[Q] OS Hot Switching - General Topics

Is it possible to speed up the switching between two OSes on a mobile phone? Nexus 5? Also, we are creating a brand of mobile device. Do you think a custom phone could accomplish this?
What if we used a custom bootloader, and created rooted apps for each OS, and hibernate OS states (copy RAM into storage)? Thoughts?
What is the possibility of creating a VM for mobile phones?
Wouldn't it be cool if you could swap between your android ROM and say, Firefox OS or Ubuntu?
Are there already any related Open Source projects to any of the above?

Dan's partner here. We are indeed building a brand of electronics products that seek ultimate compatibility and value across nearly every segment of the overall electronics market. T
an is a talented programmer looking to solve the problem of: "user in ubuntu touch wants to run an app that hasn't yet been ported, omg now I have to boot android there goes 5 minutes!". He is using a nexus 5 as his Dev platform right now.
Folks I am not much when it comes to programming, but this seems logical:
Android = Linux (and Java)
Ubuntu = Linux
Tizen = Linux
Plasma = Linux
Jolla = Linux
Folks it seems to me that we should only need to boot once. Can anyone point us in the right direction? There has got to be someone working on this too, right?

Something related to dual boot - http://lifehacker.com/how-to-dual-boot-ubuntu-on-your-android-device-1577325241

Related

[Q] OS emulation on other phones?

So I have a smart phone running the Android platform and I know there is an x86 Android project to run it on a full desktop/laptop system.
I also found a DosBox app for it, which I haven't tried but I hear people have gotten Windows 3.11/95 to work on.
Also with the webtop on my phone it can run a full Debian Linux install.
My question is in two parts:
A. Has anyone tried to port this to other mobile phones (Windows, RIM, iOS, etc...) yet?
B. Has anyone tried to port any other OS's to Android?
I mentioned iOS specifically in A. because some MacFans really like their OS and might not want to give up that functionality and it might make people more willing to adopt the platform.
I'd have posted links to cite references, but I'm still under restriction for being new.

Android Dev: Linux vs. Mac vs. Windows

Experts, Developers, Fellow Gentlemen (& perhaps, some Lassey?),
PURPOSE:
To request, collect, organize, and clearly present 3 types of information related to BOTH android application development (for sale on the market) and ROM cooking (using scripts, kitchens, etc.).
INFO REQUESTED:
(1) Compare the relative the PROs and CONs of Android Dev. using:
Windows with Cygwin and Eclipse
Windows with a Linux VM (Eclipse installed on the VM)
Mac with Eclipse
Mac with a Linux VM (Eclipse installed on the VM)
Linux on bare metal (using Eclipse, of course, or the NDK)
(2) If you have used two or more of the above for Android Dev., please describe your experiences and insights, the primary differences, similarities, tips and pitfalls, etc.
(3) Given a fairly large budget to buy your own laptop for use in Android application development and ROM cooking, please RANK the above 5 choices in order from your 1st (best and most desirable) choice to your 5th (last and least desirable) configuration.
Best Regards,
Paul
Honestly your best bet if you want to do android ROM development, and not developing apks, then your best bet is to dual boot your laptop with widows and ubuntu. I thouhgt that you were wanting to develop apks, since you mentioned the SDK and eclipse, that is really more for app development, rather than ROMS and android open source it self.
The reason for ubuntu is that all the of utilities all work with ubuntu, they can work with other distros, but ubuntu seems to be the one most flock to.
The reason not to use a VM is because it can have issues connecting to the USB connection with your phone attached.
Mac will work, if you really want to go down that path, but it is more cumbersome to get things to work "well" as BSD is the underlying kernel, but you have to install an Xwindows environment to use most of the Android utilities, and that can be a pain to get working for someone not really experienced with linux AND OS X.
Windows with cygwin is a possibility, but again, more of a pain that just dual booting ubuntu.
+1 for dualboot
I'm definitely not a developer but I do know PC's. Jim's right you won't get any odd b.s. if you partition and install Ubuntu.
For the small amount of rom tweaking/developing I have done I use windows with cygwin. With baksmali and smali for decompiling dex files.
Sent from my MB865 using xda premium
Me too. I get by with Windows7 and Cygwin...
I know that I will eventually have to at least set up dual-boot with Ubuntu if I want to get involved in "real" development (even that would freak out my wife though - having options at boot on our shared family computer... gonna need a separate dev machine I guess)
Sent from my mind using XDA
I have worked through both windows and linux (ubuntu mostly), and I can give you some info about macs too, but I don't have actual experience there.
Windows
Pros:
More software for things other than android development, so if you want just one OS it may be the way to go.
If you are familiar with it already, it will make your life easier as you won't have to learn about a new OS.
Not much more really.
Cons:
most developers use linux, so you will be a bit alone i the android dev world meaning possible less support.
Not as well supported officially or not.
Overall:
Windows will probably be just fine for app development, as the sdk and eclipse both run fine.
You will have trouble with rom development. Android is based on the linux kernel, so it does not play well with windows.
You can use Cygwin, but you will have mixed results. It is not perfect. Some things just won't work unless you have linux, and quite honestly it is probably easier to get ubuntu working right.
Ubuntu
Pros:
It's FREE!!!!!
most official support
It's what most devs use, so unofficial support is good
Most utilities are built for it.
Cons:
Can be tough to learn if you are used to windows
not as many apps for other things, but that is getting better.
Over all:
By far the best for development. you are just gonna be better off in general. your best bet is to dual boot, which is really easy, and you can always use windows when you want. A virtual machine is an option, but you will have issues with certain things, like usb support. A VM will also require more cpu power to do everything so it is not a good idea on low power machines.
Hardware
Linux is much lighter than windows, so a low power computer will be better off with it.
You should be fine with anything that is not total crap for app development. Basic rom development should be fine in the mid to low end. If you are getting into more serious stuff like building up android source you will want some serious power. I have 4GB or ram and an intel i3 processor (2.13 gHZ dual core 4 thread) and that barely cuts it. compiling cm7 takes a couple hours and it runs at 100% cpu usage the whole time and gets hotter than hell.
You will need a pretty big hard drive for some stuff. The AOSP source is huge. all my android stuff takes about 28GB.
Over all
your best bet is to dual boot windows and Ubuntu Linux on at least a decent PC. you will be happier with something with a slightly higher end CPU.
I use 64-bit Ubuntu, it's just so much better and everything just runs natively! I mean some of those kitchens and tools are only for windows, but it doesn't really bother me because I dont use them
If you want to learn to write code, get ubuntu and jump head first into it.

