Droid newbie, possible convert/defector from iphone. ROOTED! What next?

[GrowleyMonster]

I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" a couple of days ago and successfully rooted it last night. My ultimate goal is to get OpenCPN running on it. What do I need to do next? Layman's terms, please! I am a total newb to Droid devices!

[Cormorant]

There are a few threads on this:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...now-94064.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ess-94245.html

But MX Mariner may be an easier and better choice for you, especially if you intend to cruise mostly US waters. Check it out.

[armido]

GrowlyMonster,

Since you are on a 27' boat you are literally in the same boat as many of us who lack the battery reserve and space to support a setup like that mentioned above.

I authored the guidelines for getting linux and OpenCPN on an android tablet. Be advised at this point in time, due to a lack of support from makers of our tablets - drivers necessary to communicate with both on board and external devices are missing. So, unless the linux kernel on your device is exceptional in this respect, you will most likely not be able to use an external usb-gps. I have not tried as of yet to use a bluetooth gps. Don't own one and have other priorities at the moment. I'd definitely like to see others trying these things, but people who are actually ready to root their device, install linux and OpenCPN have yet to emerge from the ether. Glad to see you have at least taken the first step. You will lose nothing following my instructions, and all if desired can be undone. Please give it a go and let me know the results.

armido

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by Cormorant

There are a few threads on this:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...now-94064.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ess-94245.html

But MX Mariner may be an easier and better choice for you, especially if you intend to cruise mostly US waters. Check it out.

I have MX Mariner and Marine Navigator and a couple others. I like the full OCPN better for several reasons. Plus the reason I bought the tablet was to run OCPN on a pocket sized device. I am committed to proceeding with this. I was just hoping to get some help along the way.

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by armido

GrowlyMonster,

Since you are on a 27' boat you are literally in the same boat as many of us who lack the battery reserve and space to support a setup like that mentioned above.

I authored the guidelines for getting linux and OpenCPN on an android tablet. Be advised at this point in time, due to a lack of support from makers of our tablets - drivers necessary to communicate with both on board and external devices are missing. So, unless the linux kernel on your device is exceptional in this respect, you will most likely not be able to use an external usb-gps. I have not tried as of yet to use a bluetooth gps. Don't own one and have other priorities at the moment. I'd definitely like to see others trying these things, but people who are actually ready to root their device, install linux and OpenCPN have yet to emerge from the ether. Glad to see you have at least taken the first step. You will lose nothing following my instructions, and all if desired can be undone. Please give it a go and let me know the results.

armido

Thanks, Armido. My tablet has an onboard GPS so I am hoping Linux will pick it up. I am looking at a couple of different Linux installers from the android app store thing. Which flavor would be better... Debian or Ubuntu? Or a different one?

Where can I find your installation guide? I am groping in the dark here. I am very familiar with jailbreaking iphones and doing cool stuff on them, but this is the first droid I have ever messed with. I am really NOT technical savvy with these things, nor do I have more than a passing familiarity with Linux.

[GrowleyMonster]

Okay Armido I downloaded

Linux Deploy
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...51eGRlcGxveSJd and

akRDCFree
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=akRDCFree&c=apps

I got them installed. I diddled with some settings in Linux Deploy and hit the download button. I got the following return:

>>> begin: install
Checking mount points ... done
Selected distribution: Debian
Checking destination path ... fail
<<< end: install

What should the destination path be? And I found your instructions, but I don't know how to create a Loop File System, nor do I even know what that is.

Here are my settings.
Deploy
Distribution Debian
Distribution suite stable
Mirror URL Index of /debian/
Architexture armel
Installation type Directory
Destination path /mnt/sdcard/linux.img
Image size (MB) 8000
File system Autodetection
User name android
DNS server Automatic detection
Localization en_US.UTF-8
Install GUI include installation desktop enfironment and VNC server
Desktop environment Xfce
Reconfigure Run the system reconfiguration
STARTUP
SSH Enable SSH server startup checked
VNC Enable VNC server startup checked
X Window System Enable startup GUI over X server
Custom startup Allow a custom script
Script file /etc/init.d/myscript (grayed out)
Custom mount Allow to mount custom partitions checked
Mount path /mnt/sdcard
SSH
Port 22
VNC
Display 0
Depth (bits) 16
Width 800
Height 400
X WINDOW SYSTEM
Display 1 (grayed)
X server address 127.0.0.1 (grayed)


Obviously something is wrong with the specified paths but I don't know what they ought to be. And is there anything else wrong with these settings that you can see?

[armido]

GrowleyMonster,

Your settings in Linux Deploy look o.k.. Use ES File Explorer and Ghost Commander downloaded from Google Play to view and manage your file system. ES is best for managing single files - particularly where file permissions must be changed. Ghost Commander with it's dual pane feature makes viewing different directories, copying and moving between them easy.

You'll be looking at sdcard to make sure there is a loop file created by Linux Deploy. It will be a file called linux.img.

Your sdcard may actually be /storage/sdcard or /storage/sdcard0 rather than /mnt/sdcard. Or, it may be /mnt/sdcard0 or some other name. Make sure this setting in Linux Deploy is set correctly.

armido

[armido]

GrowleyMonster,

Were you able to finish the install?

The installer creates the loop file to the size you specified which is 8 gigabytes.

If the installer in unable to create the loop file it may be because you have not downloaded and installed 'Super Su' from Google Play. This program grants permission for programs needing to access the root file system. It will ask for your approval the first time a program requests this access.

