Windows on x86 based android phones? - General Questions and Answers

I was curious about this, if the android smartphones/tabs powered x86 intel processors can be used such that we can install desktop windows or other x86 OSes?

Unlikely as we would need to build drivers for the phone which is rather difficult when the manufacturers like to have things on lockdown most of the time, also it would probably brake some strange contract with Microsoft as most things do. Look at the Surface and Surface RT
Also the UI (Even Metro) would struggle to work on the display adapter
So in short no we can't run Windows on x86 Android phones, yet anyway

Install Android in Windows without Virtual box
I tried this product DuOS which will install Android version Jellybean in Windows 7/8/8.1 platforms. This one is very simple for use comparing with Bluestacks and has good performance for applications. Refer the link for further details and installation check the website for amiduos:good:

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[Q] OS Queshtion

I know I am a noob and probably asking a dumb queshtion but is it possible to dump the whole Android os and download W7 or ?
I know with my home computer I assembled all the pieces and then bought the OS. loaded it and walla it worked. can I do the same for the Gtab? unitnstall everything and start freash on a windows platform?
liljohn said:
I know I am a noob and probably asking a dumb queshtion but is it possible to dump the whole Android os and download W7 or ?
I know with my home computer I assembled all the pieces and then bought the OS. loaded it and walla it worked. can I do the same for the Gtab? unitnstall everything and start freash on a windows platform?
Click to expand...
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Uh?.. I'm thinking no, the ARMv7 Processor was not designed to run intel based operating systems.
short answer: no
Operating systems require drivers. This is the same reason when you install linux on a computer you have to go searching for those pesky Broadcom drivers so your wireless works. There has been some progress in porting a whole operating system to a device not intended for it (Android on HD2 is the furthest progressed as far as I know), and there are some ROM's/launchers to bring the WP7 experience to Android.
if you're talking about Windows 7 i'd say no way! even with the announcement of Windows 8 running on ARM....
Ok thanks.
Ya if your looking for the layout or widget stylings check out "7 widgets Home Plus", plus one of my coworkers just bought a windows 7 phone and has had 3 viruses in 1 week. I am by no means an anti windows person...just not the best mobile enviroment as they have proved time and time again...
Windows can not run on ARM processors as the code is not made for it. That's why you see x86 and x64 editions of Windows, it only supports those processors.
However, Windows 8 promises ARM support as well as increased tablet usability, but its Microsoft, so who knows.
You don't really need Windows anyways.

[Q] Programming language for Windows mobile devices

We are a small company looking to do some inhouse programming using tablets. Initially we were going to move forward on an Android Honeycomb platform because we have only Java developers here. But it looks like we can't get rugged tablets for that platform. There seem to be a lot more rugged tablets that are Windows based.
Initially I thought that we would have to use C# /.Net to code for native applications for the Windows tablets (and Windows specific API). But a colleague of mine thought we could use Java to build native applications on the Windows tablets also. Is this true? Can I use Java to build applications that can be deployed both to the Windows tablets and the Honeycombs? Our applications will also use GPS location based services. Any feedback/pointers would be sincerely appreciated. Thanks.
What devices are you talking about? Phones (running Windows Mobile 6 or Windows Phone 7) or tablets (like the iPad, currently running Windows 7 and in the future Windows 8)?
Most of Windows-based tablets are based in just normal Windows computers on x86 processor. Only very few are Windows CE-based.
On Windows XP/7 tablet PCs you can write in Java without any problem. I am not sure about GPS usage, but it can be read using JNI or just serial port. You can have some common classes/class libraries for Windows and Android, but the device logic and UI needs to be specific (and the JVM is different - Sun JVM vs. Dalvik).
On Windows 8 with "Metro", however, there is no sign yet you can develop WinRT apps using Java.
I am talking about Windows 7 tablets (and Windows 8 in future)
If you want create an app you need C# and silverlight
stre67 said:
I am talking about Windows 7 tablets (and Windows 8 in future)
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Well for Windows 7 you can develop using more or less whatever you prefer since there are no differences between the OS on the desktop and a tablet.
So yes, you can use Java for Windows 7.
There is some API for Location services in Windows 7 however I don't know the details about this.
I also don't know much about Android, but if you can develop for Android in Java you can at least share some code between the Windows 7 and Android version of your software.
Windows 8 will introduce a new kind of app (metro-style app) and those apps can only be written in HTML5 and Javascript or C#/VB.Net/C++/C and XAML.
However, users will still be able to use your Java Apps on Windows 8.
so it looks like Windows 7 is like a windows 7 PC. I can't find any specific books on amazon, so I do apologize if my questions are stupid.
1) Can I develop a Java application similar to that of a desktop and deploy the EAR/WAR file to the windows 7 tablet? if so, does the tablet have an inbuilt web server type application (websphere, tomcat) to serve pages? if not, will the app be loaded on a remote server and be accessed via a browser? In this case the tablet will need an internet connection all the time, correct?
Thanks again.
A Windows 7 Tablet is basically just running the desktop version of Windows 7 so you can do anything with the tablet that you could do with a Windows 7 desktop machine.
Note that Windows Phone 7 is an entirely different operating system that's barely connected.

