Can I install linux on this?

No, you're not allowed. Now go to your room and think about what you've done.

*what you have NOT done.

Fixed that for you 😉

It’s already running Linux. You just showed us a screenshot of it running Android, which is Linux.

Clearly not the point of OP’s question though
the ACKSHYUALLY is strong with this one
- No it isn't. Dude is just pointing out the obvious.
I know :D
Does this means can install any repo on my phone?
- If you can root your phone, probably some of them, perhaps many of them, but that probably wouldn’t make for a very good phone.
- Sadly no, because while Android is based on Linux, it is so far removed that the kernel is wildly different. Some teams such as mobian, SFOS, postmarketOS, etc. have got fair dinkum Linux running on android devices though.
~~As much as a human has of a lizard (lizardbrain). Are we still Lizards?~~

~~And "Android" specifically is a certified package with proprietary apps.~~
- Firstly humans having lizard brains is pop science nonsense, and secondly humans and lizards are amniotes. And thirdly, the Android userland is Apache 2.0 licensed, regardless of whatever proprietary apps might or might not be installed on top of it, and the vast majority of Linux distros’ kernels have proprietary binary blob drivers installed in them.
For better or worse the more correct name GNU/Linux did not catch on and is universally shortened to Linux. Android uses the Linux kernel, but is not GNU/Linux, and therefore is not Linux.
- Alpine Linux users are in shambles.
- This is some ass-backwards logic. You’re trying to redefine Linux and then declaring that Android does not meet your novel definition. If Android, Alpine, and Chimera are not Linux, then what are they?
- Are reading what you write? It's linux so it isn't?
- GNU/Linux != Linux
  
  Linux is a kernel
  
  GNU/Linux is the GNU userland (tools and libraries) combined with the Linux kernel to form a complete operating system
  
  Android is Linux but not GNU. So are Alpine, postmarketOS, and others I can't think of
  
  Linux is to an operating system as bread is to a sandwich... an essential component, but a slice of bread by itself does not make a sandwich make

Surely its easier to install Linux than android.

I want to know how they put android on it

I mean, the internals might just be the ones of a tablet or something. With android I'd be guessing its an ARM chip
- Wut. This thing is like a decade old at least. Did we use ARM back then?

Probably Yes

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Looks like you already did

Most likely yes, as many others have said. Of course you'll likely have to pick a very lightweight DE.

As a fallback there is always NetBSD.

NetBSD will not work at all with Broadcom Wireless
- I mean if you're down to NetBSD as your pick you've probably already made some big concessions so plugging into Ethernet isn't a huge leap at that point.

Yes you can here is a place to start https://kernelhacks.blogspot.com/2012/06/arch-linux-on-wm8650-netbook.html?m=1

This looks like one of those low cost netbooks from the time where "EPad" and "MID" tablets were a thing. There is an edition of Windows CE floating around for these - but WiFi will not work, neither the modem if this has one built in.

No idea about Linux - there is a kernel so you're technically half way there, but considering most of these had a slow single core ARM CPU and 256MB of RAM on a good day, practical use is limited IMO

It probably has USB, wifi adapters are cheap.

Well of course you can.

Yes you can, it won't be great though.

I used to maintain a Linux distribution called "OpenWM8650" (back in 2011 / 2012) which was specially aimed at the WM8650 and WM8505. It would run off the SD card. Which wasn't great, but the flash onboard support was horrible at best.

Maybe you can find some old information on it, on XDA because the website for the initial distribution is long gone.

https://archive.org/details/wm8650-linux It might have been archived here.

I think you would need to provide more detail to know what you have. Does it have a model number on it anywhere?

that's it: CPU: WM8650 800Hz Memory:DDR 256MB

It's information on back cover
- "WM8650" seems to indicate a VIA WonderMedia WM8650 armv5te chipset, used by a lot of anemic Android laptops circa 2011 (sold under various brandnames, but apparently all made in the same factory). People have installed Linux on them in the past (there seems to have been a fad for Arch on these for a while, given the search results), but you might have trouble getting a device tree that will work with a modern kernel.
  
  Honestly, though, it has less processor than a Raspberry Pi 3. Unless you've already thought of a specific use for this, I'd dump it back in the junk drawer.
- Probably not worth trying to actually use today. I'd leave it as it is, imo it's better as a small piece of history - Android on PC is pretty niche
I just can't find

This device should be able to run Linux fine of the specs you provided are correct. You can either use CLI or a Light weight Window manager like IceWM. Web browsing and video playback are out of the question but it most certainly can run vim.

I would just install Debian. It is likely a 32bit machine.

well in a cosmic sort of sense, it already is. (android is based on a modified linux kernel). seriously though, check out https://antixlinux.com/ it's a distro to put on any computer, even ones that old.

MX Linux is the sister project, and I think it also can work on very old hardware.

It had problems with my multi monitor setup, but it booted so ridiculously fast, even on a live ISO. Certainly worth a look.
- Not enought ram for MX Linux
Debian is a better choice in this case.

Just want to say good luck. Someone brought me one of these and asked to make it ready to be their university laptop in 2013. I worked real hard not to laugh because money was obviously tight but I just told them to return the pos to Amazon.

Probably

https://groups.google.com/g/vt8500-wm8505-linux-kernel/c/L1Q6OHDGDcM

https://archive.org/details/wm8650-linux

The first image for wm8650 that comes up is a Debian boot logo.

Take a picture of the bottom pls

that's it: CPU: WM8650 800Hz Memory:DDR 256MB and information about screen. Literally
- Wow
  
  The other guy’s getting started link is a good place to start. It will take some work
I'm not sure its appropriate here

If not, there's probably one or the other security hole to root it and use chroot.

Looks very similar to the Windows CE device action retro has in this video so what he used could be helpful https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=anz17CNMixU

Alpine Linux if ARM7 but it is older arm i think

You can install Linux on anything you can get it on.

E: Please check out https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

maybe you have some instructions?
- Was a bit tongue-in-cheek mate, I’m sorry and it wasn’t fair because you are here looking for guidance.
  
  Please check out Linux From Scratch: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

Technically it already runs Linux 2.6 kernel (ah, the classic one from mid 2000’s). Surely it can boot Linux, but without knowing what is that hardware specifically it’s hard to tell how much of its support went to mainline and what architecture it even is

It's beautiful, pls post an update and ping if you manage it!

https://www.alpinelinux.org/downloads/

It should! As long as you can get it to the bios screen you should be able to get it to boot a live USB. I actually resurrected my EeePC1005 two weeks ago with DamnSmallLinux2024.

Even a potato can run linux if you try hard(er) enough.

a potato?