Installing Ubuntu ARM (+server apps) on a android tablet.

[whiteshepherd]

I am working on a project and when finished will make up a quick "how-to" on the forums once this is complete. But I may need some initial help in spots. A little history I have run servers for 10+ years. From a apartment full of computers at $300+ dollars a month in electric bills is now condensed to a dual core Ubuntu server at 450 watts running apache2 (web server) and my IRCD. As a project "for fun" and to go more "green" I would like to remove this server and replace it with a low powered ARM tablet! Take 450 watts down to less than 10 and no moving parts to break or suck in dust that can quietly sit on a shelf! To test the theory I rooted my Android GX2 (512MB ram). I formatted my sdcard to ext2 under Ubuntu (on my desktop) and copied Ubuntu ARM to the card. The sdcard mounted and Ubuntu ran chrooted with enough memory to run my servers. However phones are fairly expensive. The plan here is to find a way to turn a ultra "cheap" tablet into a really nice Linux server platform that could be useful to many people. On Ebay I found: v1.5.1 DADITONG 7" tablet with 512MB memory and android 2.2 for 74$ plus free shipping. it may be this one: Tablet PC A713, MID, Android 2.2 Tablet PC Via8650 (A713 VIA 8650) - China Tablet Pc,Mid,Android 2.2 Tablet Pc in Palm Computer, Pocket PC & PDA As the specs and appearance are identical. 512MB was a big factor as it gives a decent chunk of memory after Android for Ubuntu and servers. Now I need to root the tablet. My first choice would be to flash one of the custom ROMs. But I do not have a factory ROM to restore if the custom does not work. So before I proceed what would be the best way to root this tablet? Is there a custom ROM known to work on it? {Sorry this post is all together. The forums seems to have striped out all my line feeds.)

 

[Carbira1]

Why would you ever want to run a server on a tablet? A cheep Chinese one at that. As for a root, I would try super one click. May I ask what you plan to be hosting on this server? I think that your money would be better spent on a laptop that you could convert into a server. (Just my thought)

 

[rcjames]

I am working on a project and when finished will make up a quick "how-to" on the forums once this is complete. But I may need some initial help in spots. A little history I have run servers for 10+ years. From a apartment full of computers at $300+ dollars a month in electric bills is now condensed to a dual core Ubuntu server at 450 watts running apache2 (web server) and my IRCD. As a project "for fun" and to go more "green" I would like to remove this server and replace it with a low powered ARM tablet! Take 450 watts down to less than 10 and no moving parts to break or suck in dust that can quietly sit on a shelf! To test the theory I rooted my Android GX2 (512MB ram). I formatted my sdcard to ext2 under Ubuntu (on my desktop) and copied Ubuntu ARM to the card. The sdcard mounted and Ubuntu ran chrooted with enough memory to run my servers. However phones are fairly expensive. The plan here is to find a way to turn a ultra "cheap" tablet into a really nice Linux server platform that could be useful to many people. On Ebay I found: v1.5.1 DADITONG 7" tablet with 512MB memory and android 2.2 for 74$ plus free shipping. it may be this one: Tablet PC A713, MID, Android 2.2 Tablet PC Via8650 (A713 VIA 8650) - China Tablet Pc,Mid,Android 2.2 Tablet Pc in Palm Computer, Pocket PC & PDA As the specs and appearance are identical. 512MB was a big factor as it gives a decent chunk of memory after Android for Ubuntu and servers. Now I need to root the tablet. My first choice would be to flash one of the custom ROMs. But I do not have a factory ROM to restore if the custom does not work. So before I proceed what would be the best way to root this tablet? Is there a custom ROM known to work on it? {Sorry this post is all together. The forums seems to have striped out all my line feeds.)

Don't do it. In fact go get you're self a used rack server. Dell Poweredge 1850 you can get them fairly cheap and would have lot more of speed. You can get them from craiglist for less then 80 dollars. A laptop would be nice so you can use it for other things.
I paid for this 60 bucks.