/mnt/sdcard should be the correct setting for creation of the loop file. After the loop file is created your preferred distribution is downloaded and installed.

It may appear nothing is happening for a while when the package download process begins - but if you check /data/local/mnt/var/lib/apt/lists/partial periodically you will see the time stamp change on the file debootstrap...bz2

I am in the process of reinstalling to debian stable since I was not satisfied with wheezy.

armido

armido

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by armido

GrowleyMonster,

Were you able to finish the install?

The installer creates the loop file to the size you specified which is 8 gigabytes.

If the installer in unable to create the loop file it may be because you have not downloaded and installed 'Super Su' from Google Play. This program grants permission for programs needing to access the root file system. It will ask for your approval the first time a program requests this access.

/mnt/sdcard should be the correct setting for creation of the loop file. After the loop file is created your preferred distribution is downloaded and installed.

It may appear nothing is happening for a while when the package download process begins - but if you check /data/local/mnt/var/lib/apt/lists/partial periodically you will see the time stamp change on the file debootstrap...bz2

I am in the process of reinstalling to debian stable since I was not satisfied with wheezy.

armido

armido

No, I couldn't finish it with Linux Deploy. I couldn't get past that path problem. Nothing I tried, worked. I am trying the Galoula app now. It says, "creating loop file". It has been saying that for about 4 hours now. I am going to leave it overnight and see if it completes that part.

Both apps asked for super user permission and I gave it to them. I have a super user app installed but I don't want to touch anything and have to start over LOL! So I can't tell you what the actual name of the app is, but I think that's the one. Anyway, it says it is creating the loop file now. I just hope it is telling me the truth. Maybe it really means, "I would like to be creating the loop file" but it definitely says, "creating loop file". I don't know. I think it is gonna work. Letcha know tomorrow.

BTW the path, "/mnt/sdcard" is a directory on my device. My actual sd card is "/mnt/extSdCard". Strange, huh? Since I have total root privilege, maybe I will try to change that, some day. Not now, though.

[armido]

GrowleyMonster,

Shouldn't take 4 hours! Go ahead and press the cancel button. Try to create the loop file again.

Just to clarify my understanding of your sdcard situation. Do you have an external micro sd card installed? If so, that will be probably be your /mnt/extSdCard. Open 'settings' module and check your storage. It will show your cards. You do not want to install linux on your external sd card. Linux Installer recognizes your internal sd card as a removable device even though it is built in and is probably /mnt/sdcard.

There is an apk called 'remount' available from Google Play. Enables you to remount your system rw. It may presently mounted as read only... Could be the problem...

armido

[armido]

GrowleyMonster,

I suggest you stay with Linux Deploy. Much better feedback than Linux Installer. We'll figure out your /mnt/sdcard issue... One thing you can do is check permissions for /mnt/sdcard using ES Explorer. If necessary you can change them to rwxr.x.r.x

armido

armido

[GrowleyMonster]

Okay I have no idea what is going on, but I now have a loop file, it is formatted and mounted, and now linux is installing to it. It is a few minutes to midnight here, so I am gonna let it simmer overnight and see what I got in the morning. I switched sd cards and there was no loop or img file on the old one at all.

[GrowleyMonster]

Before I went to sleep, I checked it one more time. Linux apparently finished installing. But I am not out of the woodwork yet.

It says, "Please wait" next to the seated penguin. In the middle of the screen is a little window that says "Installation - Script" and "Scripts are being installed". It said that all night. Said it this morning, anyway. I restarted everything this morning and now, after 45 minutes, it still says the same thing. I don't think it should take more than a minute or two to install scripts, right? I got a loop file. I got linux installed on it. But now I guess I have to manually install some scripts?

I think I have made some progress, but frankly I just don't know enough about Android or Linux to figure this stuff out on my own. I am probably making some totally obvious newbie blunder, I don't know. Any ideas on the script thing?

[armido]

GrowleyMonster,

Glad to see you made progress. I don't know what kind of internet connection you have, but the faster the better when using these installers.

I recommend for anybody using linux on their device to download "hacker's keyboard", and if they don't already have it - "android terminal" from Google Play. Click on the hacker's keyboard icon and select 'current input method'. Choose hacker's keyboard. Then go to your device settings module and click on 'input and language' (or similar). Arrange for hacker's keyboard to be your default keyboard here as well.

I'd assume the scripts are installed. If not, you'll find out when you try to start ssh and vnc from Linux Installer. It's been awhile since I used that installer, but if my recall is anywhere close, you access the file/program manager module (one of two menu items accessed by clicking on the vertical dots at bottom of main installer page). First things first though, mount the loop file system at the main page. Any error messages, let me know.

Once the loop file system is mounted, open the file/program manager and click on ssh, then vnc. If both start without a hiccup then your scripts installed and are ready to open akRDC. Create a new session entering the appropriate information - 'localhost' (host name), and vnc password - one you will remember. The vnc password in the Linux Installer file/program manager module must be the same. The ports are most likely already set. If not, the TCP port is 5900. You can either leave the name of this connection to new site, or give it another name - your choice.

With linux, the learning curve may be relatively steep - but so are the rewards. Patience is essential.

armido

[armido]

For anyone following this thread the original instructions for installing linux and OpenCPN on an android tablet is here: Building on Motorola Xoom | Official OpenCPN Homepage

armido