On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 2:26 PM, carmella schoonmaker < monkeyboy199...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I was wondering if it was possible to install a Debian distro to a LG Dare > vx9700? If it is possible to install to this device, some step-by-step help > would be greatly appreciated. I no longer have service on the phone, and > wanted to turn it into a pocket-sized Linux computer. I was also wondering > if it was possible to still use the 3G capabilities of the phone to browse > the web after such an install, and if the micro-SD card would mount like on > a computer. > most probably not. you've got a couple of hurdles to contend with for this to work. first is processor architecture - you're probably good here though. second is a boot loader - your phone isn't an x86 machine so standard assumptions go out the window such as the mbr from sector 0 to 412 - not likely on a phone. second is bootstraping stuff - phones have different features, so you'll probably want to compile most things, so you'll want to get libraries setup for your phone. now, after you're got a base system up, you've got some more issues.... device drivers for one - i don't think any component on your phone has been made for a computer so you'll have to build it. this probably means everything including keyboard or touch screen, sd card, sim card / radio, wifi, usb, etc. then you've got the ui - you aren't likely to want to type everything. and if you think that x windows is going to play nice with your 3 inch screen, think again. so, you'll be building a ui. after that, you'll need apps - lets start with a web browser. mozilla has done most of the work for you in fennec but you'll still need to do some porting to make it work with gtk / qt / tk / whatever. have i missed anything? probably, but that's a start. see, this is why android is so popular, because when companies think about making a phone, atm, cash register, tv, or any other type of embedded device, they don't just need to worry about the hardware but the ui and making it interface between the user and hardware. nokia made a tablet that ran linux and openmoko (now defunct iirc) made a phone that they ported some linux for and had partially working last i checked. it used to be that windowsce and symbian (and a few others) were what you used if you didn't want to create an embedded system from scratch (and you paid dearly for licensing). now google gives android away so companies use that. they still have to write drivers for hardware, but the rest is pretty much there. you might find a port of android for your phone or maybe openmoko but you're not putting debian on it unless you've got some serious skill.
