The smart TV is a fixture in most houses, variously an entertainment portal, corporate data gathering tool, or sometimes an outright spy. It’s a nice monitor with a computer built in, so can that computer be released to do something else? It’s a question [Xen’on] is answering, on an Android-based TV.
The guide is not too different from many others relating to Android phones, with a few quirks. An Android Debug Bridge (ADB) connection is established, root access is gained using Shizuku, and then it’s a case of installing a more conventional Linux front end with the Openbox window manager through Termux. There are some TV-specific things to do with handling power cycles, but the TV is now a usable Linux box.
It’s always good to see someone retrieve the Linux underneath a locked-down device, but the system spec tells the real story. By the looks of things this TV is a few years old as it had an Android version that’s a bit long in the tooth, and thus it also packs an aged version 4.x kernel. Couple that with a more seat-of-your-pants experience compared to a regular distro where many of the annoyances are taken care of, this isn’t an easy route to a trouble free desktop. Instead it has a lot of potential for making the TV what it was intend to be, an entertainment device. Merely one that gives much more software freedom.
Meanwhile, this isn’t the first Termux guide we’ve seen.
Eh, the typical “Its a linux machine” when really its Android and Termux
I didn’t know that had become a meme. I guess my phone is running Linux then, cause it has Termux on it as well as BusyBox. Wait, does BusyBox make it Arch Linux? Let’s just say it does, who cares.
I was sick of these 5 years ago and I’m still sick of them. Don’t call it “running linux” when its clearly not running linux on bare metal. I guess its slightly better than VM on phone with VNC server
Even back in 2013 I used to have a debian filesystem (created using debootstrap) in a file that I could mount and chroot into on my rooted android phone. That could be considered more “running linux” than this. I could also bind mount /dev and /sys inside the chroot and I was able to use a usbasp to flash an AVR micro. I even hosted a website on that phone for a month or so. I still wouldn’t dream of calling it “running Linux” on my phone.
Just admit that mucking around with ARM boot process is too hard. No thanks to CPU manufacturers
Termux isn’t a VM. It’s not even a chroot. It is running linux on bare metal, because android is linux.
Yes but knew what i meant, didn’t you 😝
You meant that you don’t like that you’re not root. You can be root though, if your device is rooted.
Isn’t it still running within JVM on Android?
The terminal emulator is a java app, but it’s a real linux userland running on the real linux kernel that underpins android.
Is there any generic workflow on how to port Linux to such a target which runs android? I guess it would be a matter of extracting closed-source blobs from the android filesystem and then somehow manage to inject them in a Linux image? Is there any generic way to do it (at least the big picture?)?
it’s always going to require some device-specific support but fwiw postmarketos is a project that has travelled this path for a reasonably large selection of android devices
This. Unless it runs natively Linux or any other FOSS operating system and userland allowing the complete removal of bundled malware and spyware, and the functional replacement with open and auditable software, that’s not a trustworthy device but even a much more dangerous one since now to fully use Termux one is encouraged to connect it to the Internet, not to mention giving full access to the local LAN.
As of today, the best and possibly only smart tv with no garbage attached is a signage monitor connected to a Libreelec box.
I wonder what happens if the device features secure boot and dm-verity… Brick?
but can it play Doom ?
Android can run various ports of DOSBox.
I was able to run Windows 3.1 and 95 on that, too.
The latter using a hard disk image.
There’s no need to run Linux applications if the Android framework already has the applications needed.
When the SmartTV is a Sony it is allowed to install apk from an USB-Stick. No hacking required. It is easy to write your own QT android app to switch on the light in your house or something else.
Oh, and it was also possible to install Vivaldi browser and total commander :-D
“As soon as you disconnect the wired internet from the TV, it immediately connects to Wi-Fi”
This is so common on theses types of devices I’m surprised by Xen’on’s surprise.
This is literally the only problem I have with Smart TVs. Yes they suck, but less so if not connected to WiFi. But with pop-up nag screens someone will eventually connect it to the WiFi. I would not be surprised if the branded phone app automatically connects via Bluetooth to any TV in range, and if the phone happens to have the WiFi password ‘helpfully’ offers to put the device on the network. Which of course 99% of people would do without a second thought.
So if I can root the TV and shut all the ads and automatic garbage off and never connect it to Internet I would be so happy.
Disconnect the antenna.
i’m really worried about this development (i feel like we bought the last dumb tv 7 years ago), and maybe you can tell me if you’ve fought with it…these nag screens and stuff…if you set the input source to an external device, does the smart tv interfere with that? like does it do nags while you’re watching a DVD or when it first starts up or something? or does it only interfere if it’s acting as its own source?
I’ve done this with one of those Android-based TV boxes for $100. Was basically useless, since Android’s Media apps all block you out if they detect (ad-blocking) VPN. Why does the system have to report that to apps anyway…
i don’t know if smart tvs these days have toxic garbage that prevents them from being used as tvs but the easiest way to ‘convert’ a tv to ‘linux’ has been a sub-$100 used NUC off ebay. making use of the cpu built into the tv seems like a lot of work imo. otoh, for watching tv, android tv has been generally sufficient for me
GK802 on this end.
20 bucks decommissioned office ThinkCentre with i7 and 8TB disk here. Runs a full KDE Debian with Kodi and whatnot. Best TV we ever had.