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[Q] Windows on Gtab?

Will it be possible to put a version of windows on the gtab? I know they are working on linux with a distro of ubuntu, does anyone know if it is possible?
Dont get me wrong i love android but this is a powerful device and id like to squeeze all i can out of it

acuralegendz said:
Will it be possible to put a version of windows on the gtab? I know they are working on linux with a distro of ubuntu, does anyone know if it is possible?
Dont get me wrong i love android but this is a powerful device and id like to squeeze all i can out of it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Considering that the Tegra 2 is a RISC CPU and to my knowledge the only Windows version that is written for RISC CPUs is WinCE I'm guess the answer to your question is yes and no. Yes technically an OS made by MS in the Windows "family" (WinCE) could be ported to the gtab but realistically the kind of windows variant that I think you're looking for (XP/Win7) no. And you're right this is a powerful piece of hardware... way more that is necessary for WinCE so on al counts it's doubtful that windows will ever make it onto the gtab.

Actually I believe if someone can rip the proper files from the dual booting 10" viewsonic this might be possible. I would have to look at the internals, but I would assume they are the same. I know it is running win7 starter and I believe Android 1.6. I was actually gonna look at that this weekend. Problem is with the small internal memory might be worth it to invest in a 32gb chip.

romanrish said:
Actually I believe if someone can rip the proper files from the dual booting 10" viewsonic this might be possible. I would have to look at the internals, but I would assume they are the same. I know it is running win7 starter and I believe Android 1.6. I was actually gonna look at that this weekend. Problem is with the small internal memory might be worth it to invest in a 32gb chip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually there is a reason that it is running android 1.6. 1.6 has a compiled version that runs on x86 architecture.
No dice on win 7 on this puppy sorry

Scratch that. I just looked at the specs and they are not even close other than the screen. Well it was a thought.

romanrish said:
Scratch that. I just looked at the specs and they are not even close other than the screen. Well it was a thought.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The other tablet is uses Intel Atom CPU, hence why it works, would have been nice if that tablet had Android 2.2....but who wants Win7 when you got android....hahaha

I agree about android over win, but I always like to have the ability to. I have my linux box w/ a tiny Win7 partition. Course every time I log into it. I remember why I stopped using windows
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The VS 10" multi-boot tablet has an Atom (x86) CPU and dual boots Windows 7 and Android 1.6 (IIRC).
The only thing vaguely like Windows that you MIGHT be able to get on the gTab will be some version of wince(and I do -- they're trying to call it Windows Mobile now since wince was so awful, but it sounds like it hasn't helped).

I'd actually like to see how well WinMo 6.5, like my old touch pro had, would run on a g-tab. I really enjoyed that old phone.

Windows 7 on Gtablet G?

Just bought mine through the woot deal...
Can it be done? I cant seem to find any information on it...

Short answer: No
Windows is an Intel based operating system
Windows Phones have intel based processors like the "Intel Atom"
Android is a linux based operating system that is designed to run on ARMx based processors like the Snapdragon and TegraII.

Any way to run a virtual machine and run it or a bootable usb of windows 7?

mr208 said:
Any way to run a virtual machine and run it or a bootable usb of windows 7?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not too sure about Virtual Machine but I did read somewhere on this forum that someone successfully ran "Ubuntu" on the GTAB so there may a VM involvement somewhere in there.
Search "Ubuntu" on the "Viewsonic G Tablet" forums..

Windows Phones have intel based processors like the "Intel Atom"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
False... Windows phone 7 is currently designed to run on ARM, just like all other major phone OS's.
Not too sure about Virtual Machine but I did read somewhere on this forum that someone successfully ran "Ubuntu" on the GTAB so there may a VM involvement somewhere in there.
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Click to collapse
The reason for this is Ubuntu has a version of it that is compiled for ARM processors, it is not running in a VM.
Windows 7 will NEVER work on the gtablet hardware. Never. Ever.
Got it? . Just want to make that clear.

Tostino said:
False... Windows phone 7 is currently designed to run on ARM, just like all other major phone OS's.
The reason for this is Ubuntu has a version of it that is compiled for ARM processors, it is not running in a VM.
Windows 7 will NEVER work on the gtablet hardware. Never. Ever.
Got it? . Just want to make that clear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WHAT the HELL? I'm just trying to help the guy out.
How about being a contributor and not being a Jerk about it!
If I'm wrong I'll own up to it. XDA is about helping and not about being condescending to other members!

