Install your favourite Linux Distribution 'ubuntu' in your new Nexus 7 tablet.. ~ ComFuge-A World of Geeks

I think you all know about how mobile are changing to an revolutionary devices called smartphones, tablets etc. I think than Nexus doesn't require any introduction.Now nexus 7 has not only supported by its factory installed Jelly Bean version of Android OS but can be installed by the latest and popular Linux Distribution Ubuntu. The major company in field of supporting Linux 'Canonical' has now able to set an Ubuntu OS instead of Jelly Bean.

This post will help you out to how to install the Ubuntu into your Nexus 7 by just following simple steps.The best part of the Nexus 7 is that you can revert back to Google Android Jelly Bean if needed.

1) Gathering of tools required to perform installation.

Arrange all basic tools to start installation procedures like your device,usb's,ubuntu os etc.

Get your Ubuntu nexus 7 installer by running these commands below on your linux machine.

I hope you have a Linux installed in your system else you would not reading this post.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-nexus7/ubuntu-nexus7-installer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-nexus7-installer

It will install installer on your machine. Be patient as it takes some time to download and install.

2) Now it's time to unlock your nexus 7

As it's not so easy as you thought but also not so hard that you can do it. Be patient and follow the steps carefully.As Nexus 7 ships with a locked boot loader we must unlock it in order to install custom images to our device. It is required only once. Once we get it onto its boot loader we can load any OS we want to install.

Special Note**:If you unlock the boot loader than it will erase all the data and reset it to factory defaults. So be aware of tha. Comfuge.org is not liable in any condition responsible for any loss of data.

Step 1 :Reboot the Android device into the Android boot loader. To do this, hold the volume down
button and press the power button. Continue holding the volume down and power button
until you see the boot loader UI.

Step 2: Plug in your device with your laptop with your micro-usb cable,the device now displays the boot
loader GUI, which looks like this:

Verify the fastboot lists on the device.To check run in a terminal on your laptop:
```
$ sudo fastboot devices
1234567891234567        fastboot
```
Now start the boot loader unlock process as:
```
sudo fastboot oem unlock
```
Now you are prompted on screen to unlock the bootloader on the Android device screen. Follow the on-screen directions to continue. Your screen should now look like this:

4. Complete the process by rebooting:

```
sudo fastboot reboot-bootloader
```

Or simply press the power button.

When device is reboots you will ee "Lock State-Unlocked".

3)Installing Ubuntu on your Nexus 7

Once every thing is setup, the installation can now start. To install, ensure the Nexus 7 is in fastboot mode.

Note**: All other device should be disconnected so as to avoid any disharm to other devices.

Find for the installer in the dashboard or search for nexus

Installer will provide a GUI for installing Ubuntu.It will download the latest image automatically, and flash it accordingly. The flashing step nearly takes about 2 minutes. Once the flashing is complete, the device will reboot and finish the installation.These steps may take 10-15 minutes.

Here I have taken snaps of various phases which will go on during the installation of the Ubuntu. It will then give the real idea what comes next and what to do. If any thing goes wrong they you can easily identify it.

4)If any things goes wrong than you can return back to your Android

If any mishap happens or you are unable to get the Ubuntu than there is solution for you.Go to this link and download the factory Android for nexus: https://dl.google.com/dl/android/aosp/nakasi-jro03d-factory-e102ba72.tgz
Follow these simple steps to get back to your original jelly bean.

Once download finishes than uncompress the tarball with following commands

tar zxvf nakasi-jro03d-factory-e102ba72.tgz

Then, place your machine into fastboot mode and run the resulting script(I have told you how to do it):

cd nakasi-jro03d/
sudo ./flash-all.sh

On installing you will get following errors which you should ignore like:

archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
archive does not contain 'system.sig'

5)Checking and troubleshooting your install

If you have any problems than follow these steps. I hope you will got your answers.

Detaching of USB cable and re-attaching it after a restart in a fastboot mode.
If still any problem persist than reboot your host PC might it is one of the cause of failure.
Still having any issues use different USB cable.
If 16G tab image doesnt work than use the 8G image might it will solve the problem.
If you still having succesive failures than return back your device to factiry image and try again.
If none of it works fell free to ask any question. Dont't worry i will not keep you wait longer or you can raise your problem on Ask Ubuntu or in a #ubuntu-arm channel on freenode. If you believe that it's a bug then file a bug against ubuntu-nexus7 in Launchpad.

Author-Shubham Kedia

03 November 2012