

Android-x86 Project - Run Android on Your PC - pixdamix
http://www.android-x86.org/

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blinkingled
Now that they have moved to Froyo this might be a better alternative to
develop/test apps on as opposed to the extremely slow emulator. Hopefully
there is a VBox/Vmware compatible image available.

~~~
sbochins
Its even slow to run it on a phone. I specifically made sure to use a game
framework that has both desktop/phone support to do most of my development on
the pc and port it later on. Saves so much time getting around running apps on
the phone when unnecessary to the development cycle.

~~~
ZenzerNet
Which one do you recommend?

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ch0wn
I tried it in a VirtualBox. Runs smoother than the emulator from the Android
Development Kit, but still a bit sluggish. I'll give it another try on my
netbook.

~~~
slug
Which image did you boot from? I'm trying to run this within qemu, but I never
managed to get network working.

The android emulator works fine and running any linux distro inside qemu
likewise.

I'm using something like this:

    
    
      kvm -soundhw es1370 -net nic -net user \
      -cdrom android-x86-2.2-r2-asus_laptop.iso
    

and when pressing ctrl-alt-2 i get:

    
    
      QEMU 0.14.0 monitor - type 'help' for more information
      (qemu) info network
      VLAN 0 devices:
        user.0: net=10.0.2.0, restricted=n
        rtl8139.0: model=rtl8139,macaddr=52:54:00:12:34:56
      Devices not on any VLAN:
      (qemu)
    

but network doesn't work and I'm unable to change the network settings from
the android configuration menu.

~~~
ch0wn
I used the eeepc image. There's a guide describing the necessary settings:
<http://www.android-x86.org/documents/virtualboxhowto>

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DarkShikari
This might be useful: a cycle-accurate ARM->x86 JIT, made for the Desmume
emulator: <http://akuvian.org/src/desmume_jit.diff>

Since Android doesn't need the same absurd level of cycle-accuracy (the DS
basically relies on it for synchronization), it'll be even faster there.

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mrinterweb
I just downloaded the generic nightly iso and installed it with VirtualBox. It
seems to work well. The keyboard shortcuts where a bit of trial and error, but
I determined that the "Home" key is what you'd expect. The escape key is back.
"End" key is the power switch. Overall seems to work pretty well. Just need to
figure out how to get the market installed and test out USB debugging.

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revorad
I recently ran android 2.2 on my asus eee 701 512mb ram. Blimey it's fast! My
next project is to convert my eee into a tablet.

~~~
riledhel
Don't forget to write a post about it!

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cpeterso
Google already ported Android to x86 for the Atom-based GoogleTV 1.0.
(GoogleTV 2.0 will add support for ARM settop boxes.)

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nextparadigms
I'll wait for the 4.0 version until I try it on my PC. Before 3.0, it's not a
very good experience to use it on a PC.

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nissimk
Is AOSP ever going to get the 3.x branch? Will the 4.x code be released? It's
starting to be a serious bummer.

~~~
nextparadigms
Yes, 4.0 will be released, and there will also be _notebooks_ on the market
with Android 4.0 by holidays I think (made by Asus, etc). But Looking forward
to the 4.0 version for my own netbook, too.

~~~
mikle
I'm pretty sure the grandfather meant "released" in the sense of "I want the
source code released" and not in the sense of "I want a product using it
released".

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toddlikesdesign
Will market apps be able to run on x86 since it's ARM code?

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theBobMcCormick
Most Android apps (developed with the Android SDK) are Dalvik byte code, not
native ARM code, so they should run just fine.

Apps that use native code (the developed with the NDK) probably won't work. A
_lot_ of games use at least some native code in order to leverage existing
non-java libraries or code bases(the Box2d physics library for example).

~~~
zem
okay, that might explain why i couldn't get alchemy to work

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skant
Have you guys seen <http://bluestacks.com/>? It seems to solve the geekish-
ness around Android-x86.

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StavrosK
Is there a way to run the Market on this?

~~~
pixdamix
I don't know. CyanogenMod allows to download official Google apps in a zip
file.

If these apps are 100% java (no native arm code) as I think they are, then It
might be possible to run them.

Another possible use for this would be to run apps and record the screen.
Since this is x86 emulation, this should be much faster than the ARM
simulator, so this would make really fluid screencasts.

~~~
StavrosK
Interesting, thank you.

