Installing Ubuntu with only Android

I found myself in a unique situation last night. I somehow corupted my install of Ubuntu and my installer thumb drive was no where to be found. To make matters worse I don’t have an internet connection at my house. I use my phone’s tethering to access the web.

So I installed DriveDroid and I was able to get my machine back online.

I only have the 16GB Nexus and it’s pretty full right now so I opted to use Ubuntu Mini (Also known as the Net Installer). This ISO for all who don’t know only takes up 40 MB. It’s fast to download and boots entirely to RAM.

Once DriveDroid had mounted Ubuntu mini and booted my machine I was able to switch my phone in to USB tethering and retrieve all the packages I needed. The entire process took only about 30 minutes and my machine was back to normal.

From now on I’m going to keep a copy of Ubuntu Mini on my phone. I was so jazzed by DriveDroid I even dropped the $3 on the full version. (Rare for a cheap bastard like myself).