is it possible to boot an os off an sd card on an XDA? also is it possible to put an operating system like linux on an xda?
Thanks alot
James
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Xanadux
This link may be somewhat more useful
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HimalayaLinuxBooting
the most useful link I found was http://himalaya.iclem.net./ (at bottom of page posted above). Actually got a fully running gpe system working off sd . if you want to store haret/kernel on sd card as well, just create a small extra fat16 partition on your sd card as well as ext3 partition. When trying to access card from a pc i discovered I had to have probe all scsi luns enabled in order for it to make all the card slots available in my reader.
But you´re talking all about the Himalaya device, but he has a Wallaby....
Stefan
I have a few questions about app install locations for the g-tablet. There are three places where apps can go: 1. internal memory, 2. internal sd card, 3. external sd card.
For internal memory, I can see the installed apps (the apk files) at /data/app. I cannot find any evidence of any apps installed on the internal sd card (do they stay packaged in the apk file or get exploded out). What directory do they get put into on the internal sd card? In case you're wondering, according to App 2 SD Pro, I have 10 apps installed on the sd card.
Is there a way to install apps on the external sd card? Everything that I've read about and the sd card app managers that I've tried only work between the internal memory and the internal sd card.
Hmmm...nothing but crickets. Not even a question for more information? Well, here is a little more anyway. The tablet is rooted and I have tnt-lite 4.4.0 installed. I'm using Root Explorer to browse around in the file system.
This discussion might help, somewhat.
Yes, that other post was somewhat helpful. I can see the apps that have been moved to the "internal" SD card are at /mnt/asec with Root Explorer (I didn't have to unmount either...but the .android_secure folder did show as empty).
A couple of other questions for you:
1. Are you using a remote Linux machine to do those find commands or is there a way to get to that command line on the g tablet? I only have Windows so I may be stuck there.
2. Unmounting the SD card in the Settings will unmount the "external" SD card, right? not the "internal" SD card?
3. Do you know anything on my other original question about the "external" SD card? Can we move apps there some how? If not, I'd be game to try to write an app that will do it but my guess is that if there isn't an app that does it already, its probably harder than it seems that it should be.
Puhn said:
(I didn't have to unmount either...but the .android_secure folder did show as empty).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you unmount the SD card (internal or external -- depends on the ROM), you will see stuff in /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure/.
1. Are you using a remote Linux machine to do those find commands or is there a way to get to that command line on the g tablet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use a telnet session into the gTablet, but, you can run the commands either inside a Terminal emulator or via adb. It usually doesn't matter how you run the commands.
2. Unmounting the SD card in the Settings will unmount the "external" SD card, right? not the "internal" SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on the ROM. In CyanogenMod, the SD card is the removable SD card. The internal non-removable one is called "emmc" (mounted under /mnt/emmc). Other ROMs have /mnt/sdcard and /mnt/sdcard2 (Froyo/GB) or /mnt/sdcard and /mnt/external_sd (Honeycomb ROMs).
3. Do you know anything on my other original question about the "external" SD card? Can we move apps there some how? If not, I'd be game to try to write an app that will do it but my guess is that if there isn't an app that does it already, its probably harder than it seems that it should be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CyanogenMod does what you want by default. As I mentioned above, for it /mnt/sdcard is always the external removable SD card. So, everything "moved to SD card" ends up on the external SD. If you want other ROMs to behave this way, you'll have to change some of the /init*.rc files and the /system/etc/vold.fstab file and change what gets mounted as /mnt/sdcard (ie, which device is assigned the "sdcard" label). Look around, the changes are fairly obvious.
My recommedation, however, is to just install CyanogenMod and avoid the /init*.rc and vold/fstab hackery.
Good information. Huge THANKS !
One last question (hopefully)...if the SD card in CyanogenMod is the external SD card, I guess I have the reverse question for it. Can/how do you move apps to the non-removable SD card?
I guess what I'm getting at is I have a 16 GB internal, non-removable SD card and a 16 GB removable SD card that I'd like to maximize the use of. I'm not stuck with only being able to put apps on one or the other depending on the installed ROM am I?
Puhn said:
I guess what I'm getting at is I have a 16 GB internal, non-removable SD card and a 16 GB removable SD card that I'd like to maximize the use of. I'm not stuck with only being able to put apps on one or the other depending on the installed ROM am I?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh. What started as a simple question about App install locations has now progressed to low-level mucking about with the system. What next--RAID using the SD cards?
To answer your question, with the standard, unmodified ROM you are stuck with only using either one or the other. But, since Android is based on Linux, (and since we have the source code for most of the programs on the system), it can be made to do a lot of non-standard things.
I'm pretty sure that the system can be modified to use both the internal and external SD cards for App installations, but, this will need a fair bit of customization of the ROM. Which means that if you switch ROMs or even upgrade the current one, the setup will have to be redone again.
Therefore, my recommendation, is that you use one of the SD cards solely for app installs and the other only for storing media/books/whatever. 16GB only for apps is a fair bit of space, I feel.
rajeevvp said:
Heh. What started as a simple question about App install locations has now progressed to low-level mucking about with the system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I had hoped to avoid the mucking about part and that one of the available ROMs already had the ability to put apps anywhere but it sounds like that is not the case. I guess I wasn't clear with my original question.
Anyway, thanks for all of the answers. I'll stick with what I've got for now. At some point I may play around with some things and see how thoroughly mucked up I can get it.
Im trying to find a way to put files bigger then 4gb on my 32gb micro sd card. Ive checked the forums, and haven't found a way for the phone to recognize the card as NTFS format, or to beat the 4gb file size limit. Does anyone know of a way to beat this. Thanks
ext4 is more likely to work than NTFS... but it'll require some initramfs or manual shell hackery to mount.
are there any roms that have what is needed included, or is this something more complicated
No matter how many tutorials I've read I just don't understand... my guess is because of the terminology involved between the different SD cards involved... I simply want to have a partition on my MicroSD card where most of my apps live. That includes the libraries and .apk files. I don't care about large games. As far as I see, Link2SD just installs on the phone's internal SD card. How can I set that up? Is a second app needed (Foldermount?)
Hi all,
I want to gain a bit more usable space on my phone without reformatting and repartition my sd card, the best way I can think of doing this would be to place a virtual hdd file of some sort(VHD or equivalent) on my sd card, format it EXT4 and then mount it within android.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to do this?
I've searched everywhere but keep getting completely irrelevant results so if this has already been asked and answered then I'm sorry and would you mind pointing me in the right direction?
Many thanks
Wondering same and looking for the answer since long.
Got any response or found a solution?
Link2SD is a working solution for increasing internal memory i.e. by linking apps to 2nd partition on sd card. But I don't want to partition my sd card. Just a virtual partition (ISO or IMG file placed somewhere on sd card) should be mounted at /data/sdext2/ to which apps are linked.
I don't think it's an impractical idea.