Running Linux on Smartphone

Question

I have recently thought about buying a cheap second hand smartphone and install Linux on it as an experiment.

I am sure this has been asked a lot but I can't seem to find an answer:

Is there anyway to make normal phone calls / text messages and connect to 3G (ie use it as a phone) with Linux installed on my phone?

I know that I could use Skype but that doesn't help with no WiFi connection.

I am aware of the new Ubuntu OS for phones, but that looks a little too consumer oriented for my liking (rather than technical user oriented).

I currently use Android and I like it but this is an experiment to see how far I can take the premise with a non phone specialised distribution of Linux on the phone.

I recommend you to start with an chroot environment containing Debian on an Android system. As the kernel need normally to be customized to each hardware on smartphones, running a full distribution is complicated. — jofel, Sep 15 '14 at 09:39
related: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/2141/which-cell-phones-run-on-the-linux-kernel/574588#574588 — scjorge, Aug 17 '22 at 21:17

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 15 '14 at 09:56

Buy a second hand Nokia N900. The hardware is terrible by modern standards and Nokia did a fairly decent job of driving the community insane (disclaimer: my review) but it did run a Debian variant and did have nice things like Python just there. The keyboard also made it a hundred times more useful than on-screen keyboards for SSHing into other machines.

It does sort of shoot down your larger experiment goals but you'll quickly see how integrated the whole project needs to be before things just work. For instance, the modem drivers for the N900 —code that has been in the wild for 5 years— have just been merged into the mainline kernel.

There's also a renaissance project called Neo900 that will hopefully provide a set of new internals for the body of the N900. It could be great but they're just a few volunteers fighting against time.

There are also a number of software projects that aim to keep this thing alive and kicking. The Maemo forums are probably the best place to gauge what's hot and what's not.

Thanks Ill have a look at this phone and Ill give it a go – Steven Wood Sep 15 '14 at 13:24 — Steven Wood, Sep 15 '14 at 13:24

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 18 '20 at 11:51

2

The Pine Phone is the most GNU-Linux-y phone.

https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/

answered Jan 18 '20 at 11:51

user1133275

5,574

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 11 '15 at 09:26

1

Ubuntu already works on phones. Not sure how well, but there are some phones advertised as specifically for it.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/ubuntu-touch-the-smartphone-ubuntu-linux-arrives/

http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/devices

answered Dec 11 '15 at 09:26

Craig Hubley

11
1

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dude-wheres-my-linux-phone-craig-hubley – Craig Hubley Dec 11 '15 at 09:27
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OP already knows that: I am aware of the new Ubuntu OS for phones, but that looks a little too consumer oriented for my liking (rather than technical user oriented). – don_crissti Dec 11 '15 at 09:59

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 18 '20 at 10:05

1

Use termux app on any Android phone it will give you linux experience in the smartphone also visit it's wikipage enter image description here

answered Jan 18 '20 at 10:05

Vikram Tidake

51
10

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 15 '14 at 10:00

First, you have to find out a Linux distro which will run on your smartphone. If there's isn't any available currently, then you have to built one. If you choose to use an Android phone (or any other Linux based phone), then there's Android kernel should available for that phone, pick that kernel and build a distro based on it. Later on you have to develop a dialer for calling/receiving phone call (also sms). Usually cellphone contains gsm module (also known as BP) which is basically maintain the communication between your phone and gsm network. So, your dialer needs to interact with the gsm module in according to send/recv calls. You need to checkout the gsm modules technical manual to find out how it can be done.

Running Linux on Smartphone

5 Answers5