It's just occurred to me that perhaps it's possible to build an Android system onto a bunch of regular hardware, ie, motherboard, CPU, ram etc.
Can this be done?
I mean, there are umpteen Windows systems available to be loaded onto a fresh bunch of hardware but I don't recall ever seeing an Android OS for sale.
Android (operating system) - WikipediaIn addition to running on smartphones and tablets, several vendors run Android natively on regular PC hardware with a keyboard and mouse. In addition to their availability on commercially available hardware, similar PC hardware-friendly versions of Android are freely available from the Android-x86 project, including customized Android 4.4. Using the Android emulator that is part of the Android SDK, or third-party emulators, Android can also run non-natively on x86 architectures. Chinese companies are building a PC and mobile operating system, based on Android, to "compete directly with Microsoft Windows and Google Android". The Chinese Academy of Engineering noted that "more than a dozen" companies were customizing Android following a Chinese ban on the use of Windows 8 on government PCs.
Experimented with this I have not.
Last edited by townsbg; 29 Jan 2024 at 14:39.
Thanks for the tip. The issue arose because my wife is playing so many Android games on her W10 PC (via Bluestacks) that I figured I might as well build her a fully Android machine on a spare pc. As with Windows, I guess there must be whole Android culture out there in the Internet jungle, including forums like this one.
Last edited by teckneeculler; 29 Jan 2024 at 15:51.
I think Android is an ARM CPU OS only and not X86. There are emulators...
F22: As TownsBG pointed out, there is an Android-x86 project, it's here Android-x86 - Porting Android to x86. Screenshots at /screenshots.html.
nt351: So the installation proceeded just like a Windows install?
Looks like it requires lots and lots of reading. Pretty cool I guess. I wonder if I could use this on my Dell Mini 910 Netbook and use it with my drone? My drone requires a certain tablet and Android version... Would be interesting to do, but kinda not so easy to use since I do use a tablet holder for my drone remote. But I'm not staring at the screen all the time since FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and my local city law requires you to visually see the drone at all times. Though, there have been times I went so far away I had to look at the screen to bring it back. LOL
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