Links for learning all things Kernel related.

[temwt2]

Well, in an effort to make sure people understand where we are at, I decided to start this thread where people can post links that they have found or used to learn about compiling kernels. I will start things off with this.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/ht...how-build-your-own-kernel-package-source.html

Jerry Hildenbrand seems like he know his stuff and he is good at explaining things. I hope some of you already have some better more up to date links.

 

[LifesGoodPhoenix]

How about a good way to install Linux to be able to build.
I understand the many ways, but which is best.
Run just Linux, wipe windows
WUBI
Virtual machine

Thanks for any input.

 

[linyera]

I always use Wubi with Ubuntu then I install LXDE (Desktop Enviroment)

 

[donavan]

Avoid building linux in a virtual machine for compiling anything it will take twice as much time/hardware resources to get the same thing done. Wubi is a good option and is easy to use. The Desktop you choose is pretty much up to you they are all good and will all piss you off from time to time. LXDE is probably one of the better ones for building because its light weight. I personally like Gnome (the older versions). But im thinking about going to LXDE for my current machine.

 

[donavan]

In some version of ubuntu you will need to take a few extra steps to install sun-java-jdk because ubuntu has gone with open-java. Here is how you get Java to install.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ferramroberto/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-plugin​

Also anyone interested here is the link to Cyanogenmod's kernel building wiki
Building Kernel from source - CyanogenMod Wiki

 

[LifesGoodPhoenix]

Very well.
If I try an Ubuntu live CD, will that give me the ability to make sure it compatible with ALL hardware. Ie wifi, video, and what else.
I figure if all goes well ill just wipe XP. As not to deal with partisions. And the possible windows boot issue, as I don't have an XP disc to fix with.

Thanks all

 

[temwt2]

Let me preface this response by saying it has been a couple years since I have installed ubuntu. If I remember correctly, when you boot from the live you should be able to get network access. Here is a link with some other people talking about it.

Can I enable WiFi on a Ubuntu Live CD? - Super User

Also, I plan to install ubuntu and make an attempt to get the appropriate tools installed before the end of this weekend. I will post anything I find useful along the way. After this weekend, I will not have access to the my main computer for probably 2 weeks. Don't assume this thread is dead if I haven't posted any progress after this weekend until the middle of March.

 

[donavan]

Very well.
If I try an Ubuntu live CD, will that give me the ability to make sure it compatible with ALL hardware. Ie wifi, video, and what else.
I figure if all goes well ill just wipe XP. As not to deal with partisions. And the possible windows boot issue, as I don't have an XP disc to fix with.

Thanks all

If you want to install linux along side windows this is totally possible without messing about with partitions. There are 2 options one is WUBI which will install linux through windows and will let you add and remove ubuntu at your leisure the second is to install it along side windows on the same partition.

 

[donavan]

Let me preface this response by saying it has been a couple years since I have installed ubuntu. If I remember correctly, when you boot from the live you should be able to get network access. Here is a link with some other people talking about it.

Can I enable WiFi on a Ubuntu Live CD? - Super User

Also, I plan to install ubuntu and make an attempt to get the appropriate tools installed before the end of this weekend. I will post anything I find useful along the way. After this weekend, I will not have access to the my main computer for probably 2 weeks. Don't assume this thread is dead if I haven't posted any progress after this weekend until the middle of March.

You could always run ubuntu from a USB drive that way you can move it with you whereever your going... its a little slower because of access times but it is still totally usable if you have a big enough drive.

 

[temwt2]

That is a good point, I may look into the usb stick linux. In the mean time, I have installed the newest stable version of ubuntu using wubi. Time will tell if this version of ubuntu is compatible with the various android tools. I will be working on that this weekend.

A couple of wubi tips: if you get errors while installing related to drives not existing, in most cases you can just hit continue several times and eventually the install will start. You may have to do this three or four times during the installation. Each time I had to hit continue probably 25 times before the installation would move on.
Also, the first time I tried the installation, my firewall blocked one of the processes that downloads the OS from the internet. I could have made an exception and all that but instead I downloaded ubuntu manually and put the file in the same directory as wubi. I than ran wubi again and had no issues.

Just wanted to pass this along for people who may be hesitant to try wubi.

 

[LifesGoodPhoenix]

i am currently using the live cd. its so smooth and responsive. im finding it hard to boot back to XP.
wifi works, as i am on the net here, cant see nothing working so far.

what kind of programs wont work on a linux system? ie yahoo messanger, ect?