Sorry, wasn't trying to come off as a jerk, but after reading my post it did sound like it. I just have read enough of the threads on this subject to know the reasons it won't work.

Windows 7 is built for x86 processors.
That would be your intel atoms, pentiums of late, core i5's i7's whatever.
Windows Phone 7 runs on a version of Windows CE. Windows CE was built for ARM processors. These are the processors that you find in your modern smartphones be it iPhone, and all Android phones.
ARM processors are well suited to low power mobile processing hence they're use in about everything.
Linux has been built to run on both ARM and x86 processors, Windows 7 has not. Windows CE does but it's a different product from Windows 7.
Microsoft is rumored to be working on a Windows OS that will be made for ARM processors but one problem they know they will have is that all the current Windows programs won't run on this new OS.
The dual booting Viewsonic tablet that was out was using an Intel Atoom processor hence why it was able to run both android and Windows.

Native Linux (and X)?

Hi,
Has anyone got Linux working natively on this tablet? Or at least the X Window System and/or with a working touchscreen driver?
I would really like to get Linux to run on this tab (any distro).
Thanks!

No news of any?
If only I new how to do it myself...

The question is why?
It hard enough to get all the hardware working with the scaled down Linux of android.

DigitalMD said:
The question is why?
It hard enough to get all the hardware working with the scaled down Linux of android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It shouldn't be that hard to get everything working (Linux, X, ALSA and mtev have been ported to the original Tab and also the S2 too, so it's possible). Alternatively, (search Novo Paladin Tablet running X in Youtube) run X on top of the Android kernel.
Why would it need to be scaled down? The internal drive could be partitioned for /etc, /usr, /var and /home use.

I think you could try the linuxonandroid solution( but I think you already did...), it runs linux natively and only needs a vnc client to access the GUI. I am running the BackTrack and it is quite usable. Not as fast and optimal as it would be without the vnc layer, but I don't think any developer would spent much effort to close that gap.

leodfs said:
I think you could try the linuxonandroid solution( but I think you already did...), it runs linux natively and only needs a vnc client to access the GUI. I am running the BackTrack and it is quite usable. Not as fast and optimal as it would be without the vnc layer, but I don't think any developer would spent much effort to close that gap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh but we are working on removing the vnc layer, check out our site for more info

why not a more modern OS like say .... Windows 98 or VME ? or Bada?

DigitalMD said:
why not a more modern OS like say .... Windows 98 or VME ? or Bada?
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Click to collapse
windows 98 is more modern than a release of Ubuntu from last year?
The linuxonandroid project is working on native ports of Linux distros, its true you can run the likes of windows 98 but this uses emulation via the likes of qume which means more lag and less use of the actual hardware

Didn't get that either. My guess is that he posted in the wrong thread.
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zacthespack said:
windows 98 is more modern than a release of Ubuntu from last year?
The linuxonandroid project is working on native ports of Linux distros, its true you can run the likes of windows 98 but this uses emulation via the likes of qume which means more lag and less use of the actual hardware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Linux is soooooooooo 1960s
originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs,
Don;t they teach you kids nothin in school??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix
Running a 40 yo OS. .....LMAO>>>>>>

I just hope you are kidding dude...
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leodfs said:
I just hope you are kidding dude...
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kidding???????????
I posted the fact filled link from Wiki , are you kidding?
Linux is a 44 year old OS>

Yeah, got it. Sorry, but that's not funny at all.

leodfs said:
Yeah, got it. Sorry, but that's not funny at all.
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Click to collapse
I think its hilarious , people thinking they are doing something cool and new. I was doing this stuff Unix in college in 1978

DigitalMD said:
Linux is soooooooooo 1960s
originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs,
Don;t they teach you kids nothin in school??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix
Running a 40 yo OS. .....LMAO>>>>>>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Linux WAS NOT developed in the 1960s, nor was it developed by Bell Labs. It does copy UNIX, however. Linus Torvalds wrote the kernel from scratch and posted it to the Minix mailinglist in the 80s (what's wrong with an old OS xD at least it is being continued).
And also, Bada and Android are based on Linux, and Windows 9x won't run because it is developed for x86 chipsets, not ARM.
Go and do your research first

No dude, what is hilarious is that you keep that point of yours. We are not trying to emulate a dead OS from 60's( which is not the Linux case, by the way), we are running a modern version of a distro ported to an ARM platform and by consequence ALL of its apps and libraries.