[Q] what is ARM based and Intel Based Tablets

to whom is knowledgable and also like to explain like Ted mozbi in How I met Your Mother show.... please what is the defernce between ARM based tablet and Intel based tablet???? what concerns me the most is it like I can install exe. file on the intel while I can't in the ARM !?
The major difference between the two is that they typically refer to the the architecture of the cpu. This means how it was designed and how machine instructions are interpreted by cpu.
The answer is yes and no for whether you can install exe's. Yes, they will both be able to install different programs and applications. However, the application or program in question will have to be compiled for that architecture. I haven't done any windows mobile development but my guess is that most if not all apps you can download from the market place will be available for both architectures.
Hopefully that can clear things up a bit.
Wow fastest replay ever seen thanks a milion,,, it did clear out the picture clearer then before ...
To add a little more to the above, Windows on ARM (WoA) will only be able to run Metro style apps, specifically written for Windows 8. I also think that it will only be able to get these apps through the Windows Marketplace. I'm sure there'll be a jailbreak before it's even released, but I think this will still only allow metro style apps written for Windows 8, it'll just allow for them to be installed from other sources. Jailbreaking may also allow non-metro desktop style apps, it's too early to tell, but these will still have to be specially written for WoA.
Windows 8 on Intel chips will be able to run all legacy apps (which will now be called desktop mode apps to differentiate them from Metro apps), from any and all sources, just like your normal Windows PC can now. It will also be able to run Metro apps from the marketplace, and presumably from any other source as well.
See also http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1466400
for the Definitive guide to Windows on ARM
stevenmu said:
To add a little more to the above, Windows on ARM (WoA) will only be able to run Metro style apps, specifically written for Windows 8. I also think that it will only be able to get these apps through the Windows Marketplace.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To add on, Windows on ARM is called Windows RT. Metro Style Apps is able to cross-platform on the x86, x64 and also ARM while Desktop Apps are able to run on x86 and x64. However, preinstalled Desktop Apps such as Office 15 (Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OneNote, etc.) will be able to run on the ARM version.

