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[Q] Are we depended on Viewsonic or Android?

New to Android. But long time user of Linux/RH/Fedora. Are there “distro's” on Android? Can users easily add/remove software with a RPM type management system? In Linux if you don't like TnT you would just uninstall it. Viewsonic g tablet seems to be ok if you manually change a few things. I'm assuming that this is generally a temporary problem due to Viewsonic being behind in their updates. But what I would like to know is there going to be any long term “distro” type leadership going forward? When the new Android Tablet OS is released will it work with most hardware (Viewsonic) like a Linux distro or are we depended on Viewsonic. If Viewsonic let us down can we divorce them and go directly to Android or someone else for automatic updates? Thinking about buying. Can wait for Flash update hopefully in December. Don't see screen as a problem, basically the same as most laptops/netbooks. Can add market manually till it become official with new OS.
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Android is not like normal distros.
Being primarily an OS aimed at mobile devices (IE phones) with limited memory and proprietary layouts and internal set-ups, all drivers can not be provided in one overall install. Confliction between drivers would be an issue as well. Also look at many phones (like the nexus one) the Firmware controlling the cellular radio also controls the camera and encoding of videos and images. There is some common ground, but one ROM will not work on all devices without tweaking for the perticular device. CyanogenMOD ROM is a good example, it works on many devices but you must install the proper version for the device you have.
Also remember that we do not have Root on these devices out of the box, 99% of the time we must find an exploit to gain full access to the device. The Nexus one and the G tablet are the only devices I know of off hand without locked down bootloaders. Cellular carriers want the devices looked down so the users can not use the device in ways that the carriers do not want. (like free tethering)
We are dependant on the manufacturer often times to release source code for the device so Devs can rip out the proper drivers and framework for the device. Often times drivers cross over between android versions making updating easier for the ROM devs.
If you want a device that you can truly tinker with, stick to devices that Google has as Developer models. The old G1 the Nexus One and the upcoming Nexus S. Maybe they will release a Dev tablet as well.
The N900 is more open in that regard as far as being like a true Linux, though the future of that branch seems uncertain. It will defiantly be more niche.

Thanks for the reply. I guess I was thinking Android was Linux lite. Not sure where I stand on a tablet now. Think I want a Linux pc in a tablet form. Fedora on a tablet would be fine for me. Like you say tablets with MeeGo (Intel/Nokia/Linux Foundation) may or may not appear any time soon. Have to wait and see what happens.

tktim said:
Thanks for the reply. I guess I was thinking Android was Linux lite. Not sure where I stand on a tablet now. Think I want a Linux pc in a tablet form. Fedora on a tablet would be fine for me. Like you say tablets with MeeGo (Intel/Nokia/Linux Foundation) may or may not appear any time soon. Have to wait and see what happens.
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Android is running on top of Linux, and given programs compiled for ARM you can install about anything, but there's no X... Framebuffer stuff could potentially work..
But no, if you're looking for a typical Linux desktop environment, this isn't the place to look. Although some of the dual boot Windows/Android tablets makes me wonder how difficult it would be to get it Linux/Android.

Thanks for the additional information.

Lack of development?

I'm really surprised to see such little development for the Shield portable. It seems a very popular device, just not with devs?

Agreed!
Sadly, that was seems like to be I would like to have fully customized my Shield Portable... Hope there is someone working on anything for our little consoles

Really looking forward to it arriving, looks/sounds like a great gaming device. It's a real shame there isn't any custom roms though.

What do you guys want to see? I'm building flashable, working stock shield ROM's and kernels right now to base my own repository on, look for it in the shield tab development forum -- but....what do you wanna see?

berryman13 said:
What do you guys want to see? I'm building flashable, working stock shield ROM's and kernels right now to base my own repository on, look for it in the shield tab development forum -- but....what do you wanna see?
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Cool, it would be great if you could develop some custom roms for the Portable shield as well bud
My shield hasn't arrived yet but thinking ahead it would be great to maybe have CM11/12 ported as well as recovery like TWRP, overclocked kernels for latest builds etc

Inspired
My shield portable's actually inspired me to learn more about android development. It's an awesome device.

I will make it compatible with the portable soon after release.

Have you guys see this?
https://forums.geforce.com/default/...ortable/criticalcomposers-custom-rom-buckler/
anthonws

I would love to see kernels, GPU overclcock, some arm optimizations, more power, resolution bumped up in the framebuffer if someone makes a ROM.

If a rom doesn't have fully functional controller support, do you bother downloading

I am interested in knowing how many people bother with a ROM that lacks controller support.
For me, its the first thing I found out about a rom. Unfortunately, many developers don't see the need to post controller support in the main sections. I have to scroll through pages sometimes to find the answer.
Controller support is number one for me on this tablet. Gaming is the reason I chose this tablet over any other tablet. It makes very little sense to even bother with any roms that don't have it. IMO.

And some people purchase it because of the specs/price. Stock works just fine if you want to keep stock functionality, or just use the cm builds that have controller support. Also probably a better post for the Q/A section, not development.

By controller support I assume you mean Shield controller? Hooking up a PS3/PS4 controller is easier than changing diapers if you got root.

Well I've tried blisspop for a while, it kinda has support for the controller but from all the roms i've tried including CM, it's probably best to stick to stock with xposed and if you got the space, use multirom to dual boot the device. Custom roms just don't have the support for all the features the shield has, no game streaming, limited stylus support, limited shield controller support and the remote audio doesn't work at all. Basically if gaming is your primary use, use the stock rom.
2kool2Bcruel said:
I am interested in knowing how many people bother with a ROM that lacks controller support.
For me, its the first thing I found out about a rom. Unfortunately, many developers don't see the need to post controller support in the main sections. I have to scroll through pages sometimes to find the answer.
Controller support is number one for me on this tablet. Gaming is the reason I chose this tablet over any other tablet. It makes very little sense to even bother with any roms that don't have it. IMO.
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I actually don't use this tablet for gaming, I just wanted a powerful, mostly stock Android tablet with an SD slot and unlocked bootloader for aosp/custom roms. I have tried a few other 7-8 inch tablets to replace this one but I ended up sticking with it (stock rom had some multitask lag / can't multitask for beans and custom roms are unstable-haven't tried zombipop tho).
I don't care if a rom lacks nvidia controller support.

