How to Run Ubuntu on an Android Phone

Running Ubuntu on an Android phone is not as difficult as it sounds. Android is one of the most popular mobile operating systems in the world. It features an applications framework that allows users to add or replace existing applications and comes with over 10 pre-installed applications that add to the functionality of the smart phone. Ubuntu is a free Linux-based operating system. There are thousands of free applications developed for this OS, many of which cannot run on Android. To run these applications, you must run Ubuntu on top of Android on your mobile device, which must be "rooted" in order to run Ubuntu. Rooting your Android phone is legal, but will void its warranty.

Difficulty:Moderately EasySuper One Click Root applicationAndroid phone with SD cardAndroid OS with support for loop devicesAndroid SDK installed1

Download the Super One Click Root archive and extract it anywhere on your hard disk drive. The "SuperOneClick.exe" executable file will appear.

2

Take the SD card out of the Android phone and connect the phone to your computer by using the USB cable.

3

Go to "Settings," select "Applications," tap "Development" and enable "USB Debugging."

4

Double-click the SuperOneClick.exe file to run it. Click the "Universal" tab in the SuperOneClick window and click the "Root" button. This will root your Android phone.

5

Select "Allow Non Market Apps" in case you want to install third party applications later.

1

Open the Web browser on your computer and download the "ubuntu.zip" archive. Save the archive anywhere on your hard disk drive.

2

Connect your Android phone to the computer by using a USB data transfer cable.

3

Extract the archive and copy the resulting "ubuntu" folder to the phone's SD card. Note that the folder must be in the root of the SD card, so do not put it in any other folder.

4

Go to "Settings" on your phone, select "Applications" and tap "Development." Turn on the "USB Debugging" feature.

5

Start the Windows Command Prompt and navigate to the SDK platform tools folder by running these commands:
cd /sdk
cd /platform-tools

6

Run the "adb shell" command to enter the Android shell. Connect in super user mode and enter the ubuntu folder on the SD card by running these commands:
su
cd /sdcard
cd ubuntu

7

Run the script that configures Ubuntu to run on your Android phone by running this command:
sh ubuntu.sh

8

Run this command to boot Ubuntu on top of the Android operating system:
bootubuntu

If you don't get any errors, it means that your Android OS supports loop devices and Ubuntu is successfully running on top of it. You can now install Ubuntu applications and run them on your Android phone.

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