Ubuntu Touch is now availible for ARM chipsets!
DigitalMD, it's not the fact we're making something new, it's the fact we're improving it, making it how we want it.

leodfs said:
No dude, what is hilarious is that you keep that point of yours. We are not trying to emulate a dead OS from 60's( which is not the Linux case, by the way), we are running a modern version of a distro ported to an ARM platform and by consequence ALL of its apps and libraries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly.
I'm running Linux right now, and uname -a returns:
Code:
Linux kube 3.5.0-24-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Thu Feb 7 01:50:30 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Kernel last updated 7th Feb. Dead OS? I think not.

zacthespack said:
Oh but we are working on removing the vnc layer, check out our site for more info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great. Have you seen the Nova Paladin video? It would be awesome if you could kill the UI and run the X server with mtev.

DigitalMD said:
why not a more modern OS like say .... Windows 98 or VME ? or Bada?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windoze???? You've got to be kidding!!
Yes, UNIX was created by Kernighan and Ritchie (K&R) at Bell Labs (BTL) in the late 60's. Its main attributes are that it is a mujlti-user, multi-tasking and processor-independent operating system. It is transportable to different hardware simply by rewriting the underlying kernel specifics before compiling. Their group also created the C language to better handle its features, finding Fortran to be too cumbersome. In other words, it was done right from the ground up; one would be hard-pressed to devise a better OS. I perceive Ubuntu and other implementations as primarily UI applications, but I'm not a programmer.
You can find a nice history (and license plates!) at unix.org.
Linus Torvalds, as previously mentioned, ported UNIX to the IBM PC by rewriting the kernel and rather narcissistically dubbed it "Linux".
Microsoft Windows can run only on the Intel boat anchor, and is a crazy-quilt of patches over the original single-user kludge, PC-DOS. Bill Gates plastered too much lipstick on that pig long ago.

Voice of confidence.!

I am a beginner on this page. I am writing this to backup the other developers on this form. A lot of people who has been going around on the surface forum repeating over and over fat some functions will never work. I've been around modding phones since when Windows Mobile 3 came out back when I was in middle school. I remember when Windows Mobile came out a website called geekstoolbox.com whats the phone for many modders to build custom firmware for Windows Phones. I remembered and middle school it was difficult to make certain improvements because Windows Mobile phones were close systems. I remember then listen to visit on the forum who actually broken too the phone am I allowed a dump of data to flow in Internet of his phone start new custom ROM custom firmware revolution to begin. Afterwards, I begin saying revolutionary products such as wifi tether, Bluetooth tethering, Mobile sharing, and in custom OS. to those web visiting thi about s forum repeating over and over and over, that there would be no Windows based x86 programs on when does RT we'll be eating crow when it finally does happen within the next few months. I see it being possible when you consider if someone will, compile a virtual machine enabling many features of Windows 8 x86. Furthermore, suppose it becomes like parallels Macintosh. In addition, maybe someone will develop 8 translator package for Windows 82 windows Rt to understand each other's programs. all that I am saying is please do not be downers and out other people expressions about this tablet and is always
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I meant to end by saying, please do not doubt other people's expressions about this templates capabilities in with the wish to see on this tablet because the possibilities are there and if someone desires it enough it will come to fruition.
Continuously be blessed signing out!
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There are already two x86 emulators (Bochs and DosBox) for Windows RT. Bochs is slow to the point of being unusable, and DosBox is slow to the point of lagging while playing games from 1992.
x86 will likely never run (games) well on Windows RT, but it does in fact already run.

