Ruri's guides for legacy software

This was tested on a Galaxy Tab S3 9.7", but it should go for most other Android devices. Regardless, this is my workflow to turn a good ol' tablet lying around into a Linux-based tablet PC.

If you have an older device, see my Droid Pro chroot tutorial for an example, but you may need to adapt the steps to your specific needs. If you have a non-rooted device, use Termux and install a distro via proot-distro, but it won't be as performant as chroot.

Prerequisites:
- A rooted device with Android 5.0+
- A terminal, whether it be local, ADB, or Termux
- VNC viewing software, such as MultiVNC or bVNC Free
- (optional) BusyBox (if you're using a stock ROM; in my testing with LineageOS 14.1 and 18.1 this wasn't necessary)
- (optional) A hacker-friendly keyboard, like Hacker's Keyboard or Unexpected Keyboard


6. (if you chose oldstable) Upgrade Debian if you haven't already.
- run "apt update && apt upgrade && apt full-upgrade"

- Open "/etc/apt/sources.list" with a text editor (i.e. nano) and change these lines:

8. Log into your user account via "su - <username>". The username you use is the same one you've put in Linux Deploy earlier. (You can also take this opportunity to add a password to your root account via the "passwd" command, and change the shell to proper "/bin/bash" using chsh...)


9. Start a VNC session, like so:
        vncserver :0 -localhost -geometry 2048x1536
Feel free to replace "2048x1536" with your mobile device's resolution, or any resolution you want to stick to. It might ask you for a password; give it one and use it in the next step.

10. Connect to the VNC session through a VNC client you've downloaded earlier. The IP should be localhost, the port should be 5900, and the password should be whatever you set it to earlier.

11. That should be it. I'll consider extending this tutorial with instructions on how to set up PulseAudio.

These were discovered by searching APK reupload sites (APKMirror, APKPure, Mobilism), Reddit threads, the F-Droid Archive Repository, and wikis.

WARNING: Using old software on the internet opens you up to unpatched security exploits, so I don't recommend using them with internet connectivity and all that stuff (though web-based applications are mentioned anyway if you want to take that risk). I'll also link to free software, but for paid software you're on your own.

* * *

APP STORES
F-Droid
- 0.100.1 for Android 2.2+ (June 22nd, 2016)
- 1.2.2 for Android 2.3+ (April 24th, 2018)
- 1.12.1 for Android 4.0+ (April 16th, 2021)
- 1.15.6 for Android 5.1+ (January 14th, 2023)
- Current for Android 6.0+

WEB BROWSERS
Mozilla Firefox
- 10.0.5 for Android 2.0+ (Feb 11th, 2015)
- 31.0 for Android 2.2+ (Feb 12th, 2015)
- 47.0 for Android 2.3+ (June 6th, 2016)
- 55.0.2 for Android 4.0.3+ (Aug 16th, 2017)
- 68.11.0 for Android 4.1+ (Jul 22nd, 2020)
- Current for Android 5.0+

Fennec F-Droid
- v45.0.2 for Android 2.3+ (Apr 12th, 2016)
- v68.12.0 for Android 4.1+ (Aug 29th, 2020)
- Current for Android 5.0+

Kiwix (browser for offline copies of Wikipedia and other informational sites)
- 2.4 (Android 4.0+)
- 3.2.1 (Android 4.0.3+)
- 3.3.4 (Android 4.2+)
- Current (Android 5.0+)

GAMES
Minecraft: Pocket Edition
- 0.5.0 for Android 2.1+ (Nov 15th, 2012)
- 0.8.1 for Android 2.3+ (Dec 12th, 2013)
- 0.12.1 for Android 3.0+ (Sep 9th, 2015)
Though according to the wiki, 0.14.3 was the last version to support Android 2.3. Many out-of-date releases of Minecraft: Pocket Edition can be found on the Internet Archive -- see here, but download at your own risk.

Minetest (open-source alternative to Minecraft)
- 0.4.16.17 for Android 2.3+ (Oct 26th, 2017)
- 5.6.1 for Android 4.1+ (Sep 23rd, 2022)
- Current for Android 5.0+

ClassiCube (open-source alternative to Minecraft Classic)
- Current for Android 2.3+ though may have graphical bugs depending on the phone

EMULATORS
EX Emulators (NES, SNES, MD, GBC, GBA, C64, etc)
- Current for Android 2.3+

Magical DosBox (MS-DOS)
- 1.0.57 Lite for Android 2.2+ (Sep 10th, 2017)
- 1.0.59 for Android 2.2+ (Nov 19th, 2017)
- Current for Android 4.0+

fpSE (PlayStation)
- 11.212 build 857 for Android 2.1+ (Mar 12th, 2021)
- 11.229 build 926 for Android 4.0+ (Dec 26th, 2022)
- Current for Android 6.0+

PSX4droid (PlayStation)
- 3.0.5
- 3.0.7 (Current) for Android 1.6+ (Jan 7th, 2012)

DuckStation (PlayStation)
- 0.1-2202 for Android 5.0+ (Nov 4th, 2020)
- Current for Android 6.0+

Mupen64Plus AE (Nintendo 64)
It's hard to scoop up information on this one.
- 2.3.2 for Android 1.6+ (Jul 20th, 2013)
- 2.4.4 for Android 2.0+ (Jan 24th, 2014) - There's likely to be a newer version that supports 2.0+, but this is the newest I could find that did.
- 3.0.87 for Android 4.4+ (Dec 18th, 2018)
- 3.0.246 (Current?) for Android 5.0+ (Nov 28th, 2020)

Reicast (Dreamcast)
- r6 for Android 2.2+ (Aug 7th, 2018)

DraStic (Nintendo DS)
- r2.5.0.4a build 92 for Android 2.3+ (Aug 23rd, 2017)
- Current for Android 4.0+

PPSSPP (PlayStation Portable)
- Current for Android 2.3+

MEDIA PLAYERS
VLC Media Player
- 2.0.6 for Android 2.2+ (Feb 12th, 2017)
- 3.0.13 for Android 2.3+ (Jul 26th, 2018)
- Current for Android 4.2+

TOOLS
Text editors
- Text Edit (Android 2.1+) (Feb 6th, 2012)
- Notepad (Android 1.5+) (Sep 7th, 2012)
- Tomdroid (Android 1.6+) (Jan 16th, 2014)
- Turbo Editor (Android 3.0+) (Mar 29th, 2015)
Anki (flashcard software)
- 2.8.4 (Android 2.3+) (Jun 24th, 2018)
- 2.10.4 (Android 4.0.3+) (May 31st, 2020)
- 2.14.6 (Android 4.1+) (Mar 10th, 2021)
- 2.16.5 (Android 5.0+) (September 6th, 2023)
- Current (Android 6.0+) as of May 2024

E-BOOK READERS
Cool Reader
- Current (Android 1.6+)
KOReader
- Current (Android 4.0+)
Librera Reader
- Current (Android 4.0+)

DEVELOPMENT / ENGINES
LOVE
- 0.10.2 (Android 2.3+)

TIC-80
- 0.60.3 (Android 2.3+)
- 0.70.7 (Android 4.0+)
- Current (Android 4.1+?)

LINUX ENVIRONMENTS
Termux
- Current (Android 5.0+)
- Current (Android 7.0+)

Debian noroot
- 15.10.21 (Android 2.3.2+)
- Current (Android 4.1+)

MISCELLANEOUS (not tested, do at your own risk)
Discord
- 9.8.8-hotfix (Android 4.1+) (Nov 19th, 2019)
- 161.10 (Android 5.0+) (Jan 18th, 2023)
- Current (Android 6.0+)