Ubuntu joins Android on Nexus One, apocalyptic repercussions nowhere to be found

Ever wondered what would happen if you threw another mobile OS onto your Nexus One? Without removing Android? Contrary to popular belief, the world will in fact not end, and in many cases, lives could very well be improved. One particular modder over at Nexus One Hacks has managed to put together a video how-to demonstrating the installation of Ubuntu as a secondary OS on his rooted N1, and while you'll obviously find yourself dealing with a few incompatibilities should you follow suit, it's not like you really have anything better to do tonight than tinker. Right? Right. Jump on past the break and mash play to get going.

See more video at our hub!

[TestSubjectNameHere Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:11PM]

Im surprised this video is still online! Haven't you heard United State of America is GONE must have been backup to a European sever...

[InnocentEd Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:11PM]

While I think it is fun and cool, Half-Baked ports of OS's onto systems they were built for is often a headache in the long run.

Swapping out new ROMs and themes and programs and 10 other things made specifically for Android is tinkering enough for my Nexus One :)

[InnocentEd Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:12PM]

@InnocentEd I meant were NOT built for of course :)

[danG Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:24PM]

@InnocentEd

Actually this is from the Ubuntu-ARM branch, which is the process that the Nexus runs on.

[Jordan04 Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:12PM]

It looks like a regular VPN

[Jordan04 Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:13PM]

@Jordan04 i'm mean VNC my bad

[Taylor Yes Taylor Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:15PM]

@Jordan04
If this is the same as what was on Hackaday yesterday, it *is* VNC, but it is VNC'd to a copy of ubuntu that is running on the same device.

So the phone is running ubuntu, and displaying ubuntu. Just in a roundabout way.

[gnargle Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:13PM]

Looks interesting, but why? I mean why? I don't really get why you'd install Ubuntu, a desktop OS, on to a phone barely powerful enough to run it :/

[jayjaync Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:18PM]

@gnargle
because they can ? =)

[gnargle Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:20PM]

@jayjaync I suppose so :L
It just doesn't make sense to me to replace a mobile optimised OS for one that is, probably, barely usable.

[gnargle Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:21PM]

@gnargle *On a phone. I imagine Ubuntu on a machine designed to run it works just fine.

[danulp02 Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:34PM]

@gnargle because it's fucking cool!

[beano311 Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:46PM]

@gnargle
The Nexus One is more than powerful enough to run Ubuntu... Especially the ARM optimized version that is shown in the video. Forget the Ubuntu UI that was shown, that was only really for show, the real use comes from the Linux terminal. You can do almost anything on your phone that you could do on a desktop Linux machine.
But because you can is also a good reason.

[MrPinkBlackrose Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:18PM]

That is cool. Very cool.

[Mr iPhone Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:24PM]

Wait, so it isn't actually RUNNING on the nexus one? Its just using a VNC to get to the computer?

[danG Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:26PM]

@Mr iPhone

Read again, it's running VNC on root@localhost

[Stengo Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:29PM]

@Mr iPhone
As your name suggests you are obviously not tech-savvy enough for this site. Watch the video to the end and you will hopefully learn, that the server the vnc client connects to actually runs on the phone itself. You remember localhost?

[Franks Beef Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:27PM]

Don't want to be a dick but XDA had Debian running on our G1's using the same method a year ago. It's a pretty crappy way of doing it too. The idea is that you run the OS in a chroot and just VNC into it to control it. It works but it's slow. Ubuntu is just a modded Debian so this isn't really a big deal

[StevieH Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:30PM]

I have yet to form an opinion on the tech - that thumb is creeping me the hell out in that picture.

[dragonfli Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:34PM]

Stupid question.

Now, we can run Android on an iPhone, so why not use the Android kernel to run Ubuntu on iPhone? :|

[beano311 Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:50PM]

@dragonfli
Why not build an Intel Atom machine, throw Mac OS X on it, boot camp into Windows 7 with half the drivers missing and then run Ubuntu in a VM window? Because that would never work.

[Kamil R Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:37PM]

Does this mean I can install gentoo??

[DrDr Posted Jul 8th 2010 8:13PM]

@Kamil R

No, actually, if you look up Ubuntu in the dictionary, it means that you can't install Gentoo.

[chatuman Posted Jul 8th 2010 6:41PM]

what exactly is ubuntu

[spawn782 Posted Jul 8th 2010 7:09PM]

@chatuman its is a popular open source linux operating system.
http://www.ubuntu.com/

[benger Posted Jul 8th 2010 7:09PM]

how about iOS on the Nexus One?

[jackjumper85 Posted Jul 8th 2010 7:38PM]

Wouldnt it be better to use the MID edition of Ubuntu. Since its made for small devices?

[brett123 Posted Jul 8th 2010 7:42PM]

Did anyone else notice the fact that he is using a Droid Incredible case on his Nexus?

[dougbeebe Posted Jul 8th 2010 9:03PM]

Impressive, really bring some extra use and geeky-ness to the new phones. Always fun to have pocket linux to play with, and running it as a VNC implies that other linux flavors could be added for an sort of VNC-multi-boot options, for those of us that can't get geekish enough. :)

[HankG Posted Jul 8th 2010 11:14PM]

Any chance this works on the Droid?

[ghostmac Posted Jul 9th 2010 1:19AM]

I can't wait to try this.
I'm going to run Ubuntu chrooted on android so I can run vmware and then boot windows. Then? . . .Minesweeper!!!
Esssssssss!

[DrDr Posted Jul 9th 2010 3:45PM]

@ghostmac

You can't. VMware only runs on X86 platforms. You would need an emulator like BOCHS to install windows, and that is really really slow.

[Shiprat Posted Jul 9th 2010 5:13AM]

Big deal.. Did it on my xperia some months ago. Really not optimized for screens below 6" or so. Now when you can run maemo5 on it ill take some interest :P

[Mark Larson Posted Jul 9th 2010 1:10PM]

Does the WiFi work anymore? *snicker*

[mmind Posted Jul 9th 2010 3:59PM]

hmm.... I must say I find the idea of a native OS like http://www.irregular-expression.com/?p=30 more appealing [should be possible to also use ubuntu].
As I'm part of the Debian team packaging the freesmartphone.org software I also heard initial reports about sucessfully accessing and using the modem parts of the Nexus One also.

So the Nexus One is my prime target to replace my Openmoko Freerunner [also running Debian] in the next months :-)