Related
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Tried to search for this but couldnt find anything is it possible to get a mango ROM working on an android tablet?
There are loads of 7" Android tablets out there for under £60 not the biggest fan of android but would like a cheap tablet for quick browsing of web and showing photos to friends etc.
Would be cool if could get a mango ROM flashed onto one of those 7" tabs
That's a good question. I'd also be interested if it were possible to drop Mango onto a tablet that started out life as an Android. It'd have to be a 7" screen, and it'd have to have a capacitive screen
jasongw said:
That's a good question. I'd also be interested if it were possible to drop Mango onto a tablet that started out life as an Android. It'd have to be a 7" screen, and it'd have to have a capacitive screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why does it have to be 7"? Resolution?
mcorrie1121 said:
Why does it have to be 7"? Resolution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we're pretty much locked to 800x480 resolution, which I suspect would look horrible on a 10" tablet
Yea but im sure if it possible to port people will figure out a way around that like a regist edit or something. Actully maybe on a bigger screen more tiles would be visible instead of only 8 tiles or 6 it would be like 12 or 14
That is an interesting question. I was wondering the same thing, which is how I found this thread...
First of all, it would have to be a tablet with a WP7-compatible CPU. Unlike most x86 chips used in PCs, different ARM chips may have incompatible kernel-mode interfaces, so the core of every OS must be built for that chip. Linux (and therefore Android) can be built to run on pretty much any ARM chip. In theory, the same is true of Windows CE (the kernel that WP7 is built on), but without kernel sources (and no, the CE6 and CE7 sources available from MS aren't quite the same) we can't build custom kernels like that.
Second, and much harder, would be finding the drivers for the hardware. Every single WP7 device comes with a bunch of OEM code, the "firmware", that interfaces the kernel to the hardware. This is different from device to device (thus why, if you do something like flash a Samsung Omnia 7 ROM to a Samsung Focus, or even a Focus r3 ROM to a Focus r4, the phone won't work correctly afterward). Android has something similar, but again it has two benefits: the kernel is open-source, and there are Linux drivers for almost every piece of computing hardware (although not always very good ones). For WP7, porting to a new device is very hard because of this. The HD2 worked because
A) it originally ran a CE-based OS (an older one, but still CE based)
B) it's very similar in hardware to the HD7 (not enough to run HD7 ROMs, but enough to pull some drivers from HD7 ROMs)
C) an early firmware for the WP7 kernel was developed for it and leaked.
None of those things are going to be true for the typical random Android tablet.
GoodDayToDie said:
First of all, it would have to be a tablet with a WP7-compatible CPU. Unlike most x86 chips used in PCs, different ARM chips may have incompatible kernel-mode interfaces, so the core of every OS must be built for that chip. Linux (and therefore Android) can be built to run on pretty much any ARM chip. In theory, the same is true of Windows CE (the kernel that WP7 is built on), but without kernel sources (and no, the CE6 and CE7 sources available from MS aren't quite the same) we can't build custom kernels like that.
Second, and much harder, would be finding the drivers for the hardware. Every single WP7 device comes with a bunch of OEM code, the "firmware", that interfaces the kernel to the hardware. This is different from device to device (thus why, if you do something like flash a Samsung Omnia 7 ROM to a Samsung Focus, or even a Focus r3 ROM to a Focus r4, the phone won't work correctly afterward). Android has something similar, but again it has two benefits: the kernel is open-source, and there are Linux drivers for almost every piece of computing hardware (although not always very good ones). For WP7, porting to a new device is very hard because of this. The HD2 worked because
A) it originally ran a CE-based OS (an older one, but still CE based)
B) it's very similar in hardware to the HD7 (not enough to run HD7 ROMs, but enough to pull some drivers from HD7 ROMs)
C) an early firmware for the WP7 kernel was developed for it and leaked.
None of those things are going to be true for the typical random Android tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, long story short, probably not gonna happen. Gotcha. At least I know some of the work that is takes, for I am sure that it will take much more work.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using xda app-developers app
yea your not gonna get arm wp7 on an android tablet , however there are many simulations of wp7 in android tablets , so if you want wp7 on an android yes thats the way to do it , but why?
I checked out the specs of the newly-announced $249 chromebook, and I realized what an awesome android device it would make, if only android was successfully ported to it....
