Android-x86 developments and issues

Puppy related raves and general interest that doesn't fit anywhere else
Message
Author
User avatar
L18L
Posts: 3479
Joined: Sat 19 Jun 2010, 18:56
Location: www.eussenheim.de/

Android-x86

#21 Post by L18L »

nubc wrote:... my computer's clock is set ahead by 5 hours.
I have been adjusting my system for timezone Europe/Berlin.
(... and keyboard layout for de)

Preferences > System > Date & Time :wink:

User avatar
L18L
Posts: 3479
Joined: Sat 19 Jun 2010, 18:56
Location: www.eussenheim.de/

Android-x86

#22 Post by L18L »

starhawk wrote:I've used Android x86, and it has some interface hurdles that will be hard for people -- like how when you right-click you go back a screen even tho what you wanted was to pull up a context menu like in Windblows or Puppy.
I don't know what version you have been using but in 4.3 recent version for all kinds of x86:

right click toggles zoom in - zoom out

back to last page is ESC key or left icon at bottom line.

User avatar
nubc
Posts: 2062
Joined: Tue 23 Jan 2007, 18:41
Location: USA

#23 Post by nubc »

With Linux Mint, run as live CD or installed as dual boot with another Linux or Windows, the BIOS clock gets set ahead by 5 hours, so that when I reboot to another OS, the clock is wrong, despite having reset the clock multiple times when running Mint. Same thing happened with Android run as live CD. After using Android, when I start up the installed OS, the clock is ahead by 5 hours, even when I set the time correctly in Android setup.

User avatar
don570
Posts: 5528
Joined: Wed 10 Mar 2010, 19:58
Location: Ontario

#24 Post by don570 »

I wrote a page explaining how I used a CD with PLOP installed on it
to launch Android-x86

http://mail.murga-projects.com/puppy/vi ... 8568bb0aeb

I got an older version of Android HERE
android-x86-2.3-RC1-asus_laptop.iso worked on my IBM desktop

___________

User avatar
nubc
Posts: 2062
Joined: Tue 23 Jan 2007, 18:41
Location: USA

#25 Post by nubc »

article: The Best Android Antivirus Apps, by Max Eddy
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2425153,00.asp

oldaolgeezer
Posts: 64
Joined: Sun 03 Dec 2006, 19:34

Android-x86 developments and issues

#26 Post by oldaolgeezer »

nubc, don570 and L18L:

After reading your posts about Android-x86 for PC's, I thought I'd give it a brief try on my Dell Optiplex GX520 (512 megabyte memory) desktop.

I selected the android-x86-4.2-20130228.iso and burned that iso onto a CD.

I booted it as a "live CD" with no hard disk installation (like Puppy pfix=ram).

I was impressed with the amount of work the developers have done. The graphic GUI looked just like the Android that runs on my Kindle Fire 1st generation (TI4430 cpu) and my TRIO Stealth Pro (A13 cpu).

I tried: the browser, Maps, Notes, News and Weather, Calendar, Clock and Settings. They seemed to work during my quick test!

(There are some rough edges. But I would encourage other Puppy users to try to dip a toe in Android waters with their desktops!)

For example, I couldn't seem to "wake up" from a screen timeout. There may be a magic key combination, but the ctrl+alt+del keys immediately rebooted my desktop!

(rjbrewer: I did get a chance to drag the circle to the right! )

And nubc, I can see what you suggest about "displacing Windows when XP reaches its EOL this coming April 8, 2014." There is a certain comfort for users in having the same "look and feel" on their new Android tablets and their old PC desktop.

User avatar
nubc
Posts: 2062
Joined: Tue 23 Jan 2007, 18:41
Location: USA

#27 Post by nubc »

full installation basics: eeePC 900 MHz Celeron, 4 GB hdd, 512 MB ram, 8 GB SD card. ISO = Android-x86 4.0 r1 eeepc. Expected size of installation 332 MB, ncurses partition editor, grub bootloader. Suggest you remove SD card and other removable drives for the installation. Once Android installed, I installed Firefox for Android from mozilla site. Mozilla says FF4A will be installed soon. Helps a lot to have a USB optical mouse connected. Camera works :)

Problem (bug?): After the machine sleeps a while, I have to wake it up by pressing the power button. I recover the first screen but it's dim and the lock symbol is immobile, that is, it can't be moved via the touchpad. Things do respond to a mouse, however, and after unlocking, I can proceed as normal with touchpad control.

EDIT: Oops, FF4A does not connect to the internet, even though the resident browser does connect. I managed to recover (unlock Android) after the computer goes to sleep by pressing a keyboard button. There's a little button beside the right-hand Alt key, it has the image of a text page with cursor. Press this button [the Menu key] and the screen brightens so the lock can be undone. What is the function of this special key? It seems to restore the last instance of the browser.
Last edited by nubc on Mon 04 Nov 2013, 11:39, edited 12 times in total.

