How to re-purpose your old Android phone by running Linux on it | JuniorDev

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words,
“ A Tiny and affordable computer that you can use for fun experiments”?

The first thing that came to my mind was Rasberry PI. I was about to order one…, but that’s when I realized that the old phone which I was using as a “media consumption device” (a fancy name for Youtube player), is in fact more powerful than the Rasberry PI…eureka!!

An Old smartphone is tiny and affordable ( affordable because I already own one ) computer, which is exactly what I’m looking for. Now all that’s left is to add the facility to perform fun experiments on it.

Note: For those of who you are wondering “Isn’t android already Linux?”. Android is built on top of Linux kernel, what we are going to do today is run GNU/Linux distro such as Ubuntu to run on android.

How to install Ubuntu Linux in Android ?

You will not require root for this method.

1. Install Termux app from the play store. You can learn more about it from here.
2. Launch Termux, you will see the terminal window.
3. ( Optional, but highly recommended ) Install open-ssh server so that you can connect to your Laptop/Desktop, this will make it easier to type commands. Conversely, you can also use your mobile device as a remote terminal for your Desktop/Laptop.

$ apt update && apt upgrade
$ apt install openssh -y
# ssh server is now installed, now it's time to set password
$ passwd
# It's time to run the server
$ sshd

ssh server is now running on Termux, check the IP address of the phone using the command ifconfig. Now you can connect to your android device using the command ssh [IP_ADDRESS] -p 8022 and type the password.

Termux’s terminal on desktop via ssh connection

4. Now let’s install Ubuntu, ( Git repo for reference )

$ apt install proot wget git -y
$ git clone https://github.com/MFDGaming/ubuntu-in-termux.git
$ cd ubuntu-in-termux
$ chmod +x ubuntu.sh
$ ./ubuntu.sh -y
$ ./startubuntu.sh

Ubuntu is now running on your device.

Where to go from here ?

Here’s a list of some experiments that I’ve come up with

• Run a Web server — Install Nginx server and use android phone as a web server.
• Run an Ad blocker for local network — Install PI-hole or Ad-Guard Home and use it to block ads on all devices connected to local network.
• Educational tool-box — Use it as a device for learning Linux command line and programming.
• Hacking…. — Install Kali linux and other hacking tools and use it to learn hacking ( obviously only use it for education ).

Possibilities are limitless, have fun experimenting (^_^)!