Emulating the Windows CE kernel and WinMo in QEMU or BOCHS

I have seen several QEMU setups, specifically on the Nexus One, Evo 3D, Xperia Neo, and other devices, all running various versions of Windows XP, 98, or 95. I'm looking at the source now. Is there any reason someone hasn't tried to run the Windows CE (PocketPC or WinMo) kernel within QEMU or can it only emulate x86 operating systems?
http://wiki.osdev.org/QEMU#Supported_Architectures
http://wiki.embeddednirvana.org/ARM_Emulation_Using_QEMU
So according to these articles, ARM emulation is possible.
ARM
QEMU booted into the ARM port of Fedora 8
QEMU emulates the ARMv5TEJ instruction set and all the derivative processors families like ARM7, ARM9E, ARM10E and XScale. It emulates full systems like Integrator/CP board, Versatile baseboard, RealView Emulation baseboard, XScale-based PDAs, Palm Tungsten|E PDA, Nokia N800 and Nokia N810 internet tablets etc. QEMU also powers the Android emulator which is part of the Android SDK (most current Android implementations are ARM based). Under development is iEmu, emulator of Apple's iPhone. Starting from version 2.0.0 of their BADA SDK, Samsung has also chosen QEMU to help development on emulated 'Wave' devices.
metroidnemesis13 said:
I have seen several QEMU setups, specifically on the Nexus One, Evo 3D, Xperia Neo, and other devices, all running various versions of Windows XP, 98, or 95. I'm looking at the source now. Is there any reason someone hasn't tried to run the Windows CE (PocketPC or WinMo) kernel within QEMU or can it only emulate x86 operating systems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had limited success booting a custom x86 Windows CE 4.0 NK image with the newer WinCE QEMU port for the HD2 but I wouldn't call it usable. CE booted and I could see the mouse cursor but the desktop never appeared. There are real CE drivers for most of QEMU's hardware on x86, so it might just take a bit of fiddling if the ARM qemu builds aren't just broken.
Bochs was able to boot the image fine but it was pretty slow and only worked in the 320x200 VESA mode. One of the newer mobile Bochs builds for Android worked a little better and displays in a higher resolution but it's still slow and lacks networking. I haven't had as much success with QEMU. It seems like there are major differences between the generic c/c++ CPU core for all architectures and the x86 one and I"m pretty sure QEMU runs some x86 code natively even in user mode. It's either that or the mobile versions are quick hacks with some dirty workarounds that break the more obscure OSes. The difference in compatibility between different processor architectures in the same build is evidence enough of that. Though, I haven't tried them in an ARM debian build yet.
And as cross platform as it is, QEMU seems highly optimized for x86 these days. So many OSes that have problems on ARM qemu work just fine on a desktop. It seems to me like QEMU-x86 wasn't ever really extensively tested on ARM and the other less used archs. There is also a newer QEMU port based on 1.x in the Android Market called Limbo which I have yet to try but the current versions use VNC so video output is pretty slow.
If you want to give it a go, the following Windows CE based PDA platforms had x86 images available: Handheld PC 2000, Pocket PC 2002, Smartphone 2002, Pocket PC 2003/SE, Smartphone 2003/SE and of course the generic builds from 2.0-7.0. Most of these will boot on a sufficiently compatible PC with the right nudging and it should be possible to cook custom ROMs with appropriate HDD drivers if you prefer Windows Mobile and know how to modify WM2003 ROMs.
You might want to keep an eye on QEMU-KVM for ARM Linux too. If it ever works well enough on android, that may be able to virtualize an ARM CE image at near native speeds. QEMU does emulate a few CE compatible dev boards but I'm not sure if anyone ever successfully booted CE on them as they're mainly for testing Linux and don't emulate everything.
Edit: Here's a few YouTube videos I found demonstrating an early build of KVM-QEMU booting Android and Ubuntu on a Cortex A15 running Ubuntu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWzoanrsaCI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD5Nu-VrHKI
Color me impressed! If CE can be ported to one of the boards QEMU emulates, (almost) native CE on countless Android devices seems very possible. Porting it on an emulator/VM is likely easier than running it on the metal.
Also, here's a thread about the Raspberry Pi's debian and QEMU. Based on the comments, they seem to have the same odd issues the WinCE and Android ports have.
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=10635

Is there anyone knows how to do jailbreak and use desktop apps on windows RT 8.1?