User avatar
rjbrewer
Posts: 4405
Joined: Tue 22 Jan 2008, 21:41
Location: merriam, kansas

Re: Android-x86 developments and issues

#28 Post by rjbrewer »

oldaolgeezer wrote:nubc, don570 and L18L:

After reading your posts about Android-x86 for PC's, I thought I'd give it a brief try on my Dell Optiplex GX520 (512 megabyte memory) desktop.

I selected the android-x86-4.2-20130228.iso and burned that iso onto a CD.
Just received an Optiplex gx520 today; will try Android on it.

Haven't been able to get wireless working with it on my laptops;
any tips?

Inspiron 700m, Pent.M 1.6Ghz, 1Gb ram.
Msi Wind U100, N270 1.6>2.0Ghz, 1.5Gb ram.
Eeepc 8g 701, 900Mhz, 1Gb ram.
Full installs

User avatar
nubc
Posts: 2062
Joined: Tue 23 Jan 2007, 18:41
Location: USA

#29 Post by nubc »

I'm really eager to see how this unit might be used to recover a non-booting tablet, which doesn't respond to usual techniques, like the reset button.

Checking apps and features in Android-x87 4.0 r1 eeepc:
1. Terminal emulation works, df, free
2. Cannot mount SD card from Settings > Storage > Mount SD Card
3. Camera works
4. Used Puppy to erase 8-GB SD card, then formatted to ext3, in the hope that the SD card would extend the small hdd (4 GB), BUT can't mount the SD card through Settings app. I guess I could try to mount the card through terminal, then look at it in Open Manager. Oops, the SD card shows up in Open Manager, AND it still has Android directories on it from a previous failed install. Grr, I deleted this partition, and formatted, why are these folders present?
5. Interesting: Superuser app
6. Fn+PgUp and Fn+PgDn move from one page of Apps to the next or back to the preceding page (Fn + up/down arrow keys)
7. As mentioned above, on the eeePC 701 keyboard, beside the right-hand Alt key is a button (image of text page with cursor) that is useful for unlocking netbook after waking up from sleep [Use the Menu key to unlock the screen.]
http://www.android-x86.org/documents/ho ... up-machine
Last edited by nubc on Mon 04 Nov 2013, 11:38, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
nubc
Posts: 2062
Joined: Tue 23 Jan 2007, 18:41
Location: USA

#30 Post by nubc »

Before I installed Android-x86 on the solid state internal drive of this eeePC 701, it had Windows XP Pro on it. The internal drive is 4 GB, and Windows hardly fit on it, and Win XP w SP3 did not fit. The internal drive is too small for Windows XP. Now that the eeePC has Android full-installed to this 4GB flash drive, I find I need Windows to do some basic computing. It seems that certain flash procedures require Windows be used to unzip and run certain executables. I need to put Windows back on this eeePC. Here is my query: While I cannot disable the internal 4-GB flash drive, I can remove it from the Boot Order list. Would it be possible to install Windows XP to a 8-GB SD card, without Windows even seeing the internal drive, so that I can boot to Android with the SD card removed, and boot to the SD card when it's inserted and the BIOS boot order is set to ignore the internal drive? Would Windows accept such a situation, or would it protest the alien OS on the internal drive and complain, or perhaps it might try to bootload from the internal drive? Is it possible to dual-boot Windows and Android in this manner?

EDIT: Choke--Windows doesn't support two NTFS partitions on one drive. I don't know why I didn't think to use Bart PE for this.
Last edited by nubc on Tue 15 Oct 2013, 20:35, edited 2 times in total.

cthisbear
Posts: 4422
Joined: Sun 29 Jan 2006, 22:07
Location: Sydney Australia

#31 Post by cthisbear »

" The internal drive is 4 GB, and Windows hardly fit on it, and Win XP
w SP3 did not fit."

Ah! these are the moments when typing up >> Windows Tiny7 Rev01.

Based on: Windows 7 Ultimate..cd size install.

and Tiny XP >> 99 mbs installed..by >> eXPerience

may have given you some joy.

Ahem!!! from what I have heard.

Chris.

User avatar
nubc
Posts: 2062
Joined: Tue 23 Jan 2007, 18:41
Location: USA

#32 Post by nubc »

I tried the Calendar widget, and it placed itself on the Home page, and I tried vainly to remove it. Tried to force stop it from Settings, no joy. Finally asked around, and learned the trick, so typical of Google coders, convoluted and non-intuitive. You left click the icon and hold, until the word "Remove" appears, then drag the icon to the word, and release. This might make sense to a Mac user, but I am totally ignorant about Macs.
Last edited by nubc on Wed 16 Oct 2013, 15:38, edited 1 time in total.

jpeps
Posts: 3179
Joined: Sat 31 May 2008, 19:00

#33 Post by jpeps »

nubc wrote:I tried the Calender widget, and it placed itself on the Home page, and I tried vainly to remove it. Tried to force stop it from Settings, no joy. Finally asked around, and learned the trick, so typical of Google coders, convoluted and non-intuitive. You left click the icon and hold, until the word "Remove" appears, then drag the icon to the word, and release. This might make sense to a Mac user, but I am totally ignorant about Macs.
:) Don't forget, you're replicating a touch pad. It's standard procedure to hold an icon for an option menu to appear. Don't blame the tools.

