Blackberry Q20 Linux Install ◆

Document Version: 1.0 Target Device: BlackBerry Q20 (Classic) Difficulty Level: Advanced Warning: This process involves rooting the device and modifying system partitions. There is a risk of bricking your device. Proceed at your own risk. Data loss is guaranteed; back up everything first.

While you cannot run a full desktop on the Q20’s 720x720 square screen, you can run single X11 apps via SSH with X forwarding: blackberry q20 linux install

ssh -X user@server firefox

(The Q20 cannot render Firefox reasonably, but xclock or xpdf works in a pinch.) Document Version: 1

For a full desktop, use VNC with a lightweight window manager like fluxbox or i3. Install a VNC viewer on BB10 (again, a converted Android .apk). Set your VNC server resolution to 720x720. While you cannot run a full desktop on

bb10-sideload -I 192.168.1.100 -P linux123 myapp.bar

Because you cannot replace BlackBerry 10, the next best thing is to run Linux user-space inside a chroot container. This is similar to how Linux Deploy works on Android.