Installing Ubuntu Mobile OS on Nexus devices: Guide

Getting Ubuntu onto your Nexus Device may seem like the next cool thing to do, but before you take the plunge, there is a whole lot you need to know!

Canonical has just released their long awaited Ubuntu Mobile OS for phones and tablets, but it is currently not in its finished state. If you’re itching to flash your shiny Nexus phone or tablet with this early developer build, there are a number of things that you must keep in mind before you begin the process of giving your device a new soul.

Compatibility:Currently, the “Touch Developer Preview for Ubuntu” is only compatible with Google Nexus devices, but each device must be running a specific version of the firmware. Here is a neat little tablet that shows the various devices and the required firmware.

Device	Codename	Factory firmware from Google
Galaxy Nexus	maguro	takjuoryakju
Nexus 4	mako	occam
Nexus 7	grouper	nakasiornakasig
Nexus 10	manta	mantaray

If you’re wondering how you can find out which version of the firmware your phone/tablet is running, just go to the Settings tab and click on “System”. The “Device” section should read one of the titles under the “Codename” section of the above table. Along with that, the “Product” should read one of those listed under the “Factory Firmware from Google.”

If your phone is running a version not listed above, and you feel pretty confident about tinkering with its innards, you can download the compatible firmware for your device from Google’s Developer’s page

What’s Still Broken:To start with, the Touch Developer Preview for Ubuntu supports voice calls and SMS exchange only over GSM networks. So if you have a Nexus phone from a CDMA provider like Verizon or Sprint, the build will not work on your device. This is because currently, radios like CDMA, LTE and 2G (only) radios are not supported. In fact, data over cellular network isn’t supported at all and you must be connected to a Wi-Fi network to get your daily fix of internet goodness. The OS currently does not support the MMS service either. Besides the basic functionality that is missing in the build, importing contacts is not as simple as syncing with Google Contacts. You will either have to re-enter all your contacts manually, or employ a CSV file. Therefore, we recommend getting all your contacts in one place in a CSV file for importing later.

Canonical has also stated that the build has not yet been optimized with respect to memory usage, so there is a strong likelihood that running too many apps will start causing crashes. Their simple solution is, “close apps that are not being used.” Might sound silly, but this is actually quite a helpful suggestion.

Device Specific Issues:Universal issues aside, the Developer build also comes with its fair share of device specific issues which are listed below:

Nexus Galaxy

· 802.11a (i.e. 5GHz) is currently not working.

Nexus 4

· In rare circumstances, the Nexus 4 may get into a state where it may not boot at all after the battery is drained (even into recovery). If this happens, the only way to restore it is to disassemble the back of the phone and unplug/plug the battery connector.

Nexus 10

· Taking pictures with the camera application causes an issue with audio. The volume indicator and volume keys will not work to control the sound until reboot.

· People lens sometimes comes up empty after first flashing the device and booting. Rebooting fixes the issue.

Nexus 7

· Runs in portrait mode by default. (no side stage)

· Camera, video decoding and audio output do not function.

· Greeter screen is misaligned.

· No multi-user login.

Those are some pretty big bugs if you ask us. We’d hate for our Google Nexus 4 to get stuck with in a non-booting state, wouldn’t you?

What to Expect After Flashing:We’ve talked enough about all that’s missing in this early preview build of Ubuntu’s Mobile OS, so let’s look at what does work. For starters, you can make and receive calls, with the same luxury being afforded to SMS. At least your phone will be able to serve its primary function of a communication device. It will support networking via Wi-Fi, which shouldn’t be an issue seeing as how there are Wi-Fi hotspots almost everywhere. Last but not the least, the good guys at Canonical have ensured that both the front and the back cameras are functional. No word on whether the music/video playback capabilities are functional yet or not.

In order to get the OS on your Nexus device, you will need to follow the process detailed here. As you will notice, it is not for the faint of heart, so proceed with utmost caution.

Instructions for flashing a phone or tablet device with Ubuntu

Contents Instructions for flashing a phone or tablet device with Ubuntu Disclaimer What to expect after flashing Supported devices and codenames Flashing the device Step 1 - Desktop Setup Setup the Touch Developer Preview Tools PPA Step 2 - Device unlock Step 3 - Initial Device Setup Step 4 - Deploying Image to Device Restoring Android Need help?

The Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview is intended to be used for development and evaluation purposes only. It is an experimental development snapshot that can potentially brick your device. It does not provide all of the features and services of a retail phone and cannot replace your current handset. This preview is the first release of a very new and unfinished version of Ubuntu and it will evolve quickly.

This process will delete all data from the device. Restoring Android will not restore this data.