See,! It already possible . I have 1 questions, do they use virtual machines or do they do rely on the Internet
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befreshshaveivorysalesoap said:
See,! It already possible . I have 1 questions, do they use virtual machines or do they do rely on the Internet
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They use virtual machines, but they're slow to the point of complete uselessness. It takes half an hour to boot XP in them.

befreshshaveivorysalesoap said:
I meant to end by saying, please do not doubt other people's expressions about this templates capabilities in with the wish to see on this tablet because the possibilities are there and if someone desires it enough it will come to fruition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tempered with a dose of reality, when you acknowledge that even a dual core ARM cpu is still very underpowered to emulate a full x86 cpu/environment. If what you want is a good x86 experience, the Surface RT isn't what you want.
That's not saying you can't get a decent toy x86 environment, or really good recompiled for arm desktop apps. Those two work fine.

schettj said:
Tempered with a dose of reality, when you acknowledge that even a dual core ARM cpu is still very underpowered to emulate a full x86 cpu/environment. If what you want is a good x86 experience, the Surface RT isn't what you want.
That's not saying you can't get a decent toy x86 environment, or really good recompiled for arm desktop apps. Those two work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe not the full experience but something like WINE on Linux. Most people who buys the RT version aren't power PC users and don't require much anyhow , except for a few apps

befreshshaveivorysalesoap said:
Maybe not the full experience but something like WINE on Linux. Most people who buys the RT version aren't power PC users and don't require much anyhow , except for a few apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wine on x86 linux isn't emulating the CPU. This is a critical difference.

schettj said:
Tempered with a dose of reality, when you acknowledge that even a dual core ARM cpu is still very underpowered to emulate a full x86 cpu/environment. If what you want is a good x86 experience, the Surface RT isn't what you want.
That's not saying you can't get a decent toy x86 environment, or really good recompiled for arm desktop apps. Those two work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe that all the Windows RT devices are quad core right now.
befreshshaveivorysalesoap said:
Maybe not the full experience but something like WINE on Linux. Most people who buys the RT version aren't power PC users and don't require much anyhow , except for a few apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's really very unlikely that any x86 program bigger than Notepad will ever be usability fast/stable. I'd go read up a bit on emulation and the downsides regarding speed with it. This is the same reason that android tablets, which are quite arguably far more suited for this, can't do anything better than emulate 20 year old OSes, and do that poorly.

netham45 said:
I believe that all the Windows RT devices are quad core right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
d'oh! flip flopping between windows phone 8 and windows RT Yep, 4 arm cores. Still like trying to emulate a V8 with an inline4.

netham45 said:
I believe that all the Windows RT devices are quad core right now.
It's really very unlikely that any x86 program bigger than Notepad will ever be usability fast/stable. I'd go read up a bit on emulation and the downsides regarding speed with it. This is the same reason that android tablets, which are quite arguably far more suited for this, can't do anything better than emulate 20 year old OSes, and do that poorly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of emulating an entire OS, would anyone entertain the idea of a program translator; A program could be build with the libraries of some main OS'es. Within the translator, when an x86 program is called the programs determines what operating systems' library to use. The translator would then render a version of the program Windows with RT can understand.
Couldn't this be likely.

netham45 said:
There are already two x86 emulators (Bochs and DosBox) for Windows RT. Bochs is slow to the point of being unusable, and DosBox is slow to the point of lagging while playing games from 1992.
x86 will likely never run (games) well on Windows RT, but it does in fact already run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe I no what the issue with these are.......... Bochs and DosBox do not allow users to control processing cores for each emulation. These emulators need to be updated to take advantage of this feature, it's a blessing for other OS'es

There's already a translator project much like what you describe, actually. It's early alpha quality right now, only able to run a few apps and those slowly and with stability problems, but it's a very promising proof of concept. The developer is using the DOSBox dynamic recompilation engine, optimized for THUMB-2 (ARM variant that Windows uses) with some hacks in it to remove support for stuff that only the kernel has to care about like page tables and whatnot (these hacks apparently substantially increase speed). The recompilation engine is not currently thread-safe, which means it has to run on a single core (although it's possible that the translated program itself might be able to run across multiple cores; I don't know for sure) but the possibility of fixing that is being investigated.
The project is on the Dev&Hacking sub-forum, and there's a download link for it and a (mostly playable) demo of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 as an example of what it can currently do.

Can someone point me in the duration to learn about building for ARM. I want to see if I can contribute. In school I am only learning about the x86 and x64 architectural

befreshshaveivorysalesoap said:
Can someone point me in the duration to learn about building for ARM. I want to see if I can contribute. In school I am only learning about the x86 and x64 architectural
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently this is the porting method: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2096820&highlight=arm
Requires visual studio to cross compile from a desktop windows machine.

[Question] N64oid for RT 8.1?

