Hey,

I’m looking for a live OS that I can run from a USB on any phone - but if only Android/non iPhone phones are possible, that’s good too.

I know of etchdroid and running e.g. tails from that using the phone as a PC, and I’m aware that most or all Linux distros can run live from USB into PC, but I’m looking for something that I can have on a USB, plugin to any phone and run it. Save files, maybe apps onto it so that the next time I run it on any other phone, it will take up from where I left off and I can still use the same software that I installed on it.

I have recently heard of plug os which reminded me to look for this again, but plugos.net is a million miles out of my budget or what I’m willing to pay for something like that.

Are there any others? Free or (much) cheaper?

EDIT -

THANKS EVERYONE! 👍🙌

It seems that it’s not possible, and that the one I thought was similar to what I was looking for, is actually a modified Android version that runs from a custom built usb stick.

So not possible (at least for now 🤞).

  • buckykat [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    5 hours ago

    That plugos thing isn’t a usb storage device you can boot from, it’s a whole (crappy) sbc running android you can view through a companion app on the host phone.

    Phones don’t allow booting from usb for ““security,”” specifically the security of the company’s profits.

  • mr_anny@sopuli.xyz
    25·
    11 hours ago

    Short answer = Nope.

    PlugOS does not run in the phone, but in the thumb device named PlugMate.

    Running OS in any phone is not possible as bootloaders are tailored to specific SoC:s and proprietary to manufacturers and they really do not share the sources.

    If it would be possible we would have quite wild mobile phone linux scene.

  • GNUmer@sopuli.xyz
    9·
    11 hours ago

    Live USB is not really possible for mobile phones. As ARM devices generally do not adhere to BIOS/UEFI standards, running an OS requires more packaged firmware than what a regular x86 laptop/desktop requires.

    In addition to the difficulty ARM brings to this equation, bootloaders are generally locked down on mobile devices. It may be impossible to unlock it depending on the device.

      • GNUmer@sopuli.xyz
        6·
        11 hours ago

        Plug OS is Android running on a separate device, not the device itself. You still need an app to access it through a virtual desktop.

      • just_another_person@lemmy.world
        4·
        11 hours ago

        That’s not an actual OS. It’s an app-backed secure storage device more than anything. The app you launch on your devices accesses whatever you have on the thumb device and runs it on your phone. Mostly just marketing, but certainly not an actual self-contained OS.

        • GNUmer@sopuli.xyz
          1·
          10 hours ago

          The specifications do mention Android 14 and it does have an SoC capable of running Android. The only thing lacking is a display, which is implemented via VDI.

  • mvirts@lemmy.world
    1·
    10 hours ago

    I don’t know of any project to do this, but it’s an interesting idea.

    For most/all phones, you would need to break the phone’s software security to boot another OS. To boot via USB the phone’s firmware would need to support that, or a sufficient USB vulnerability could be used to take over a running system and boot into a new OS. This would almost certainly be unreliable and only work on specific devices.

    Note that if part of your goal is to extract data from the phone, only old phones store data unencrypted these days. One advantage of using a vulnerability to hijack the current os would be the availability of the keys to decrypt the phone’s storage if the storage is already unlocked.

    Although it’s not as interesting, you certainly can load firmware on an android device that will boot from USB. Not sure if this already exists or would need to be built.