I know at the same price point we can get a n7 32gig, but the larger 11.6" LED HD tempts me, though the res at 1366 x 768 is not that great. also, all the hands-on reviews have heaped a lot of praise on the high-quality keyboard-touchpad on the device, which is even more tempting and would make up for the lack of touch input on the device...
Its config is pretty identical to a flagship android phone/tablet with two cortex-A15 cores on the Exynos 5250, 2gig RAM and 16GB onboard storage with an expandable mem slot, 2 full usb ports and a full HDMI out, with the usual WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0.
I'm a noob when it comes to creating ports and ROMS, but I guess it would not be such a difficult task for the awesome dev community out here to manage that feat. Maybe we need to wait for an actual android device with the exynos chip inside to release, whose android ROM we could use as a base to port to the chromebook...
windows 8 RT would be more awesome, but seeing that its a licensed OS, porting it might amount to piracy/illegal hacking, so its not something that I would discuss/encourage here....
Chromebooks boot with UEFI (Basically a modern BIOS), so the Android source code would have to be heavilly modified to be bootstraped from UEFI. Not to mention drivers and custom kernels (which isnt much of a pain if the hardware has documentation, all eyes on you Samsung.)
And I dont think we will ever see Windows on a chromebook unless someone creates an emulator for ChromeOS... Which I dont think is possible, but dont quote me on that.
i know it would take a ton of modding to find a workaround for it, but enabling the developer mode on the chromebook allows booting of an unsigned linux installation off the external memory (eg. gentoo ubuntu) on the x86 chromebooks currently available (Cr-48 etc..)
trying something similar for booting android off an image on the mem card might be a possible way...
UPDATE : https://plus.google.com/109993695638569781190/posts/b2fazijJppZ a google employee has already begun work on porting ubuntu..!!
drivers would be difficult, esp for the SoC as there is no device currently on the market with it. but maybe after Samsung releases a couple of phones/phablets running the A15's, porting of the drivers could be attempted...
I was wondering the same thing and figured I would come here to see if anything was planned. I just ordered the new one and was curious if there would be much interest in modding this thing. Guess in due time!
rumors say the upcoming google nexus 10 tablet is running identical hardware (exynos 5 dual omap15 / 2gig ram) which is gonna run android 4.2
once its out, MAYBE porting the ROM to the chromebook may become a teeny bit easier...
the_crazy_devil said:
rumors say the upcoming google nexus 10 tablet is running identical hardware (exynos 5 dual omap15 / 2gig ram) which is gonna run android 4.2
once its out, MAYBE porting the ROM to the chromebook may become a teeny bit easier...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm not wrong Nexus 10 will have exactly the same processor than the new Samsung Chromebook. If someon manage port android to this new latop I won't hesitate to buy it.
there is a developer board with same hardware and as far as I know it has android source codes, you can check the website http://www.arndaleboard.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Wasnt this done a while back with the CR-48 thanks to Hexxeh?
http://hexxeh.net/?p=328117655
Just got to find a way to port it over to the new Chromebook, then port Android.
Since Android was ported to the HP Touchpad I'm pretty confident that it can be ported to this device... I mean the touchpad was the last thing I thought Android would run on and it runs like it was made for it... COME ON DEVS!
Following this thread with anticipation.
Well seeing as this device uses the same SoC as the nexus 10 i would be hopeful someone will manage to port android. I for one would be keen to have this option!
Touch Chromebook?
If this article on Android Community turns out to be accurate and Google release a touch chromebook any time soon, I would throw some money at a kickstarter to get android on it. Would be cheaper than an N10 - and probably quicker than waiting for a keyboard dock...!
Can't link because I'm new... androidcommunity.com/google-reportedly-plotting-12-85-inch-touch-chromebook-20121126/
Very hopeful!
^ here's a +1 form me
started..
