Arch on Android Tablets with Intel Atom Processors

zelec · 2015-08-22 19:34:10

I have an Acer Iconia a1-830 x86 android tablet. Just as the title says has anyone got an install of arch to run fully (Not as a chroot) on an android with an intel atom processor? if so how did they do it?

crondog · 2015-08-22 23:23:16

Here are some brief notes on how you would go about doing it.

*disclaimer* I am not saying I know how to do this for your device this is how i have gotten my nexus 7 flo working.

1: Get a working kernel which you can compile yourself. 99% chance that the kernel provided by Arch or even mainline from kernel.org will not boot at all since android vendors are fsckd and dont mainline their code. There is also a 99% chance that the kernel provided by acer will not work either. I just confirmed this for you since doing a make gives missing driver errors for the camera. You could try and hack out the camera drivers to get something working.

2: Android devices normally have a cache partition. You can dd the arch iso into that partition and make note of the device it might be something like mmcblk...

3: Build a boot.img ie an initramfs which does some setup and then calls systemd from the cache partition

3: Even if you get the android kernel working it might not have the most up to date cgroup code which will make systemd fail. You will need to write your own busybox init script or use another init. The arch/mainline kernel will be fine if you get up to here.

4: You can flash the kernel using fastboot so it will be easy to test

jasonwryan · 2015-08-22 23:25:08

Moving to Other Architectures...

zelec · 2015-08-23 01:19:17

jasonwryan wrote:

Moving to Other Architectures...

I fail to understand why this was moved to Other Architectures. Considering the fact that i'm talking about Android Tablets With Atom Processors which are x86 not ARM.

jasonwryan · 2015-08-23 01:27:28

zelec wrote:

jasonwryan wrote:
Moving to Other Architectures...
I fail to understand why this was moved to Other Architectures. Considering the fact that i'm talking about Android Tablets With Atom Processors which are x86 not ARM.

Because I screwed up: no need to be an asshole about it.

Moving to Kernel and hardware...

zelec · 2015-08-23 02:00:43

jasonwryan wrote:

zelec wrote:
jasonwryan wrote:
Moving to Other Architectures...
I fail to understand why this was moved to Other Architectures. Considering the fact that i'm talking about Android Tablets With Atom Processors which are x86 not ARM.
Because I screwed up: no need to be an asshole about it.
Moving to Kernel and hardware...

Sorry. I meant to pose it more as a question, Didn't mean to be an asshole. Thank you for correcting the category.

jmontano · 2015-08-24 15:23:00

I have the same tablet brand. It would be great if is possible to install arch on it.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-08-22 19:34:10

Arch on Android Tablets with Intel Atom Processors

#2 2015-08-22 23:23:16

Re: Arch on Android Tablets with Intel Atom Processors

#3 2015-08-22 23:25:08

Re: Arch on Android Tablets with Intel Atom Processors

#4 2015-08-23 01:19:17

Re: Arch on Android Tablets with Intel Atom Processors

#5 2015-08-23 01:27:28

Re: Arch on Android Tablets with Intel Atom Processors

#6 2015-08-23 02:00:43

Re: Arch on Android Tablets with Intel Atom Processors

#7 2015-08-24 15:23:00

Re: Arch on Android Tablets with Intel Atom Processors

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