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Best Computer OS for Android Development?

Hey guys, I'm new here and new to Android Development. I would like to try my hand at it. Can you guys suggest the best OS for Developing Android Apps.
Linux (Which Distro)
Windows
Thanks
Andrew

I to have been curious as to the best linux distro for android development. I'm not looking for afull blown linus os...more along the lines of dsl for android and app development. I have only dabbled with linux, mainly dsl and phlak livecds. I want something a little more capable then that.

avacomputers said:
Hey guys, I'm new here and new to Android Development. I would like to try my hand at it. Can you guys suggest the best OS for Developing Android Apps.
Linux (Which Distro)
Windows
Thanks
Andrew
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UBUNTU IS THE BEST OS because android is developed under linux with java base...
if you tray windoze you must to adjust a lot of thinks and make compatibilities... don´t complicate and try UBUNTU 10
An answer of one ubuntu lover!
sorry somtimes my english is poor

Linux is best os android development application. Android is an operating system based on Linux and a robot body or synthetic. It is open source as a Java library. It is a software stack for mobile devices because it includes an operating system and middleware, application key.

I think the best Linux for Developing Android is Ubuntu. There is a new version, 11.04. Try it

i know linux is the obvious choice for android development as it has the same base as android. i also understand ubuntu is the most popular of the linux brands, but i dont really need a full blown linux os. i curently use my mobile-ap for internet with about 2 bars if that...so internet speeds are slow. i dont want to spend alot of time and bandwidth downloading a linux os with features i will probably never use. or is there a light version of ubuntu with just a basic environment i need to develop for android?
as for my other computing needs, im still a windows fan!

Is Fedora on GNOME 3.0 a good platform for development?

yea i like linux mint its more user friendly than ubuntu

Since you might be using Eclipse as IDE, there shouldn't be too much difference using a windows or linux OS.
We're using windows and we're satisfied...

Just try different OSs. You'll notice windows is slow when compiling Java. Why is that - the OS, or the usual virus scanners sitting on it - don't know. I'm pulling my hair right know why my Macbook Pro on a 7000 rpm drive is much (3x) faster to compile than windows XP on a 10K rpm drive. My office buddy's telling me Linux is faster then windows.

Wow... some of the answers in this thread are just... wow...
Ok listen up people!
For just pure development it doesn't matter which OS you choose. You can code just as well in Linux, Windows or Mac since they all run the JDK, Eclipse and the Android SDK just as well. HOWEVER:
Linux has some advantages over the two:
1. The Android emulator will run better on certain versions of Linux depending on how they are set up. The AVD works by using an emulation technology called qemu which is now integrated in the Linux kernel giving it direct access to the processor thus improving the speed of the emulator significantly. Windows and MacOS don't have qemu integrated in their kernel as far as I know therefore the emulator works like S**t.
2. Linux distributions by default are optimised to work faster on hardware than Windows. Take note of the words "than Windows". MacOS is highly optimised to work as fast as possible on Macs therefore it can't really compete in this category. But for PC users, if you invest the time and effort to make your Linux machine tweaked accordingly to your hardware settings it will blow windows away when it comes to processing speed, therefore enhancing the quickness of your IDE as a result.
Now that we got that out of the way, I do have a warning: Linux Is Hard To Configure Properly! Unless you know exactly what you are doing you will brake it over and over and over again until you get it working. If you really must use Linux, here are the distributions I recommend for developing Android apps:
Linux Beginners: Ubuntu - any version above 10.04 I think. Take your pick at what works best for you
Linux Intermediate: Spend some time configuring a Slackware Machine with Eclipse + ADT + JDK + qemu. You won't be sorry.
Linux Advanced: Gentoo or Archbang depending on preferance
Linux Experts: The bloody hell are you doing on this thread?

taranasus said:
Wow... some of the answers in this thread are just... wow...
Ok listen up people!
For just pure development it doesn't matter which OS you choose. You can code just as well in Linux, Windows or Mac since they all run the JDK, Eclipse and the Android SDK just as well. HOWEVER:
Linux has some advantages over the two:
1. The Android emulator will run better on certain versions of Linux depending on how they are set up. The AVD works by using an emulation technology called qemu which is now integrated in the Linux kernel giving it direct access to the processor thus improving the speed of the emulator significantly. Windows and MacOS don't have qemu integrated in their kernel as far as I know therefore the emulator works like S**t.
2. Linux distributions by default are optimised to work faster on hardware than Windows. Take note of the words "than Windows". MacOS is highly optimised to work as fast as possible on Macs therefore it can't really compete in this category. But for PC users, if you invest the time and effort to make your Linux machine tweaked accordingly to your hardware settings it will blow windows away when it comes to processing speed, therefore enhancing the quickness of your IDE as a result.
Now that we got that out of the way, I do have a warning: Linux Is Hard To Configure Properly! Unless you know exactly what you are doing you will brake it over and over and over again until you get it working. If you really must use Linux, here are the distributions I recommend for developing Android apps:
Linux Beginners: Ubuntu - any version above 10.04 I think. Take your pick at what works best for you
Linux Intermediate: Spend some time configuring a Slackware Machine with Eclipse + ADT + JDK + qemu. You won't be sorry.
Linux Advanced: Gentoo or Archbang depending on preferance
Linux Experts: The bloody hell are you doing on this thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awe but Archbang is easy, how about pure Arch Linux ;D

is ubuntu still best OS to develop android apps?