OK...I was able to get into the uboot portion of chromeos and managed to load uvboot ( unverified boot )which will allow the booting of non chrome os kernel's. however it seems its looking for something else. I already got Ubuntu loaded on it so maybe I'll try to get it booting off the SD first so I don't brick my cb.....keep you guys posted.
rawtek said:
OK...I was able to get into the uboot portion of chromeos and managed to load uvboot ( unverified boot )which will allow the booting of non chrome os kernel's. however it seems its looking for something else. I already got Ubuntu loaded on it so maybe I'll try to get it booting off the SD first so I don't brick my cb.....keep you guys posted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great work! i'm still waiting for my chromebook the stock's very erratic, and i cant find anyone willing to ship it to my country...will try to help as soon as i lay my hands on one!!
Ok ... DD'd the system.img from the stock N10 factory image and created a new BOOT partition. Booting the Chrome OS kernel worked ( which should be fine due to the fact that the CB and N10 have the EXACT same ARM SOC ) it seems the boot partition need to be re-written to work with the UEFI. im going to keep digging until I find something ( or someone lends some expertise dealing with UEFI and BOOT ).Happy New years !!
Kernel boots..just has a hard time mounting the ROOTFS...any want to shed some light on this.
Thanks
Super stoked for this!! Have been thinking this would be good to have Android on from the minute I got it!! Looking forward to this!!
I've been under the impression that the Relay wasn't about to get Nougat support, because it's graphics chip was too old to do Vulkan. However these two sites indicate that Relay support is in the works. http://www.gizmoadvices.com/list-devices-supported-official-lineage-os/ http://lineageosdownload.com/devices-supported-by-lineage-os/
I'd not be prone to trust that, since they seem to essentially be the same list. (echo-chamber?) However this site http://www.theandroidsoul.com/download-lineage-os/ with download links shows some supported Samsung devices of similar vintage to the Relay, perhaps even older.
I plan to look into this more, but in the meantime, does anyone else know anything?
I also plan to upload my Dec 3 and Dec 29 images from last year to my google drive, and will make those known here, once I have. They're not fully tested - I did a bit more explicit testing of the Dec 3 image, but I'm currently running the Dec 29 image.
Edit - some content:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_MKeoY9qBceVGlWV05fUlVObUU
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_MKeoY9qBceRDd5elpZbFZETVk
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_MKeoY9qBcecmxBR2xzV2N2cTQ
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_MKeoY9qBceVWJQSEUwaXpiNFk
(I fear I've lost track of which is which, but two are zips and two are checksums. Two are Dec 4 and two are Dec 29.)
Nice one! i've been running my relay on the stock OS for years. It's running slow as a dog. I really need to learn how to flash it with a nice new ROM.
That would be awesome if the Relay would get a second life.... i'm sooo close to drop it and buy the Nokia 6... hope HMD is living up to some customers expectations and is building a new communicator... love my old buddy E7.
---------- Post added at 06:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:22 PM ----------
by the way, the Relay is in basic the S III. But I'm quite astonished that they support the Relay ()
SinnedNima said:
That would be awesome if the Relay would get a second life.... i'm sooo close to drop it and buy the Nokia 6... hope HMD is living up to some customers expectations and is building a new communicator... love my old buddy E7.
---------- Post added at 06:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:22 PM ----------
by the way, the Relay is in basic the S III. But I'm quite astonished that they support the Relay ()
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By "E7" you mean the Nokia E7, right? Oh, I have often fantasized about a device in an E7 chassis but with new internals and running Android... except for the weight, that was my favourite form factor ever, keyboard or not
---------- Post added at 07:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:38 PM ----------
BTW since my Relay is definitely not my daily driver, more than happy to give these builds a whirl...
so will there bea linage os for the relay 4g. if so I would be interested for afriend of mine . he loves the relay and so he is wondering if there will be development for linage for the relay 4g. please let me know.
I'm updating here the last CM recovery in case someone needs it.
mrk2815 said:
so will there bea linage os for the relay 4g. if so I would be interested for afriend of mine . he loves the relay and so he is wondering if there will be development for linage for the relay 4g. please let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The leaks of the soon to be supported devices have the Relay on it. I can't believe it yet but why not? The Relay is the last Android QWERTY with decent hardware. As i stated before in another thread the S III is nearly identical to the Relay and the SoC is/was quite popular and built in many devices. The chances are high (to good to be true)
SinnedNima said:
The leaks of the soon to be supported devices have the Relay on it. I can't believe it yet but why not? The Relay is the last Android QWERTY with decent hardware. As i stated before in another thread the S III is nearly identical to the Relay and the SoC is/was quite popular and built in many devices. The chances are high (to good to be true)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done a bit of looking since, and see that Lineage OS is advertising both Marshmallow and Nougat support. I suspect that means that the Relay is going to get Marshmallow, not Nougat. My impression is that Nougat required Vulkan graphics, and the Relay's graphics chip wasn't capable of that. Still, Marshmallow will be newer and presumably more secure than KitKat.