Is there anyone knows how to do jailbreak and use desktop apps on windows RT 8.1?
No. Windows desktop applications are compiled for x86 architecture. Windows RT runs on ARM.
@jeddx21: There is not a jailbreak publicly available for Windows RT 8.1 yet.
Will there be? I've seen indication that progress has been made on that front, but it's been sparse lately. It's something that's been wanted for a while (do a search - you'll find all sorts of threads and comments about an RT 8.1 jailbreak), but it's not yet available.
@Banderburg: Desktop applications are simply Windows applications compiled for the desktop environment, not the Metro / Modern / whatever-Microsoft-is-calling-it-these-days environment. They can and do exist for Windows RT - a primary example of this is Microsoft Office; others include all of the applications that are available to run under a jailbroken RT 8.0 system, such as those in this thread.
So what should i do? should i downgrade it from 8.1 to 8 so i can use jailbreak?
Hey
That depends on your device. If it's a device that shipped with RT 8.0 when released (the original Surface RT and the Asus VivoTab RT, for example), the instructions are available elsewhere in the forum (use the search function).
If it was one that came only with RT 8.1, then there really isn't much that can be done to downgrade your device - missing drivers, signatures that are unrecognized by the device firmware, etc.
irony_delerium said:
@Banderburg: Desktop applications are simply Windows applications compiled for the desktop environment, not the Metro / Modern / whatever-Microsoft-is-calling-it-these-days environment. They can and do exist for Windows RT - a primary example of this is Microsoft Office; others include all of the applications that are available to run under a jailbroken RT 8.0 system, such as those in this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[MENTION]@irony_delerium[/MENTION] I'm sorry - what? Desktop applications aren't compiled for an "environment". They're compiled for a specific CPU architecture and in this case, applications that run on desktop computers are compiled for x86 CPUs. Applications that run on RT are compiled for ARM CPUs.
You can't jail break a device running on ARM and expect it to run x86 applications. You would need to recompile the application and target it at the ARM CPU.
So again, to the OP's question, NO there will never be a jailbreak that allows you to run a desktop application on an ARM cpu. Period.
IF you re-compile an application to run on ARM, and IF you've modified your Surface RT to run applications that aren't digitally signed by Microsoft, then yes in that case you can run the "desktop" application.
banderberg said:
[MENTION]@irony_delerium[/MENTION] I'm sorry - what? Desktop applications aren't compiled for an "environment". They're compiled for a specific CPU architecture and in this case, applications that run on desktop computers are compiled for x86 CPUs. Applications that run on RT are compiled for ARM CPUs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This doesn't change the fact that *desktop* applications exist for Windows running on ARM. Unless you mean to tell me that Audacity, SumatraPDF, or Notepad++ (for example) are not desktop applications, of course.
On Windows 8, applications are compiled both for an environment - Metro/Modern or Desktop - and a CPU architecture. Metro applications run in containers and have explicit blessing from Microsoft to run on both x86 based systems and ARM based systems. Desktop applications are locked down on ARM based systems, by default, to only those with a Microsoft signature. Applications built for either Desktop or Metro will not run in the other environment. Applications compiled for x86 will not run on ARM; applications compiled for ARM will not run on x86.
bandenberg said:
You can't jail break a device running on ARM and expect it to run x86 applications. You would need to recompile the application and target it at the ARM CPU.
So again, to the OP's question, NO there will never be a jailbreak that allows you to run a desktop application on an ARM cpu. Period.
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Click to collapse
This is true. I never said anything about x86 applications. I said desktop - of which, Windows on ARM has a desktop and applications for that desktop.
There are applications built to run on that desktop - even provided by Microsoft, unless you consider the applications forming the Office suite to not be desktop applications. Therefore, desktop applications are available for Windows RT.
No, of course desktop applications targetting x86 or x64 will not run in that environment.
Well put, @irony_delirium. I would expand on that a little, though.
First, not even all desktop computers are x86/x64. Windows used to run on a number of other architectures, like Alpha and PowerPC, and there were desktops (workstations, really, but recognizably desktop computers) with those architectures. Apple used to build all its desktops (and laptops) with PowerPC chips, and before that they used CPUs from the Motorola 68000 family. None of these can execute x86 instructions, but they were all desktops. Of course, the code that ran on them had to be compiled for the relevant architectures, but usually it's not that hard to port software from one 32-bit instruction set to another, unless you wrote the code in Assembly or did similarly platform-specific stuff.
Second, architecture-independent software can run on any platform that supports the intermediate language. For example, Windows RT can run .NET 4.x software, including on the desktop, just fine (though if the binary isn't signed by Microsoft, either the OS will need to be jailbroken or the method of loading the application will need some other convoluted hack). Let me make this clear, though: these are the exact same binaries, produced by Visual Studio (or the command-line C# compiler, csc.exe, that ships with all recent versions of Windows including RT), that you can run on x86 desktops. There's even a .NET program which implements the Java runtime, so you can run Java-based apps on (jailbroken) RT.
Third, it's actually possible to run code written for one instruction set architecture on a CPU with a different architecture, if you have a translation/emulation layer and are willing to take the performance hit of going through it. There's a half-finished homebrew of such a layer for Win32/x86 code on Win32/ARM (RT), but nobody has been working on it for months. It'll run some software, though - Heroes of Might and Magic 3, a closed-source commercial x86 strategy game from the 90s was one of the first apps it was shown able to run, and some other programs work as well - and while it's not fast in an absolute sense it's good enough to run old games or reasonably lightweight current programs. Hopefully, work on it will resume once there's a new jailbreak out.

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