. There are still many improvements and changes that are coming to the platform.

You will notice they locked down the root access in the latest update because that isn't how they intended people to use the platform.

[jorvay @ Nov 10th 2008 2:14PM]

I got android from your sister.

[Live Crunch @ Nov 10th 2008 2:15PM]

Now that's freaking awesome, doing this tonight when I get from work and also i'll make video too. By the way I also found many useful stuff on http://www.tmobileg1fans.com

[Jon Doe. @ Nov 10th 2008 4:35PM]

Hey 'tards. The update was for a security hole. Get your facts straight. Oh wait. I'm on Engadget. Where we don't need no stinking facts and its easier to brown nose the iHype. I didn't see major reports when there was a smattering of security holes patched last year when 2.0 came out then with 2.1. Oops.

[SiXiam @ Nov 10th 2008 4:35PM]

What? Your doing his sister tonight!

[trimzulu @ Nov 24th 2008 1:31PM]

test

[Martin @ Nov 24th 2008 1:50PM]

I Received theG1 about oct.23. I would like to u.se it as a modem by tether or bluetooth. Does anybody know if there is a way to make this phone tetherable? Is it simply a download or hardware? Thanx. Martin