phred14 said:
I've done a bit of looking since, and see that Lineage OS is advertising both Marshmallow and Nougat support. I suspect that means that the Relay is going to get Marshmallow, not Nougat. My impression is that Nougat required Vulkan graphics, and the Relay's graphics chip wasn't capable of that. Still, Marshmallow will be newer and presumably more secure than KitKat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even Marshmallow would be a welcome advance for the Relay venerable Relay.
I love my Relay so much that I want it keep it forever.
I bought a couple of extras, so I have some hardware for testing and I am eager to assist anyone who wishes to continue development for the Relay.
Please contact me if I can assist you and/or please direct me to someone whom I can assist.
thanks in advance,
- Soul Singin'
LineageOS released their list of officially supported devices and the Relay is not on it. I jumped onto the Lineage OS IRC channel to ask the devs what exactly they'd need to get the Relay officially supported. They said they need a working device tree + kernel. I emailed them the info they asked for and will let you guys know how it goes.
My Relay is my daily driver running CM11 and an more up to date rom would be amazing.
check out the development area here at xda, i'm sure there was a kernel over there. i do think that for someone like reventech from the validus project that task would be easy as a pie. don't they have the sources of cyanogenmod? the mirrors are down am i right? on that github should have been the source. i'm not able to build android yet. as an administrator my free time is quite limited
gerbilfat said:
LineageOS released their list of officially supported devices and the Relay is not on it. I jumped onto the Lineage OS IRC channel to ask the devs what exactly they'd need to get the Relay officially supported. They said they need a working device tree + kernel. I emailed them the info they asked for and will let you guys know how it goes.
My Relay is my daily driver running CM11 and an more up to date rom would be amazing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you be willing to send me the device tree, as well. Or perhaps since I have the sources sitting around, I presume there's a device tree there. I've read about the device tree on Phoronix, but have never really walked through one.
Also, since I've got a source tree, I've also got a kernel in there. However will Marshmallow use the same kernel as KitKat? Oh, google was my friend: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/51651/which-android-runs-which-linux-kernel
Android Version |API Level |Linux Kernel in AOSP
----------------------------------------------------
1.5 Cupcake |3 |2.6.27
1.6 Donut |4 |2.6.29
2.0/1 Eclair |5-7 |2.6.29
2.2.x Froyo |8 |2.6.32
2.3.x Gingerbread |9, 10 |2.6.35
3.x.x Honeycomb |11-13 |2.6.36
4.0.x Ice Cream San|14, 15 |3.0.1
4.1.x Jelly Bean |16 |3.0.31
4.2.x Jelly Bean |17 |3.4.0
4.3 Jelly Bean |18 |3.4.39
4.4 Kit Kat |19, 20 |3.10
5.x Lollipop |21, 22 |3.16.1
6.0 Marshmallow |23 |3.18.10
7.0 Nougat |24 |4.4.1
7.1 Nougat |25 |4.4.1 (To be updated)
So the problem is that we need a new kernel, and need to map the old config to the new. OK, I always save my kernel configs, and one of my home machines goes clear back to 3.7 and up to the present, except that while I have configs for 3.16 and 3.20, I'm missing everything in between. Another system has five different 3.18 kernel configs, but only goes back to 3.16.3. I know these configs are not usable for Android, but I'm hoping they can give me an indication of what changed between the relevant levels. Scratch that, one the first machine mentioned, I have a 3.18.8 kernel config laying around as well as 3.10.0, 3.10.9, and 3.10.10 configs. Sadly, there are 1570 lines of diff between the two. Haven't looked at any details yet.
This looks like a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. I'm going to presume that I can't just stuff a 3.18.10 kernel into my CM11 build and expect it to work - though that's the way Linus would like it to be, and the two kernels aren't that far apart.
Pardon the rambling.