I know the 8.1 jailbreak is coming soon and was looking into n64 emulators. http://slideme.org/application/n64oid that one is already compiled for ARM but is for android. Anyone know of any n64 emulator that will possible run on RT 8.1 (or that can be recompiled).

No, not quite yet. Unless N64oid is uploaded to the Windows Store, then you'll just have to wait for the jailbreak.

syn3h said:
No, not quite yet. Unless N64oid is uploaded to the Windows Store, then you'll just have to wait for the jailbreak.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The question is has anyone converted it to work on Windows RT 8.0. It is an ARM build but for android.

numus said:
The question is has anyone converted it to work on Windows RT 8.0. It is an ARM build but for android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is more likely that an x86 windows application can be ported to windows RT than an ARM android app can be ported to windows RT.
I think N64 was looked at before, I can't remember what the limitation was but it was most likely build tools or a graphics plugin.

SixSixSevenSeven said:
It is more likely that an x86 windows application can be ported to windows RT than an ARM android app can be ported to windows RT.
I think N64 was looked at before, I can't remember what the limitation was but it was most likely build tools or a graphics plugin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a lot of different N64 emulators for x86...

Someone could take a look at mupen64 and get that ported. That would be our best bet for a 64 emu. But I do believe graphics would be the main problem.
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numus said:
There are a lot of different N64 emulators for x86...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am aware.
I was just pointing out that your examples are useless. When porting software to RT, it doesnt matter if it has an ARM version elsewhere, the most important thing is that it is a win32 application before you can even remotely consider anything else, n64oid is not win32 in the slightest.
The x86 emulators may have JIT issues, may not compile under MSVC which is the only compiler we have for windows RT or rely on libraries which do not function.
N64 has been requested and turned down before. Someone should perhaps take another look though yes and the surface RT certainly has the power.

numus said:
There are a lot of different N64 emulators for x86...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SixSixSevenSeven said:
It is more likely that an x86 windows application can be ported to windows RT than an ARM android app can be ported to windows RT.
I think N64 was looked at before, I can't remember what the limitation was but it was most likely build tools or a graphics plugin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Somebody looked at N64 on Windows RT a while back, and I read on another forum that it there were graphics problems

SixSixSevenSeven said:
I am aware.
I was just pointing out that your examples are useless. When porting software to RT, it doesnt matter if it has an ARM version elsewhere, the most important thing is that it is a win32 application before you can even remotely consider anything else, n64oid is not win32 in the slightest.
The x86 emulators may have JIT issues, may not compile under MSVC which is the only compiler we have for windows RT or rely on libraries which do not function.
N64 has been requested and turned down before. Someone should perhaps take another look though yes and the surface RT certainly has the power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Offtopic:
Dude, you are one of the nicest guys here. Everytime you take your time to give a very detailed good explaing answer. I needed to tell you, because guys like you makes me love this forum and the "thank button" was not enough
Ontopic:
Could this help?
Ver 1.4 Source
Ver2.x Source <-
Thanks for the feedback.
Anyways, I managed to make the build clean enough so anyone with Visual Studio 2010+ OR its Windows SDK equivalent can build from scratch without any issues (other than a ton of compiler warnings, but it does run smoothly).
Again, these are all non-functional changes, but only changes to *.vcxproj files to make the soultion buildable (Under VS or using MSBuild in the command line)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Source - Last post

BIade said:
Offtopic:
Dude, you are one of the nicest guys here. Everytime you take your time to give a very detailed good explaing answer. I needed to tell you, because guys like you makes me love this forum and the "thank button" was not enough
Ontopic:
Could this help?
Ver 1.4 Source
Ver2.x Source <-
Source - Last post
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Offtopic part: thanks
Ontopic part:
That it compiles in visual studio at all is certainly a start.

came across this:
http://www.emutalk.net/threads/49810-Mupen64-in-C-on-XNA
is it in any way related?

goldenpipes said:
came across this:
http://www.emutalk.net/threads/49810-Mupen64-in-C-on-XNA
is it in any way related?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Completely outdated (2009) on no files available.... I can't imagine that it can help. Sorry mate

We have a psx emulator n64 should be possible.
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goldenpipes said:
We have a psx emulator n64 should be possible.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What psx emulator on RT...?
Sent from my Optimus G

It doesn't look like RT 8.1 will be JB so the emulator question doesn't even matter anymore