How to install Android on your Pandora


EvilDragon

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This is a quick guide how to setup Android on your Pandora.

1. You HAVE to have at least SuperZaxxon Beta 5a installed. Grab and install it from here.
2. Check the Beta Testing thread and download the most recent PND from there. Be sure to put the Android PND onto the card that is in your LEFT slot.
3. For safety reasons, if you want to use a second SD Card with Android, use an empty one. It MIGHT corrupt it. Based on my experience, Android deletes only files in the root directory of the second card. Anything in subdirectories will not be affected.
4. If your date is not set properly: Do so before starting Android. If the date is in the past, there will be issues with the Google certification.
5. Start Android from System/Android Gingerbread. It takes a while to boot. Once it has booted up, setup your WiFi connection.
6. To install APKs, put them onto a second SD Card and run them using the built-in FileManager.
7. To stop Android, select "Kill Android" from the menu.



Key mapping

Home : Pandora Button or F1
Back : Esc, Right nub to the right.
Menu : F2
Search : Unknown
Volume Up / Down : F12 / F11



Get Google Play Store working on your Pandora

1. Grab the needed data files from here: http://goo.im/gapps/gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip.
2. Simply extract the ZIP into the /pandora/appdata/android_gingerbread - Folder on your SD Card. Remove the meta-inf-Folder (otherwise, it might hang later).
3. On your next Android boot, the store setup should appear automatically (be sure you set up your WiFi connection before!)
4. The store should now work. In case you got connection issues (but internet itself works fine), be sure to doublecheck that the date is correctly set (you can only set that from Linux)!



Map Touchscreen Controls to physical controls

Not all games support physical controls - some only use the touchscreen.
However, there's an app called "GameKeyboard 2.0" that will help you out :)

The usage is quite confusing, but here's a guide to help you with that.

1. Go to CyanogenMod Settings and enable "Soft Keyboard" on long menu button press. This way you can bring up the keyboard in most games holding the Menu Button (doesn't work in all games, but will still work there).
2. Run GameKeyboard and set it up (only needed the first time)
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to enable it as SoftKeyboard and choose it as current SoftKeyboard.
4. Then in the settings, do the following:

  • Enable "Touchscreen Mode"
  • Enable "Remap Hard-Key"
  • Map your buttons with "Hardkey Mappings": Select a free slot, press the desired D-Pad direction or button and select in the list what it should be (i.e. D-Pad up to D-Pad up, etc.)
  • Go into "Layout Edit" and allow "Layout Edit Mode"
This is the first-time setup, GameKeyboard is now ready to be used. Grant it root access when it asks for :)

5. Run your game. If the touchscreen buttons and DPad are located in the default GameKeyboard locations, the Pandora controls should now just work.
6. If buttons / DPad are somewhere else on the screen, hold the menu button which should show the GameKeyboard controls (doesn't work with all games).
7. Move the controls around using the touchscreen to match the touchscreen controls. Some games hide them though when you press the menu button, some don't even show the GameKeyboard as they disable the softkeyboard. In this case, remember where DPad / buttons need to be, go to the GameKeyboard app and slide the controls at the desired location and then go back to the game.

Once that's done, the game will work with your physical gaming controls.
As you can save different profiles in GameKeyboard, you only need to match the locations per game once and then safe the config.

This post has been promoted to an article
 
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Nice guide ED, just what we needed :)


A couple of minor additions :


Key mapping : Pushing the Right nub to the right is also Back


Google Play store : From the beta thread Wizard Stan recommends : 'After extracting the file, delete the meta-inf directory' I didn't do this and while the Play store (or market as it is called when first installed) installed eventually, the process seemed to hang at one point and a restart was required. Can't confirm this was due to the presence of the meta-inf directory though.
 
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Very nice, will try this when my panda arrives :)


Question, will it eventually be possible to package pnd's with android + a game, and automatically let the game start on running android?
 
I only briefly just started to try to run the Android PND and when I very first started it up it was prompting me with questions about creating some sort of partition. I killed the process at that point and haven't had a chance to get back to trying anything yet. What was that all about? Where is it trying to create a partition at and can that wreck any of my data anywhere?
 
I only briefly just started to try to run the Android PND and when I very first started it up it was prompting me with questions about creating some sort of partition. I killed the process at that point and haven't had a chance to get back to trying anything yet. What was that all about? Where is it trying to create a partition at and can that wreck any of my data anywhere?

It doesn't create a partition, it just creates an image file (within the appdata directory on the SD Card where your Android PND is).


This SD Card doesn't get wrecked (unless you pull it out while Android is running maybe ;) ).


It's the second SD Card where Android does weird stuff sometimes.
 
There are really no critical bugs, that should hold you back!
 
has anyone come across this issue?: when using SZB5A running off sdcard android pnd installs all programs by contrast when using SZB5A off nand the android pnd is not installing all the programs?
 
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Great guide, ED!


Is it safe to use the Android PND from a FAT partition of an SD card in the left slot, which also has an ext3 partition, from which the Pandora is currently booted?
 
Any way to stop it from wandering through your SD cards and dumping .thumbnail directories everywhere it finds images?


D.
 
Thats something, I'd like to know, too.


Also, how to tell it, that it shouldn't alter the second sd at all and download, cache, etc. Everything to its own filesystem?


Anyone got an idea?
 
Another minor addition (from Streak)


Key mapping : Right nub down is also Menu
 
I'm not sure if I'm understanding Ed's instructions correctly.


"For safety reasons, if you want to use a second SD Card with Android, use an empty one. It MIGHT corrupt it"


"To install APKs, put them onto a second SD Card and run them using the built-in FileManager"


confuses me, could anyone explain further..
 
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I'm not sure if I'm understanding Ed's instructions correctly.


"For safety reasons, if you want to use a second SD Card with Android, use an empty one. It MIGHT corrupt it"


"To install APKs, put them onto a second SD Card and run them using the built-in FileManager"


confuses me, could anyone explain further..

If you're going to use an SD card with Android (some apps cannot be installed without one) then make sure there's nothing on there that you don't mind getting erased or corrupted. If all you have on it are android files, then you're good to go. If your collection of PNDs is on there, they're in significant danger of getting destroyed.


I use a throwaway 4GB sd card from my camera - Android indexed all the files and then trashed the card the first time I ran it. I had all the photos backed up, but it's worth remembering in the future.


D.
 
Could someone help me with the install, I have the .pnd on an SD in the left hand slot & it isn't showing up anywhere & I am running SuperZaxxon Beta 5a


Thanks.
 
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