EDIT: I just checked my source tree, and I appear to have the kernel source there. Actually there seem to be two sources, "samsung/d2" and "samsung/t1". Neither appears to have been compiled, because I only see .c and .h files in there, nor is there a .config file. Luckily I just checked my Relay, and found "/proc/config.gz". Oh, and here's the other oddity: "uname -a" returns "3.4.104-cyanogenmod-g61tc527e", not the expected 3.10. I may have to grab a Validus image, if I can still find one.
phred14 said:
So the problem is that we need a new kernel, and need to map the old config to the new. OK, I always save my kernel configs,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Attached is my: /cm_repo/kernel/samsung/d2/arch/arm/configs/cyanogen_apexq_defconfig for CM 11, which uses kernel 3.4.95 and android 4.4.4
Does this help? If so or if not, please tell me how I can help.
And thank you for your help!
- Soul Singin'
would to know how it goes as well, any updates?
from what i've been told they have no plans for it either
https://www.facebook.com/LineageAndroid/posts/1499401083412550?comment_id=1499658536720138
any new news on any development for this device. i know that the s3 has gotten its linage os 14.1 rom and how come the relay whihc is based off of the s3 cant get a 14.1 rom. just wondering.
I know everyone hates a 'me too'. I have been a T699 user for about as long as it's been introduced. I also use a Stratosphere II and a Galaxy S5, but my Relay is still my favorite. I hope the developers at LineageOS will still consider supporting this phone. Thanks in advance.
Even though it's not my main phone anymore, I love pulling out my Relay now and then. In fact I'm using it as a music & podcast player since the SD card reader in my main phone died. The only thing that stops me from using it more is that the battery drops like a stone when it's got cellular signal/data going, to the point that it almost unusable day-to-day as a connected device. But it's got great standby life so I'm pretty sure it's the OS, not the battery. I would love it if a new OS actually fixed the battery drain...
It would be a dream to geht lineage OS in the relay 4g. Any advance Herr???
Hi everyone.
Every year millions of phones and tablets are produced. Because hardware makers don't worry about updating them, those devices are often dumped. However, lots of them are very capable machines.
As I've read these forums for years, I've seen a lot of work from a lot of people trying to bring those forgotten devices to life again by making unofficial ROMs with tons of customization, new features, and great efforts like LineageOS and PostmarketOS. However, those lack the resources to bring an updated OS for the majority of those binned and obsolete phones.
If I'm not wrong, the biggest issue about replacing the original OS on those devices are the bootloaders and drivers/blobs for the large amount of different hardware configurations. There are multiple workarounds, shims, ports that solve those problems for one or other device.
It might be quite naive, but i'd like to ask a question I've been thinking about lately. AFAIK, if I have the blobs/drivers for a camera, wifi, bluetooth, GPS or other "peripheral" for a devices' original ROM running Android 4.4, I can make it work on AOSP 4.4. I know this might be crazy, but:
As long as I have the blobs for a certain chipset and display/touch, why can't we use a VM running a nano version of AOSP that matches the devices' original ROM that bridges the device IO to the main ROM?
As an example, imagine wifi. I could network bridge AOSP 9 to a VM running AOSP 4, which would then have the drivers so network would work. The same for bluetooth or camera or GPS, maybe? Is this absolutely unfeasible?
Thank you for your time!
wasserprojekt said:
Hi everyone.
Every year millions of phones and tablets are produced. Because hardware makers don't worry about updating them, those devices are often dumped. However, lots of them are very capable machines.
As I've read these forums for years, I've seen a lot of work from a lot of people trying to bring those forgotten devices to life again by making unofficial ROMs with tons of customization, new features, and great efforts like LineageOS and PostmarketOS. However, those lack the resources to bring an updated OS for the majority of those binned and obsolete phones.
If I'm not wrong, the biggest issue about replacing the original OS on those devices are the bootloaders and drivers/blobs for the large amount of different hardware configurations. There are multiple workarounds, shims, ports that solve those problems for one or other device.
It might be quite naive, but i'd like to ask a question I've been thinking about lately. AFAIK, if I have the blobs/drivers for a camera, wifi, bluetooth, GPS or other "peripheral" for a devices' original ROM running Android 4.4, I can make it work on AOSP 4.4. I know this might be crazy, but:
As long as I have the blobs for a certain chipset and display/touch, why can't we use a VM running a nano version of AOSP that matches the devices' original ROM that bridges the device IO to the main ROM?