Disclaimer

"Touch Developer Preview for Ubuntu" is released for free non-commercial use. It is provided without warranty, even the implied warranty of merchantability, satisfaction or fitness for a particular use. See the licence included with each program for details.

Some licences may grant additional rights; this notice shall not limit your rights under each program's licence. Licences for each program are available in the usr/share/doc directory. Source code for Ubuntu can be downloaded from archive.ubuntu.com. Ubuntu, the Ubuntu logo and Canonical are registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

"Touch Preview for Ubuntu" is released for limited use due to the inclusion of binary hardware support files. The original components and licenses can be found at:

https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/drivers

What to expect after flashing

For detailed information check the release notes

1. Shell and core applications
2. Connection to the GSM network (on Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4)
3. Phone calls and SMS (on Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4)
4. Networking via Wifi
5. Functional camera (front and back)
6. Device accessible through the Android Developer Bridge tool (adb)

Supported devices and codenames

The table below lists the supported devices and their corresponding factory images, should you want to switch back to Android. The images can be foundhere.

Device	Codename	Factory firmware from Google
Galaxy Nexus	maguro	takju or yakju
Nexus 4	mako	occam
Nexus 7	grouper	nakasi or nakasig
Nexus 10	manta	mantaray

Flashing the device

Step 1 - Desktop Setup

The following steps are required on your desktop system that you'll need in order to flash and communicate with the device.

Setup the Touch Developer Preview Tools PPA

The PPA has the tools and dependencies to support Precise, Quantal and Raring. Add the Ubuntu Touch PPA by adding the following custom source list entry to your /etc/apt/sources.list file.

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

Then do the following:

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

Step 2 - Device unlock

If the device is already unlocked, skip to Step 3. These steps will wipe all personal data from the device.

1. With the device powered off, power on the device by holding the Power button + volume up + volume down.
2. The device will boot into the bootloader.
3. Plug the device into the computer via the USB cable.
4. On your computer, press Ctrl+Alt+T to start a terminal. Type sudo fastboot oem unlock, followed by Enter
5. On the device screen, accept the terms of unlocking.
6. Boot the device by pressing the power button (pointed by an arrow with Start on the screen).

Step 3 - Initial Device Setup

Follow these initial steps on your device:

1. If not booted, boot the device into Android
2. Enable USB debugging on the device
   • on Ice Cream Sandwich (version 4.0) go to Settings and turn on USB Debugging (Settings > System > Developer options > USB debugging).
   • on Jelly Bean (versions 4.1 and 4.2) you need to enter Settings, About [Phone|Tablet] and tap the Build number 7 times to see the Developer Options, activate USB Debugging via Settings > Developer options > USB debugging.
   • on 4.2.2 you will need to accept a host key on the device, if you already had adb installed, do the following
     • On the workstation-> adb kill-server; adb start-server
3. Plug the device into the computer via the USB cable.
   • Depending on the installed Android version, a popup will show up on the device with the host key that needs to be accepted for the device to communicate with the workstation.
4. Save the version of the current image on the device, if on Android, to use as a reference to revert back to. The version can be found by going to Settings > About Phone > Build Number.

Step 4 - Deploying Image to Device

To install the Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview on your device, you will need to execute the command below. Please note, this will wipe the contents of the device so ensure you have made a back-up. To install and get updates, run the following command:

phablet-flash -b

The -b performs a full bootstrap on the device. If the device is already unlocked it will carry on. If you have already bootstrapped once and want to install a daily just do:

phablet-flash

This will deploy the latest build onto your device. Your device should reboot into the Ubuntu Unity shell.

Note: the files are saved in Downloads/phablet-flash.

Restoring Android

The Ubuntu Touch Preview image is not for everyone and may not suit your current needs (yet). If you wish to roll back to an Android factory image, follow these steps:

1. Recall the version that was installed before flashing.
2. Download the factory image corresponding to your device's model and version (initial table has links).
3. Ensure the device is connected and powered on.
4. Extract the downloaded file and cd into the extracted directory.
5. run adb reboot-bootloader
6. run ./flash-all.sh (use sudo if lack of permissions on the workstation don't allow you to talk to the device).

Your device should boot into Android after the process is finished.

Need help?

If you got lost somewhere, you found a bug or need some help, we're happy to help you. The Touch Developer Preview is put together by a community of many, who are eager to work together with you on this.

If you've got any troubles or questions with these installation instructions, there's a community willing to help: just ask on Ask Ubuntu!

You can also:

• Join us on IRC in #ubuntu-phone on irc.freenode.net and/or
• Join our mailing list by
  1. Joining the ubuntu-phone team on Launchpad and
  2. Enabling the team mailing list at https://launchpad.net/~/+editemails