Ubuntu Dual Boot developer preview for Android

There are some manufacturers that offer dual-boot mobile devices, almost always Windows and Android tablets, but now we see other operating system joining the race. 

One of the most popular Linux distribution – Ubuntu was released for mobile phones and tablets by Canonical back in October. Called as ‘Ubuntu Touch’ it was aimed at taking smartphone operating system to a whole new level.

Once downloaded, an Android app will handle the installation and upgrading of Ubuntu. Clicking on the "Ubuntu Dual Boot" app icon will then kick the user into Ubuntu for phones, giving he or she an easy way to try out Canonical's mobile software ahead of its retail debut next year. Once the user is ready to get back to Google, he or she can tap on the same Ubuntu Dual Boot app and choose to reboot back into Android. 

Sounds pretty simple, no? Even still, this is called a "Developer Preview" for a reason, and so you should only attempt to install Ubuntu Dual Boot if you're comfortable getting your hands dirty by tinkering with the innards of Android software. Canonical says that the Ubuntu Dual Boot software requires ADB tools on the desktop as well as a Nexus 4 that's got 2.7GB of free space and has had its bootloader unlocked. The company adds that other Nexus devices "should in theory work," but that it hasn't explicitly tested them with the software.

Company’s blog post says, "With dual boot, switching between OSs had never been easier. No more key combinations or command line interfaces to jump into the next OS: on each side, an app with a simple user interface will enable you to boot back and forth at the tap of a button."

Although not all Android devices are supported at this moment, we expect Canonical to roll out support for most Android devices soon. According to official log, this preview only works with Google Nexus 4 smartphone, though Canonical said it was tested on Google Nexus 7, Google Nexus 10 tablet and Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone as well.

This dual-boot tool supports Android 4.2 and above. It can be the stock firmware or a custom firmware based on Cyanogen Mod, Android Open Source Project and other third party unofficial ROM as well.

The reason why Canonical didn’t add support for the latest Google Nexus 5 is because of Android 4.4. According to the company Android 4.4 will require extra tweaks to make Ubuntu work. There are some issues with calling functionality in Ubuntu Touch on Android 4.4 devices.

Canonical expected to release its own Ubuntu Mobile-powered smartphone, named the Ubuntu Edge, to raise $32 million. A total amount of $12,809,906 was gathered. The amount came from the support from 20,000 people, along with Bloomberg’s big donation of $80,000. CEO Mark Shuttleworth promises that smartphone and mobile devices operating the platform would be in market in 2014.

Ubuntu Mobile is just single of a number of open source mobile operating systems to emerge in the last few years. Sailfish, Tizen and Firefox OS all are looking forward to place themselves as real substitutes to iOS and Android.

Steps Update of Android and Dual-booting Ubuntu Touch

I am listing out the steps involved in dual-booting your device, but i would like to warn that the tool is still a developer preview and far from being bug-free.

Prerequisites:

Unlocked Android device
Backup your current copy of the OS
Step 1: Log

on to your Ubuntu desktop and add the repository and update it

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phablet-team/tools
sudo apt-get update

Step 2: Install the ‘Developer Preview Tools’

sudo apt-get install phablet-tools android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

Step 3: Unlock your Android device if you haven’t already got an unlocked device. To do so enable USB Debugging on your Android device and connect it to ‘Fastboot’ on your desktop

sudo fastboot oem unlock

Step 4: Download the installation script from here, make it executable

chmod +x dualboot.sh

Step 5: Now you need to install the dual-boot ‘Ubuntu Installer’ and to do so, run the below command while your Android device is still connected to your desktop.
If you are using a stock ROM without any modification e.g. without a SuperUser app flashed proceed with command under a) otherwise if you are using non-stock OS like CyanogenMod proceed with command under b)

a) ./dualboot.sh FULL
b) ./dualboot.sh UPDATE

Step 6: Do not worry if you device reboots several times after you execute the script. Once done you will have the “Ubuntu Installer” in the Apps section. Now to install Ubuntu type the below command in the terminal

adb shell “su sh rm -rf /cache/*”

Step 7: Tap on ‘Ubuntu Installer’ and choose “Trusty” channel. Follow on-screen instructions for providing SuperUser grants and let the installation proceed.

Step 8: Now you should find “Reboot to Ubuntu” option. Tap on that to boot to Ubuntu.