Full install on tablets?

[thesniperofdeath]

After rooting an android tablet, could you completely remove the Android OS and install Archlinux Arm on it? Is the boot loader different from the PC? and any tips to avoid bricking the device?

[kmihelich]

The boot loader is much different than a PC, and I highly suggest you research this issue in full before you even consider going further. Bricking is also a very real possibility because each device is locked down or at least tweaked in its own special way, and most of these consumer devices do not easily expose ways to fix things (at least not without additional, expensive hardware).

Also, desktop Linux really isn't suited for touchscreen devices. We're working on the HP Touchpad at the moment, and generally everyone has at least a keyboard hooked up for when touch controls inevitably fail in whatever task you're trying to do. Just stay with Android, you're not going to get near the capability with anything else anytime soon.

[thesniperofdeath]

Could you mix the Android kernel(and the drivers) with the Linux user-land? Why doesn't Android submit mainstream patches to the Linux Kernel? ... its kinda weird ... I mean they are somewhat Linux right?... otherwise chroot will fail.

[kmihelich]

You can run a chroot environment inside android and start up stuff, that will work fine but you still have the rather limited touch input to deal with on desktop applications that weren't designed for that.

If you want to know more about the Android kernel vs. mainline, you can find many discussions through Google.