Sunday, December 2, 2012

Bodhi Linux Nexus 7 Drive

So I was on the Kernel Panic Ogg cast last night (the episode should be for download later this weekend). While we where discussing a number of things related to Bodhi our ARM port and tablet interface came up. ARM hardware is a very different beast from your normal x86/64bit devices. Meaning even if you have functional kernel drivers for a given device - you still often need a seperate file system images for each device you wish to be easily installable on.

Currently we provide easy to install ARM images for the RaspBerry Pi and the Genesi Smartbook - the latter of which I am actually writing this post from. By the end of this month I hope to be able to add the MK802 I've written a bit about to our support devices as well.

The point of this post however is to see how much interest there is in us creating a Bodhi image for the new Nexus 7 tablet. I've had a couple of users express interest about it on our forums and there was positive buzz about it on the Ogg cast last night.

The main thing holding us back is a lack of developer hardware - I don't own a Nexus 7. We only need a single unit to get our work done, so if you are a Nexus 7 owner that has an interest in running Bodhi on your device and you can spare 5$ (or even 10$) please consider sending it our way via the button below so we can purchase a Nexus 7 to work with.

Edit/Update: In just 5 short days we've managed to collect enough to pick up a development unit! Hopefully we can have some Bodhi images live by the end of the month. If you are still looking to help support us - servers do take money to maintain. You can do so by donating directly to the Bodhi project.

Thanks to everyone who helped out.
~Jeff Hoogland

16 comments:

  1. I would love to see Bodhi Linux on Nexus 7 and would buy it for this reason alone if done. Any progress on this?

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    1. There hasn't been any progress on the port yet - the point of this post is to hopefully generate donations so we can purchase a Nexus 7 to start porting work.

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    2. I might donate $5-10 once I've settled into my Winter Break home... mostly 'cause I myself am eyeballing a Nexus 7 tablet (wanting it over both the Kindle Fire and Nook HD Tablet) here in a few months.

      (edited due to typing errors)

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  2. Replies
    1. The latest chromebook is on my "to get" gadget list eventually too.

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    2. Bodhi on the chromebook is as simple as installing ubuntu 12 via that one guy's script(lol) and using y_lee's home-brewed scripts. He successfully guided me to an ONLY Bodhi Linux chromebook.

      -AntCer

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    3. He essentially removed all the bloat and adjust lightdm and other small things. The forum post is there. I keep the scripts on hand, too.

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    4. @AntCer - the lastest chrome book is ARM meaning this isn't possible. Those scripts only work for an x86 machine.

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  3. Nexus 7 and 10 are manufactured by Asus. Would this port also work for other Asus android machines as well, such as the T300?

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    1. I can't say for sure - but it should in theory work on other devices with the exact same internals as the nexus 7.

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    2. Actually the nexus 10 is built by Samsung, the 7 is built by Asus

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  4. I would certainly help with, lets say $50.00, if you need help to port Bodhi to a new Chromebook.

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  5. This would be fantastic. I think bodhi and the nexus would be the perfect pair.

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  6. I am waiting for Chromebook support too!

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