how to take back up of only videos on my Android device?
taranasus said:
Wow... some of the answers in this thread are just... wow...
Ok listen up people!
For just pure development it doesn't matter which OS you choose. You can code just as well in Linux, Windows or Mac since they all run the JDK, Eclipse and the Android SDK just as well. HOWEVER:
Linux has some advantages over the two:
1. The Android emulator will run better on certain versions of Linux depending on how they are set up. The AVD works by using an emulation technology called qemu which is now integrated in the Linux kernel giving it direct access to the processor thus improving the speed of the emulator significantly. Windows and MacOS don't have qemu integrated in their kernel as far as I know therefore the emulator works like S**t.
2. Linux distributions by default are optimised to work faster on hardware than Windows. Take note of the words "than Windows". MacOS is highly optimised to work as fast as possible on Macs therefore it can't really compete in this category. But for PC users, if you invest the time and effort to make your Linux machine tweaked accordingly to your hardware settings it will blow windows away when it comes to processing speed, therefore enhancing the quickness of your IDE as a result.
Now that we got that out of the way, I do have a warning: Linux Is Hard To Configure Properly! Unless you know exactly what you are doing you will brake it over and over and over again until you get it working. If you really must use Linux, here are the distributions I recommend for developing Android apps:
Linux Beginners: Ubuntu - any version above 10.04 I think. Take your pick at what works best for you
Linux Intermediate: Spend some time configuring a Slackware Machine with Eclipse + ADT + JDK + qemu. You won't be sorry.
Linux Advanced: Gentoo or Archbang depending on preferance
Linux Experts: The bloody hell are you doing on this thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you guide me how to take back up of only videos on my Android device
using own made program or application software.
Means from where to begin ?
What to cover first ?
File system of Android ?
Or direct using system calls I can copy videos directly ?
regards
matt

You suggested its worth time & effort to properly setup Slackware it would be worth our while. Ok found u page2. Let's see is the needed software list still valid 2015?
Where can I go for support setting up Slackware for android development.
Plus FYI can't watch tutorial video be.cause Flash no longer supports Linux.

I have UBUNTU 16.04.
I've noticed a lot of people saying to use Ubuntu 10. is that because the post is old or is the 10th generation Ubuntu the best for android development. i also am a noob. i can root, i have successfully flashed a lg stylo once with katana rom. i still use it to this day,,,,, bc my gf "accidentally" broke my 500gig hdd that i was booting windows ten from via usb on my dell inspiron. i was using mainly odin and lg flash tool which i rem was hard to get up and running on Ubuntu which if i rem correctly is why i went to windows when i am flashing. Any suggestions or refferences would help greatly. i fig if im starting over id better do it the correct way. My end goal is to try my hand at learning android development. Ty LOVE THE SITE

Developing apps, mac vs pc?

Just curious what most of the devs use? I'm looking into getting a new computer just for app development. Any input would be appreciated.

PC, I never liked building things on a mac

loudaccord said:
Just curious what most of the devs use? I'm looking into getting a new computer just for app development. Any input would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For general devolpment, I actually prefer Linux. However, windows is the most featured for dev compared to mac, which is only good if you develop for ios
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

I do all my development using Ubuntu. I develop using only the terminal and gedit primarily because I found Eclipse to be not flexible enough when developing.
I've tried to develop for Android on Windows using command line or Eclipse, but I much prefer Ubuntu. It's just a preference because I'm sure development is the same on all operating systems.

nraboy said:
I do all my development using Ubuntu. I develop using only the terminal and gedit primarily because I found Eclipse to be not flexible enough when developing.
I've tried to develop for Android on Windows using command line or Eclipse, but I much prefer Ubuntu. It's just a preference because I'm sure development is the same on all operating systems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting, I'm using Windows/Eclipse and was just thinking of what other options would be. I'll start looking into Ubuntu now.

The only commands you'll ever need are:
ant debug
ant release
adb install -r apkfile
adb uninstall package
adb logcat
emulator -avd emulatorname
I usually have three terminals open.
- Compiling / Installing
- Emulator
- Log output (logcat)
I use the workspace feature of Ubuntu so that way I can sort my applications into groups and using the alt+ctrl+arrow shortcut I can quickly navigate around.
Ubuntu is free, heavily updated, heavily supported and easy enough to use.
Definitely worth checking out if you are still trying to find your place of zen.

