Installing Linux on a Cell Phone

[heavyrain]

My overall goal is to turn my Samsung Incognito into a linux command line driven phone.
I have:
-Macbook Pro
-Sony Vaio with lubuntu
-Samsung Incognito Phone

Any ideas where to start?

[Rubberman]

Assuming that the phone is already running Android, then you can jail-break it and install available tools to install/run command-line linux applications on it. I do that with my Nexus One running Gingerbread.

[heavyrain]

I realized I've made an error: it is in fact a SANYO Incognito.

[heavyrain]

Okay. Some further searching/tinkering has revealed a bit more about this phone.
Looking at freelikegnu org/?p=91 the author has concluded that this phone does not have a operating system on it, but rather uses a series of java apps.
After some other searching I found BitPim, which is a program for most OS that allows you to tinker with phones. The Incognito is not supported. Searched for "flash sanyo incognito" "reprogram sanyo incognito" "jailbreak sanyo incognito" and did not come up with anything particularly useful.

On the hardware side I grabbed a micro USB cord and a micro SD reader so that I could interface with the phone. I plugged the phone in and:

Codex:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0c45:6409 Microdia Webcam
Bus 002 Device 022: ID 0482:0250 Kyocera Corp.
Bus 002 Device 011: ID 047d:2041 Kensington SlimBlade Trackball

Hello phone! After a while of searching I found gammu/wammu, which was also able to detect the phone, but does not know what it is looking at.

[Rubberman]

Many cell phones do not have a standard OS, but do have an embedded java virtual machine that can run installed applications; however, you would need special tools and/or an emulator to build/test/install applications. If you can register as an application developer with the "app store" for this device (assuming they have one), then you might get some help there to be able to install and test new phone applications. We do that at Nokia for developers who are targeting our Series 40 "feature" phones, such as the new Asha models.