 

[donavan]

For the most part there is an opensource version of every program you might normally use in windows. Some are much better, others not so much, MS Office is leaps and bounds above open office but there are even ways of getting some versions of windows programs to work in windows using WINE. Personally I like linux better than windows in a lot of respects but for compatability windows is still just a little ahead in some areas.

 

[electech]

I am trying to set up a dev station from a spare pc i have so I can attempt to build a working kernel (and learn stuff ). Which linux distro & version is best to use?

For some reason I had it in my head that i needed 10.10(must have read it somewhere) so I downloaded it and installed it. Then I saw something in the readme for the p505 source that mentions ubuntu 10.04 but I see other versions mentioned on other sites and people talking about using gentoo or debian instead of ubuntu.

Does it really make a big difference or just requires minor tweaks to make them compatible?

 

[donavan]

I am trying to set up a dev station from a spare pc i have so I can attempt to build a working kernel (and learn stuff ). Which linux distro & version is best to use?

For some reason I had it in my head that i needed 10.10(must have read it somewhere) so I downloaded it and installed it. Then I saw something in the readme for the p505 source that mentions ubuntu 10.04 but I see other versions mentioned on other sites and people talking about using gentoo or debian instead of ubuntu.

Does it really make a big difference or just requires minor tweaks to make them compatible?

Honestly it doesnt really matter if you go with 10.04 or 10.10 they are basically the same build under the hood same goes with 11.04 and 11.10. mainly what happens (in the linux world at least) is unless there is a serious kernel change or something like this each version will pretty much be a patched version of the last. There of course are difference like which desktop manager is used (personally I hate ubuntu's new desktop and I would recommend getting Xubuntu instead which you can get on the alternate download section) but mainly aside from some visual elements and certian packages being installed by default it doesn't really matter for the most part. Going with 10.x will not be a problem but be ready to update for a few hours and reboot a number of times.

 

[LifesGoodPhoenix]

so is it going to matter which one? 10.x or 11.x

 

[donavan]

so is it going to matter which one? 10.x or 11.x

I doubt it very seriously though if you have concerns go with 10.04 as it is the officially supported build environment for AOSP for ICS. But you can totally use 11.x if you want you just need to install a few different packages. Check out this site I think it will give you some better ideas of what you will need to do if you go with 11.x.

Building Android 4.0 on Ubuntu 11.10 | Android Development

Personally I'm running 11.10 mainly because thats what I downloaded a few weeks ago to try the new version. But remember the choice is yours but for the love of God stay away from that crappy desktop they installed in the newest versions I suggested xubuntu but if you already have an ISO and just want to install the Xubuntu desktop use the following command

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

this will install everything you need to get the xfce up and running as your desktop manager

 

[donavan]

Just as a side note there are a number of desktop managers to choice from, from the flashy to the basic. Personally I like Gnome (the older versions) and Xfce because of there simplicity. But you can totally use any of them you like and you may find that the unity interface that comes stock with ubuntu is awesome I however loath it. Keep in mind most of what you will be doing for android will happen at the command line anyways so it really doesn't matter which on you choice.

Here is a site that gives you a pretty good overview of the desktop managers out there

8 Great Alternative Desktop Managers For Linux

 

[electech]

I doubt it very seriously though if you have concerns go with 10.04 as it is the officially supported build environment for AOSP for ICS. But you can totally use 11.x if you want you just need to install a few different packages. Check out this site I think it will give you some better ideas of what you will need to do if you go with 11.x.

Building Android 4.0 on Ubuntu 11.10 | Android Development

Personally I'm running 11.10 mainly because thats what I downloaded a few weeks ago to try the new version. But remember the choice is yours but for the love of God stay away from that crappy desktop they installed in the newest versions I suggested xubuntu but if you already have an ISO and just want to install the Xubuntu desktop use the following command

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

this will install everything you need to get the xfce up and running as your desktop manager

Thanks for the info.
I already know about general linux stuff but I haven't done any kind of development using a linux machine before.(I have only done software development on windows & on some old HPUX systems.)

When I originally asked, I was thinking more specifically about an environment for building the p505 kernel and why they say to use 10.04, but I think I found what I was looking for when I followed the link you provided. From reading that it seems the issue is really about which gcc and java versions you use. It says that if you want to use ubuntu 11.x it says you need to downgrade gcc to 4.4.

 

[donavan]

Came across a very interesting page might prove useful.

Build a custom kernel - Android Wiki

Don't know if its what we need or not but looks like a place to start.

 

[LifesGoodPhoenix]

might be a little off cuz its assuming motorola. but otherwise good find