I'm looking at getting new hardware also, laptop would be preferable but I know it might not have the muscle I'm looking for. What hw are you guys running to do app development?

I'm developing on a laptop as well.
The hardware is as follows:
2.4ghz Intel i3
4gb of ram
500gb hard drive
Ubuntu 11.10
1366 x 768 screen resolution
If I was going to do it over again, I'd get a better screen resolution. Many items are larger than the screen with this low resolution. The other specs on my laptop are overkill for developing Android applications.

[Q] Nexus 7, X11, Different OS's

Hey so I have a couple questions and I have not been able to find these out just browsing the web so perhaps some of you guys know.
My intention is that I want to be able to ssh into my computer/school server so that I can do my programming from some where with my tablet and be able to get some graphics to display. Mainly I have some C and python code that displays a plot via matplotlib and when I ssh into my school server I use ssh -X which I assume is for X11 forwarding for graphics(I use that when connecting on my computer not android)
1. How do I enable X11 forwarding on my nexus 7?
-I have connect bot installed, and I have X11 server by some MIT dude installed as well but I have not been able to get it to display anygraphics. When I try to get my graphics to work I get this error in connect bot: "_tkinter.TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable."
I do not want to have to a vnc, or vpn or whatever that bs is. I just want to get x11 to work
2. If I cant get X11 to work....Does anyone know if Ubuntu Touch supports X11? I read http://www.xda-developers.com/tag/cyanogenmod-10-1/ saying that Ubuntu Touch does not use X11 so does that mean it does not support it? What I mean is if I use the Ubuntu Touch terminal and do ssh -X [email protected] would my graphics display? I'd like to know before I try to install Ubuntu Touch.
I would try to install Ubuntu desktop which I'm pretty sure it would work, except that Ubuntu desktop is mad slow and not very pratical, unless someone as a kernel that optimizes it for speed / terminal use.
3. Bodhi OS for nexus 7....is it faster than the Ubuntu Desktop?
thank in advance

theown1 said:
Hey so I have a couple questions and I have not been able to find these out just browsing the web so perhaps some of you guys know.
My intention is that I want to be able to ssh into my computer/school server so that I can do my programming from some where with my tablet and be able to get some graphics to display. Mainly I have some C and python code that displays a plot via matplotlib and when I ssh into my school server I use ssh -X which I assume is for X11 forwarding for graphics(I use that when connecting on my computer not android)
1. How do I enable X11 forwarding on my nexus 7?
-I have connect bot installed, and I have X11 server by some MIT dude installed as well but I have not been able to get it to display anygraphics. When I try to get my graphics to work I get this error in connect bot: "_tkinter.TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable."
I do not want to have to a vnc, or vpn or whatever that bs is. I just want to get x11 to work
2. If I cant get X11 to work....Does anyone know if Ubuntu Touch supports X11? I read http://www.xda-developers.com/tag/cyanogenmod-10-1/ saying that Ubuntu Touch does not use X11 so does that mean it does not support it? What I mean is if I use the Ubuntu Touch terminal and do ssh -X [email protected] would my graphics display? I'd like to know before I try to install Ubuntu Touch.
I would try to install Ubuntu desktop which I'm pretty sure it would work, except that Ubuntu desktop is mad slow and not very pratical, unless someone as a kernel that optimizes it for speed / terminal use.
3. Bodhi OS for nexus 7....is it faster than the Ubuntu Desktop?
thank in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android does not use the x11 system for graphics, so this will not work, there is a java x11 port but it is very buggy and not ready for prime time.
You will most likely have to make do with VNC, there is nothing wrong with vnc and unless you can give a good reason to why your against using it thats what I would recommend.

[Q] Native Linux on phones

What phones can boot into and run a desktop ARM Linux distro (such as Arch, Slackware, Ubuntu or Debian) natively, with call and messaging support?

Ubuntu Edge.
linuxphone said:
What phones can boot into and run a desktop ARM Linux distro (such as Arch, Slackware, Ubuntu or Debian)
natively, with call and messaging support?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The closet you can get is with Ubuntu Edge but it is still under development and will not be available for a some time.
I am sorry I can not post the links yet in the post but you can google for the "Ubuntu Edge" and you will get enough reading material about the project.

There are also some solutions with VNC and a VM in which you run a desktop Linux. Might not be what you want, but you would have a Linux running on your phone.
The main problem is going to be drivers, which is why a ARM Linux can't just be booted. Someone would need to be merging device specific drivers into the linux, test it, debug it and so on, which doesn't make sense if there are so few people really wanting it. And as you can see with Ubuntus try on that: It is a lot of development needed.