[Q] re:custom os on x86 android tablet?

I have searched lots on the subject of getting a full linux distro running on an android device most of which were really not really what I am looking for, almost everything I find on the subject seems to be some kind of hybrid solution where running linux side by side or on top of android but imo that just seems messy and may as well just be using andorid with it's apps than do that.
I ran into interesting information about modding chromebooks some of when were the similar side-by-side solution but others actually more what I was looking for, they enable legacy seabios while not enough to get windows installed seems to work fine to boot into linux and another guy had baked his own custom seabios replacing the chrome bios entirely.
my question, the atom tablets Im seeing pop up a few places are standard x86 right ? is it possible to either
1/run a modded sea bios similar to chromebook mods? then boot a stock ubuntu distro installation maybe from external storage?
2/or somehow have the existing/modded bootloader boot linux kernel/ubuntu install ?
can't help think if it were that simple maybe someone would have done it already but also thinking the hardware (drivers) are supported by android so they should be supported by linux right ? and if it is standard x86 can't be too much a stretch right ?
I don't own an atom tablet but was thinking it may be desirable (and add more use) if I could get a full linux distro installed and be a lot more affordable than full fledged windows based tablet.
anyway thanks
ps:that captcha is harcore
They are kinda standard. But they are not following PC architecture. They are so called Intel MID (Mobile Internet Device). On such devices you may find neither EFI nor ACPI. They have so called SFI which is a complete disaster. But Intel Merrifield is more or less supported by upstream kernel and Yocto (thanks to Intel Edison platform). You may try to gather information about those devices (official name of SoC is Intel Atom Z34xx).

[Q] Is there alternatives to Android?

Recently, I found a topic about installing Linux Debian on P500. This piqued my curiosity.
The question is:
Is there other alternatives than Android for P500?
Firefox OS, Windows Phone, I know, is impossible, I am looking for other systems.
Best regards
-Caio
Those Debian installs are most usually for a chroot run on top of android. Get a bash window, not likely a GUI would be able to run with our memory limitations.
Some of us would kill for a working version of Ubuntu touch, but everyone else with higher-end phones is still waiting for this.
i know it may sound newbish, but isnt possible for windows phone to tun on an android device (althought its not open source)? i fund some vague informations on google, so thats why im asking
Well if you get some flagship devices like nexus 4, nexus 5 you can enjoy firefox os, ubuntu and sailfish on them

Creating a linux 'distro' for an android device?

Hi there, not sure if I'm on the right forum, but this seemed like the safest place to ask.
I have this project in my head that I would like to try, but I have no idea if it is even possible.
I'm currently doing a bachelors in computer science and as a way to learn, I would like to take on a big project.
As will soon become clear, I am a linux noob and know nothing about android development, but that's what I'm trying to change here.
Some time ago I bought a Chinese ereader (rebranded BOOX C67ML - using a rockchip rk3026 SoC, don't know how important that is -) and it's decent but it also kind of sucks. It runs android which overkill for a device like this if you ask me. When I look at the kindle or kobo ereaders, they have their proprietary os that is also Linux based, but much more streamlined without unnecessary features. This device doesn't even have wifi, so what am I going to do with full android on an e-ink screen? It only drains my battery more than it has to.
My question is, how feasible is it to create my own 'OS' for this device that is also Linux based and lightweight? I know that android devices can run gnu/linux in a sort of vm on top, but is it also possible to install this directly on the device? Wipe android and install a custom linux distro as you would a custom ROM.
Is this possible? Where do I begin? Any information on how the linux kernel underneath android functions and differs from a standard linux kernel would be great. I'm not asking for an easy solution served on a platter, I just want to know if it is possible and why or why not? Where do I go to learn about how to do this, point me in the right direction?
In searching around I came across postmarketOS, from what I understand they are trying to do something similar, only completely open source. No proprietary drivers for anything. For this project that is not a goal for me. If I can reuse parts of the android rom that it is running right now, I have no problem with that. Updating and keeping it up to date are not really a priority, I just need this to run a single application that works. Could also be that I completely don't understand what they are trying to do and I'm way off, but if so, please tell me what I don't understand and where I go to learn.
TLDR: Lightweight 'desktop' linux instead of android on an ereader, is it possible? Where do I start? Point me in the right direction please.
PS: If there is a better solution for this problem entirely, please do explain.
For anyone interested or with a similar idea, I'll just post what extra information I find here.
I stumbled upon Halium and Libhybris today. From what I understand, libhybris provides a compatibility layer between the android kernel and posix compatible applications. Halium uses libhybris and tries to create a common base that can be used to develop a non-android os for an android device. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Categories

Resources