User avatar
nubc
Posts: 2062
Joined: Tue 23 Jan 2007, 18:41
Location: USA

#34 Post by nubc »

Android must be made for young people, I can't read the small print, even when I change the font to Large in Settings. I find myself constantly using a magnifying glass just to read text. Does the resident browser have an easily accessed setting like Seamonkey's (View > Zoom)? Would be nice to change font size from the browser, what the browser displays, and be able to quicky restore previous size. Oh, I see: tapping the page (touchpad) makes it larger or smaller. Alternately, two taps to make the page incrementally larger, then two taps to make it incrementally smaller.

I started the camera in a dark room, and the pointer (touchpad) froze. After a minute or so, I finally turned the light on, and then the eeePC spontaneously rebooted. The camera is apparently motion-activated and lack of motion (pitch black) causes a general freeze. I was trying to put the camera on an illuminated computer screen in the dark room.
Last edited by nubc on Fri 18 Oct 2013, 13:31, edited 2 times in total.

jpeps
Posts: 3179
Joined: Sat 31 May 2008, 19:00

#35 Post by jpeps »

nubc wrote:Android must be made for young people, I can't read the small print, even when I change the font to Large in Settings
Android uses pinch functions on the touchpad to zoom. That's probably not working yet on your linux adaptation.

gcmartin

#36 Post by gcmartin »

Anyone who does NOT have or ever owned any Android (that is; xPhone or xTab or xTV) would benefit to stop at your local Department/Computer/Telco Cell store to have a demo.

What you may pay attention to is how they demonstrate touch use to you. (Most elderly people "completely miss" the understanding of the "BACK" button, thus leading to some frustration. There is ONLY back....not forward ability, per se.

But, if you get it, then all becomes apparent in how these systems work.

ALSO, there is NO mouse button 2 equivalent in 99% of all xBoxes; thus everything is single mousing.

Android, even x86, would benefit from the use of a touch monitor. Certainly, the camera on a laptop is a plus, too.

Remember, the system intends toward a fingertip management approach.

Lastly, ALL applications designed in Android are oriented around something occurring on a display where the started app will sit, "listening" for an event from the user. That event, even the back button, signals something to do.

Enjoy your Android experience....NOT as a Linux experience....but as a redesigned OS that gets its base from a Linux. Thus, its base design orients around screens and events on screen. It comes with a base set of applications ready to run on the Android operating system on whatever device(s) you run it on. If its from some vendor, say Samsung, it will deliver with the apps they decided to give you OOTB. The rest, you'll add as YOU see fit without any need for understand how to install or setup. Each app is self contained and IS NOT dependent on anything except the base system.

Hope this helps anyone in LInux who has not had a moment with an xDevice to get a simple start.

Here to help

gcmartin

xSmart devices vs PCs running Android x86

#37 Post by gcmartin »

Most Android (and xSmart devices) has this:
  • Wifi antenna
  • Cell antenna
  • Blue-tooth antenna
  • GPS antenna
  • NFC antenna
  • Accelerometer (to determine which orientation you are holding your device)
  • FM antenna
  • Not to mention
    1. camera(s)
    2. touch screen
When you plan your Android use, do you see which of these your system may/may not have?

Don't know how far into the future it will occur, but Intel and AMD have experimented with x86 micro-boards which would "mirror" antennas, where an Android x86 has complete replicated functionality. Such a system would accommodate, fully, the Android x86 project. For now, it remains a proof of concept.

I believe that originally, some sort to have this distro as a development platform. But, the major system changes in Android from one-release to the next has caused issues with not just the OS, but also with App development. Newest 4.4 continues this problem as they deprecate or change support of features of application architecture causing issues with old programs.

Linux community developers are no stranger to this. In fact, all developers, no matter which OS, understand this and are often frustrated by this.

User avatar
don570
Posts: 5528
Joined: Wed 10 Mar 2010, 19:58
Location: Ontario

#38 Post by don570 »

Lenova will soon have a Android 4.2 laptop

http://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mob ... nglish.pdf

______________________________________________________

jpeps
Posts: 3179
Joined: Sat 31 May 2008, 19:00

Re: xSmart devices vs PCs running Android x86

#39 Post by jpeps »

gcmartin wrote:I believe that originally, some sort to have this distro as a development platform. But, the major system changes in Android from one-release to the next has caused issues with not just the OS, but also with App development. Newest 4.4 continues this problem as they deprecate or change support of features of application architecture causing issues with old programs.
Having automatic updates helps. When you search for apps, they will generally tell you if your devices are compatible

User avatar
L18L
Posts: 3479
Joined: Sat 19 Jun 2010, 18:56
Location: www.eussenheim.de/

font size on terminal

#40 Post by L18L »

nubc,

font size in terminal can be configured (click the 3 dots top right of screen)

android-4.3-x86
Last edited by L18L on Thu 17 Oct 2013, 07:39, edited 1 time in total.

Post Reply