It's possible to dual boot Maemo (to use it for phone features) and Ubuntu (desktop) on Nokia N900.
It's also possible to dual boot Windows Mobile (for phone features) and Ubuntu (desktop) on HTC HD2.
On the other hand, these Indian tablets boot and run Linux:
w w w .youtube.com/watch?v=n1tC8uSR0og
And have phone features:
w w w .techulator.com/resources/9492-Datawind-UbiSlate-7C-Edge-tablet-Full-specifications-features-online.aspx
If anyone tested Linux with phone calls on those devices, please tell.

A long time ago I installed Gentoo Linux on an ARM based hx4700 iPaq; it worked but ran so slowly it wasn't much use. The specialised Linux distros Familiar and Angstrom ran much better, as they were specifically designed for handheld devices. Granted phone specs are way improved now, but is there any real advantage running a full-blown Linux on a phone.... surely Android is basically a Linux distro optimised for phone specs (and chargeable apps, etc...). Would it be less work to port apps you need to run on Android instead - if that's your aim? Although it may be worth doing just for the sake of it....

Full-blown Linux offers the advantage of being in control of the operating system. You choose the tools you need. Android is less secure (backdoors, apps reading your data) and mobile apps generally feel like crippled desktop apps. For example, apt-get is much more comfortable to use, you just type the packages you need and it downloads them, no need for searching inside categories of app market (and all of them are free with full functionality with no ads). You can use the same scripts you wrote for your PC. It can be tweaked to run really fast (low resource usage apps written in C vs Android's Java), and you choose your desktop environment (e. g. a tiling window manager with the right apps literally flies on an old machine, RAM used on system start with Xorg running equals 20 MBs). Also, there's full filesystem encryption.
Mobile hardware is more or less the equivalent of a Pentium 2 / 3 / 4 desktop PC, which is enough for full desktop app experience.

Im glad i found this topic.
Thats not new to me...
I think the questions to add are:
- How to fully remove Android to Install Linux
- Can i install all the Drivers needed?
So that i can use: Modem(phone); WiFi & GPS under Linux.
-Is it possible to revert to Android?
- Minimum Requirements to Run Linux and What Distro?
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA Free mobile app

A portable qemu version for linux/android x86/arm able to run windows

I've compiled portable versions of qemu-system-i386 2.1.1 both for arm and x86, I think it is possible to run in many devices with linux kernel.
I've tested them in my phone RedMi One and on the android x86 4.4 on my laptop.
In my phone(Cortex-A7 1.5GHz), it takes 4-10mins to start windows xp sp3. With enough RAM(200MB I have tested), it can load a snapshot in about 10 sec.
Network accessing is possible in guest system.
Also, I've post the package in a chinese forum, some people have test the arm version and proved it work well.
So, is anybody interested there?
Requirements:
a rooted android phone (cpu with armhf support);
a terminal app;
XServer XSDL or VNC Viewer.
Decompress the 7z files after rename them as 'filename.7z.001', 'filename.7z.002', ...
In the terminal, input like:
#cd qemu-system-i386_for_arm/bin
#chmod 755 qemu-system-i386 #(required the first time)
Then, two options:
1) using vnc
#./qemu-system-i386 -hda /sdcard/xp.qcow2 -vnc :0
Then you can connect with localhost:5900 using VNC Viewer.
2)
start XServer XSDL first, and then start qemu:
#DISPLAY=:0 ./qemu-system-i386 -hda /sdcard/xp.qcow2
more parameters of qemu can be specified, such as:
-m 128 -net user -net nic,model=rtl8139 -soundhw es1370 -vga vmware -monitor stdio

Awesome, this is really really useful, especially since Limbo PC emulator uses some super old qemu build and has been on development hiatus since spring 2014.
This is perfect, native qemu 2.1 inside of android.
Thanks a lot for sharing

Excellent build. Much faster than Bochs, Limbo, or other QEMU Android builds. So far, this is the fastest I've found, and I've tested a lot of builds.
Please be aware that the qemu system for arm 7z files in OP appear to be corrupt, will not extract. Even with rename to 001, etc. Was able to find qemu-system-i386_for_arm.zip by Google search. It appears pan.baidu.com has the file available uploaded by the same user "falonwang".
Tested Diablo, and Sim City 3000 on Win95 image. Playable with excellent FPS on AT&T Galaxy S6. :good:

This works great on my Galaxy S6, however I'm not able to get networking to work. When I use the exact same command and disk file with the original qemu in a chrooted linux environment networking does work, but not with this port.

wow!
Wow this is just perfect!!
Maybe you can also build:
qemu-system-x86_64 for android x86_64 ? (ASUS ZENFONE 2)

all the file are not opening in 7zip , any update?