I found this netbook(?) somewhere in old things and just wonder: can linux be installed on it?

  • shastaxc@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    No, you’re not allowed. Now go to your room and think about what you’ve done.

  • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    It’s already running Linux. You just showed us a screenshot of it running Android, which is Linux.

      • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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        5 months ago

        If you can root your phone, probably some of them, perhaps many of them, but that probably wouldn’t make for a very good phone.

      • I'm Hiding 🇦🇺@aussie.zone
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        5 months ago

        Sadly no, because while Android is based on Linux, it is so far removed that the kernel is wildly different. Some teams such as mobian, SFOS, postmarketOS, etc. have got fair dinkum Linux running on android devices though.

    • MonkderDritte@feddit.de
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      5 months ago

      As much as a human has of a lizard (lizardbrain). Are we still Lizards?

      And “Android” specifically is a certified package with proprietary apps.

      • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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        5 months ago

        Firstly humans having lizard brains is pop science nonsense, and secondly humans and lizards are amniotes. And thirdly, the Android userland is Apache 2.0 licensed, regardless of whatever proprietary apps might or might not be installed on top of it, and the vast majority of Linux distros’ kernels have proprietary binary blob drivers installed in them.

    • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
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      5 months ago

      For better or worse the more correct name GNU/Linux did not catch on and is universally shortened to Linux. Android uses the Linux kernel, but is not GNU/Linux, and therefore is not Linux.

      • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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        5 months ago

        This is some ass-backwards logic. You’re trying to redefine Linux and then declaring that Android does not meet your novel definition. If Android, Alpine, and Chimera are not Linux, then what are they?

        • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
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          5 months ago

          they are operating systems that use the linux kernel, just like GNU/Linux (aka “Linux”) does.

          • Phrodo_00@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            I don’t know if it’s that cut and dry. If you study a Operative Systems class or buy a book about them, it’ll exclusively deal with the kernel.

            • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
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              5 months ago

              If you can give a reference to any such book, I’d be very interested to see it.

              • myslsl@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                Operating System Concepts by Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne is a classic OS textbook. Andrew Tanenbaum has some OS books too. I really liked his OS Design and Implementation book but I’m pretty sure that one is super outdated by now. I have not read his newer one but it is called Modern Operating Systems iirc.

      • Captain Beyond@linkage.ds8.zone
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        5 months ago

        GNU/Linux != Linux

        Linux is a kernel

        GNU/Linux is the GNU userland (tools and libraries) combined with the Linux kernel to form a complete operating system

        Android is Linux but not GNU. So are Alpine, postmarketOS, and others I can’t think of

        Linux is to an operating system as bread is to a sandwich… an essential component, but a slice of bread by itself does not make a sandwich make

        • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
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          5 months ago

          Most of what you said is exactly my point. It’s true the word Linux, used properly, refers to a kernel and not an operating system. But that’s not the way the word is used in practice, and it is not what OP meant when they used it. They meant " an OS with the Linux kernel and GNU userspace utilities." When the word Linux is used that way, Android is not Linux.

          • Para_lyzed@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Do you not consider Alpine Linux to fall into the general category of “Linux”, then? It lacks GNU user space utilities, though there is never a world where I would not consider it a “Linux” operating system. You seem to be overgeneralizing here and making assumptions about OP’s intentions that aren’t based in fact. I don’t see the point in drawing meaningless lines, here. What you’re referring to (as described by the GNU project) is GNU/Linux, not “Linux” by itself. The two are often but not always used interchangeably, and treating them as exactly the same leads to major outliers, like Alpine. I’ve heard plenty of people use the term “Linux” in practice to describe software running on embedded devices that don’t contain GNU utilities, so this isn’t exclusive to Alpine. In fact, the only real exception that I see consistently to operating systems that run the Linux kernel is Android, so it makes much more sense to formulate a description of the generic term “Linux” as simply having an exception for Android, though I’d argue that the only reasons that Android isn’t viewed as “Linux” is because it is a mobile operating system, it is developed with the sole intention of including non-free, proprietary software (AOSP by itself isn’t meant to be the full operating system on any device, but rather a framework), and the fact that the structure of the filesystem and the way apps are run differ completely from the ways of traditional “Linux”. It seems to be an exception purely by the fact that it operates in fundamentally different ways than other “Linux” operating systems.

            • porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml
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              5 months ago

              Idk (I’m not op) but I think when people say “can I install Linux on this” everyone knows they mean gnu/Linux. Yes, if I’m picking a container base image obviously alpine is also Linux, and if we’re talking about kernels then Android is too. But if we’re talking about desktop OSes then I think it’s close enough.

        • silly goose meekah@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          ARM chips were common in phones, even 10 years ago. But after doing a bit of research, there seems to be an unofficial open source version of android made to run on x86. Might be that this thing is running that. No idea, really

  • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    5 months ago

    This looks like one of those low cost netbooks from the time where “EPad” and “MID” tablets were a thing. There is an edition of Windows CE floating around for these - but WiFi will not work, neither the modem if this has one built in.

    No idea about Linux - there is a kernel so you’re technically half way there, but considering most of these had a slow single core ARM CPU and 256MB of RAM on a good day, practical use is limited IMO

  • SuitedUpDev@feddit.nl
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    5 months ago

    Yes you can, it won’t be great though.

    I used to maintain a Linux distribution called “OpenWM8650” (back in 2011 / 2012) which was specially aimed at the WM8650 and WM8505. It would run off the SD card. Which wasn’t great, but the flash onboard support was horrible at best.

    Maybe you can find some old information on it, on XDA because the website for the initial distribution is long gone.

  • Veraxis@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I think you would need to provide more detail to know what you have. Does it have a model number on it anywhere?

      • nyan@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        “WM8650” seems to indicate a VIA WonderMedia WM8650 armv5te chipset, used by a lot of anemic Android laptops circa 2011 (sold under various brandnames, but apparently all made in the same factory). People have installed Linux on them in the past (there seems to have been a fad for Arch on these for a while, given the search results), but you might have trouble getting a device tree that will work with a modern kernel.

        Honestly, though, it has less processor than a Raspberry Pi 3. Unless you’ve already thought of a specific use for this, I’d dump it back in the junk drawer.

      • floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 months ago

        Probably not worth trying to actually use today. I’d leave it as it is, imo it’s better as a small piece of history - Android on PC is pretty niche

  • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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    5 months ago

    This device should be able to run Linux fine of the specs you provided are correct. You can either use CLI or a Light weight Window manager like IceWM. Web browsing and video playback are out of the question but it most certainly can run vim.

    I would just install Debian. It is likely a 32bit machine.

  • HATEFISH@midwest.social
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    5 months ago

    Just want to say good luck. Someone brought me one of these and asked to make it ready to be their university laptop in 2013. I worked real hard not to laugh because money was obviously tight but I just told them to return the pos to Amazon.