As an example, imagine wifi. I could network bridge AOSP 9 to a VM running AOSP 4, which would then have the drivers so network would work. The same for bluetooth or camera or GPS, maybe? Is this absolutely unfeasible?
Thank you for your time!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's sort of what project treble is.
Project Treble
The Android 8.0 release includes Project Treble, a major re-architect of the Android OS framework designed to make it easier, faster, and less costly for manufacturers to update devices to a new version of Android. Treble is for all new devices launching with Android 8.0 and beyond.
forum.xda-developers.com
I was reading about it and it seems like treble is not very seccessful. I imagine Google isn't very interested on this, as they want phones to be sold every year. Anyway, I was asking about this specific method of making phones and tablets compatible with today's OS or, who knows, even linux.
wasserprojekt said:
I was reading about it and it seems like treble is not very seccessful. I imagine Google isn't very interested on this, as they want phones to be sold every year. Anyway, I was asking about this specific method of making phones and tablets compatible with today's OS or, who knows, even linux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and the only way it might work is trebel. Because treble handles lot of the problems involved with booting newer androids on older systems.
You can run linux on older Androids or even Windows XP.
How to install a Linux desktop on your Android device
Get even more from your Android device by running a desktop OS! Lots of options including Debian (no root), Ubuntu, and Kali Linux.
www.androidauthority.com
Running Windows XP on Android
No rooting or custom modifications needed, we’re going to do this with stock Android and a few free (but high-quality) apps.
centerorbit.medium.com
Also, it's not that the OS gets deprecated, it's that the applications like Google Play services which become heavier as years go by.
Degoogled-Android on my Android ICS phone worked fine till it's screen got busted. With Google Play services, it was impossible to install any app since its paltry 400MB storage was extended/
Thanks for your answers!
Running other OSes via VNC is just meant to use the devices as mere thin clients, and that was not the objective.
The Project Treble will never be as widespread as it should be, because Google is obviously not interested in making phones last longer (they want more devices to be sold). Of course I was not talking about devices 10 years old, more about 5yrs. They have specs good enough to run contemporary Android and most of non-entertainment apps.
The obstacles to being able to do this are artificial. The problem is there are no drivers and project Treble does not address this in any meaningful way. Manufacturers aren't interested in this too because they want to sell more chips. So the only way it came to my mind it could work was by running a very light VM with an older Android for which the components' drivers were available. Of course main components would still have to be compatible with newer Android, such as the SOC. But things such as wi-fi, camera... could be bridged from a VM, I believe.
Not sure, but I'd guess the low-level interface would have to be outside the VM.
That is, to be able to run the VM you'd have to have some drivers already in place. I'm also not sure everything can be virtualized. For example, desktop VMs couldn't so easily passthru PCIe or USB to VMs, at least in the past.
There's some EU push to make fixing and servicing some non-phone devices easier, and to mandate labeling phones (and other devices) with repairability scores. Maybe eventually they could mandate, under certain conditions, the logical separation of hardware and software?
Well, after a long time, for those who where curious about this thread: the project Halium is exactly what was in my mind. If I'm not wrong, it basically consists in a minimal Android rom running on a Virtual Machine which then interfaces with any Linux distro, effectively giving the phone the ability to run a (more or less) updated version of Linux kernel and, therefore, many Linux distros. https://docs.halium.org/en/latest/project/Scope.html
hkjo said:
Not sure, but I'd guess the low-level interface would have to be outside the VM.
That is, to be able to run the VM you'd have to have some drivers already in place. I'm also not sure everything can be virtualized. For example, desktop VMs couldn't so easily passthru PCIe or USB to VMs, at least in the past.
There's some EU push to make fixing and servicing some non-phone devices easier, and to mandate labeling phones (and other devices) with repairability scores. Maybe eventually they could mandate, under certain conditions, the logical separation of hardware and software?
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You are right, and I believe Halium just works on phones which are minimally supported by Linux kernel drivers (like basic SoCs). But all those other hardware parts, like GPS, Wi-Fi, Camera... can be brought to life this way, I think.
Thanks for your insight!