Where would I ask about this?

[Nobody Important]

I have a device which I’m trying to change the os on, but it uses a rom chip for the os. It’s not an android phone, or any kind of phone, and the current os doesn’t let me install programs. I’m looking for info on how I would change the os, because I think it should be possible. 

[RageTester]

ROM = read only memory. I am no expert, but I think you would need to change chip itself... involves soldering and such.

If the device is cheap it's for sure easier buying some alternative.

[Nobody Important]

I’ve seen videos on changing the os on android phones which use rom though. That’s what I thought at first but now I’m not sure.

[Levent]

Just now, Nobody Important said:

I’ve seen videos on changing the os on android phones which use rom though.

Let's start by learning what this phone is. Almost all Android smartphones have a USB flash mode, both built into the bootloader AND into the SoC itself. On top of all that, there is also possibility of flashing with "boxes" which connect to test points on the motherboard or through USB itself without relying on the SoC or the OS. 

[kirashi]

35 minutes ago, Nobody Important said:

I have a device which I’m trying to change the os on, but it uses a rom chip for the os. It’s not an android phone, or any kind of phone, and the current os doesn’t let me install programs. I’m looking for info on how I would change the os, because I think it should be possible. 

Please provide the exact make and model of device you have. Otherwise everyone here will merely be wasting their (and your time) guessing.

[Nobody Important]

I don’t actually know what device it is, I got it off craigslist for $15. It has similar specs to a raspberry pi. (4gb of ddr3 and a dual-core 1.7ghz broadcom arm cpu) It’s basically just a motherboard in a nearly unlabelled black plastic case that’s about 8"x8"x2". All it has on it is a crappy chinese browser and a tv streaming service which looks suspiciously close to telus’s tv thing.

 

Sorry if I’m wasting people’s time, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was impossible to actually turn this thing into something useable. I’ve never done anything like this before so have almost no knowledge on it, I was bored and needed a project.

[v0id]

7 hours ago, Nobody Important said:

I don’t actually know what device it is, I got it off craigslist for $15. It has similar specs to a raspberry pi. (4gb of ddr3 and a dual-core 1.7ghz broadcom arm cpu) It’s basically just a motherboard in a nearly unlabelled black plastic case that’s about 8"x8"x2". All it has on it is a crappy chinese browser and a tv streaming service which looks suspiciously close to telus’s tv thing.

 

Sorry if I’m wasting people’s time, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was impossible to actually turn this thing into something useable. I’ve never done anything like this before so have almost no knowledge on it, I was bored and needed a project.

I'd try another board, such as Hobby Electronics or something. If it's not phone related then you may not get a whole lot answers, people will likely skip your post.

[Nobody Important]

12 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Unless you are ready to do a whole lot of homework on your own, prepared to replace soldered components on a pcb, and write a complete OS on your own, you would be wasting your time.

Thanks. I was kind of expecting it would be like this, but you don’t know if you don’t ask. It wasn’t expensive anyways, and I still get to keep… uhhh… whatever this thing is.