Keithn said:
And some people purchase it because of the specs/price. Stock works just fine if you want to keep stock functionality, or just use the cm builds that have controller support.
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^ This. I bought this device for general use, and to have something future-proof for a few years (unlike my last tablet that was stuck on 4.2 Jellybean). Never intended for the Nvidia controller.
As for the poll, I cannot really vote, since I am on a custom ROM that I didn't download (rather, rolled my own). I tried a build with the controller stuff in the vendor info, that just made the controller app crash over and over. I had to reboot, task kill the Controller app, then use TiBu to uninstall it. Whenever I get around to another build I will avoid the unofficial vendor stuff.
Since it was mentioned here, I may try Bliss in a little while as well.

[Q] Best 7.0 rom with nvidia apps?

Hi y'all!
Just got my shield. Disappointed with performance after ota. Wipe and reset on original rom did not resolve all of the issues.
Not familiar with the xda roms for this device. I want root, functioning camera, nivida game streaming. And lag free!
Free 4 all! What is best?
Share your experiences!
Cheers!

Functionality more important than android version! (at least 4 me).

Nobody knows?
Common community where r ya?

Maybe read the appropiate threads and judge by yourself?
It's not like there's 32 Nougat roms out there anyway

Nvidia apps = stock ROM.

good luck with that one, i haven't been able to find that on any rom for the shield tablet nougat or not. Other than stock based ones like hyperstock(which is what i use on my shield tab). I updated to nougat off of hyperstock mm but restored right back when i couldn't get nethunter to work. there doesn't seem to be very much going on with the shield tablet even with the recent update to nougat which sucks.

Is there any interest in an Ubuntu Touch port?

Hey there, XDA.
So I've been puttering about with Ubuntu Touch on another device I have lately (Fairphone 2) and attempted a couple ports in the past...
(Moto X 2013, gave away to a friend, Galaxy Note 3, ran into a roadblock with partition sizes)
I got to looking at my Shield Tablet and was just thinking about how it'd be a near perfect poster-child for Ubuntu Touch for tablets. The device is still a relative power house, has great specs, native HDMI out for convergence, and even has OEM maintained device trees and kernel sources!
On paper, it's perfect.
So, I was thinking, would anyone else want to see Ubuntu Touch running on this tablet through the UBPorts project? Any dev support would be especially helpful, as Nvidia's hardware is truly a bit...unique.
Before anyone points it out: I am aware that there is a 'native' Ubuntu desktop port already, however it is awfully out of date and the developer does not seem very interested in maintaining it currently (and I don't blame him, considering how much work porting nvidia's L4T sources to the TN8 must be)

Interest from me, I can test. No good at developing though !

Yes of course! There is some interesting on having Linux in shield tablet. There's linux4tegra but it's dependent on lollipop kernel. So it would be nice having a dual boot stock nougat and Ubuntu for shield tablet thanks for the initiative.

Interest from me too. Also without dev skills, but happy to test

Son-j said:
Yes of course! There is some interesting on having Linux in shield tablet. There's linux4tegra but it's dependent on lollipop kernel. So it would be nice having a dual boot stock nougat and Ubuntu for shield tablet thanks for the initiative.
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Well, sadly, might still be dependant on Lollipop blobs/kernel as Ubuntu Touch still relies on Lollipop device trees since it uses libhybris for device support. Most annoying thing about it.

Is it possible to request Ubuntu for an updated kernel dependency?

So, this is embarassing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ05o0RPwUQ
Which version of Ubuntu is this?

Lyokacanthrope said:
Hey there, XDA.
So I've been puttering about with Ubuntu Touch on another device I have lately (Fairphone 2) and attempted a couple ports in the past...
(Moto X 2013, gave away to a friend, Galaxy Note 3, ran into a roadblock with partition sizes)
I got to looking at my Shield Tablet and was just thinking about how it'd be a near perfect poster-child for Ubuntu Touch for tablets. The device is still a relative power house, has great specs, native HDMI out for convergence, and even has OEM maintained device trees and kernel sources!
On paper, it's perfect.
So, I was thinking, would anyone else want to see Ubuntu Touch running on this tablet through the UBPorts project? Any dev support would be especially helpful, as Nvidia's hardware is truly a bit...unique.
Before anyone points it out: I am aware that there is a 'native' Ubuntu desktop port already, however it is awfully out of date and the developer does not seem very interested in maintaining it currently (and I don't blame him, considering how much work porting nvidia's L4T sources to the TN8 must be)
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@Lyokacanthrope I can help with testing and stuff if we can get it booted

bneo99 said:
@Lyokacanthrope I can help with testing and stuff if we can get it booted
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Click to collapse
hah...I kinda put this idea on the backburner cuz I couldn't really get anywhere and ubports/yunit seems to be floundering currently.

Speaking of flounder (aka Nexus 9), it seems that had an [at least booting] Ubports in the past
https://plus.google.com/+Ubports/posts/iCHaKMTXC1y
https://devices.ubports.com/#/flounder_lte

I am very interested indeed. And I can speak for at least two more people that I know.
UBports still seems to be working on Ubuntu Touch, from what I can tell.

How about Plasma Mobile?