Turn it around - Pandora (Angstrom) on Android?


Grench

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We have Android as a launchable PND (application) on the Pandora. It's cool.


What are the stopping points if someone were to want to put the Angstrom OS into an Android App in a similar fashion?


What is in the way of creating a 'virtual' Pandora on my Galaxy Note II and take advantage of the PND system, etc...???
 
Wouldn't the n900 be a good starting point?


How portable are pandora binaries?
 
Searching in the Google play store:


https://play.google.com/store/search?q=linux&c=apps


I see that there are a few Linux on Android installers for Ubuntu and Debian that launch as an app.


Why not, 'spread the love'? If it were possible to encapsulate Angstrom - as compiled and set up for the Pandora - as an Android app, I think a few interesting things could happen.


The Pandora becomes the 'native development console'.


People download/install - and fall in love with the fact it's a real OS, handles emulation like a dream and gives people a taste for PNDs. Once they do - they'll want to use the native console (Pandora I) and possibly wait in line for a Pandora II.


The real challenge... Since Angstrom is such a 'lightweight' distribution, figure out how to set it up into an Android app that -doesn't- require root access - stores the 'virtual' OS's entire file system in a single file on the Android unit's storage card. Then allow it to read/write to the Android OS's file system as a network (SSHFS?) drive...


Am I dreaming again or should this be possible?
 
Making the 'pnd system' work on other Linux variations is not hard (it more or less works out of the box on very typical linux installs, assuming they have the right kernel modules etc.) Copying over all the required libs and such wouldn't be a big deal.. unpack a firmware version, chroot it, good to go..


But the real problem is that pandora applications are generally ported to Pandora.. assumptions about screen, and/or controls, being the main one. I imagine it would not be hard to run a Pandora binary on many linux builds, but operating that application wouldn't work too well much of the time.


A pure SDL app may work (using the native systems SLD, not pandora SDL), if lucky.. but stuff like picodrive, not too likely!


Some stuff could work though, but not half..


jeff
 
Making the 'pnd system' work on other Linux variations is not hard (it more or less works out of the box on very typical linux installs, assuming they have the right kernel modules etc.) Copying over all the required libs and such wouldn't be a big deal.. unpack a firmware version, chroot it, good to go..


But the real problem is that pandora applications are generally ported to Pandora.. assumptions about screen, and/or controls, being the main one. I imagine it would not be hard to run a Pandora binary on many linux builds, but operating that application wouldn't work too well much of the time.


A pure SDL app may work (using the native systems SLD, not pandora SDL), if lucky.. but stuff like picodrive, not too likely!


Some stuff could work though, but not half..


jeff

I'm not talking about loading PND files natively on Android or any other Linux release. Rather running Angstrom as an Application INSIDE of Android.


Controls & screen a big problem? How about making some assumptions and restrictions for the first time out then?


- Require a minimum 800x480 screen - and gray bar anything in excess of that if scaling up isn't an option.


- Assume presence of an ICP2 for controls (I'm assuming the ICP2 will be out before this 'dream' gets very far.) Or, alternatively, use any bluetooth HID present on the main system (BT keyboard). That would give them text control over the OS - and mouse if we can link into the touchscreen.


- The Android app would need to be a complete interpretive layer - borderline Pandora hardware emulator and capable of pointing to/loading the -same- Angstrom OS releases as the Pandora and Pandora II consoles.


I'm not saying it would be easy - but is there any solid reason it wouldn't be possible?
 
an iCP2 is not the solution; consider how many emus/games/apps work with an iCP2 on Pandora ;) (ie: answer, not many.) Most ports are quick, and even more involved ports generally didn't take into consideration non-native controls -- ie: usb controls, for example. Most just listen direct for pandora specific events. Not all, for sure, but probably most... but generic stuff like SDL has a pretty good chance.


Anyway, sure, you could work around most of these issues; its just not a cakewalk, is all :)


jeff
 
Searching in the Google play store:


https://play.google.com/store/search?q=linux&c=apps


I see that there are a few Linux on Android installers for Ubuntu and Debian that launch as an app.


Why not, 'spread the love'? If it were possible to encapsulate Angstrom - as compiled and set up for the Pandora - as an Android app, I think a few interesting things could happen.


The Pandora becomes the 'native development console'.


People download/install - and fall in love with the fact it's a real OS, handles emulation like a dream and gives people a taste for PNDs. Once they do - they'll want to use the native console (Pandora I) and possibly wait in line for a Pandora II.


The real challenge... Since Angstrom is such a 'lightweight' distribution, figure out how to set it up into an Android app that -doesn't- require root access - stores the 'virtual' OS's entire file system in a single file on the Android unit's storage card. Then allow it to read/write to the Android OS's file system as a network (SSHFS?) drive...


Am I dreaming again or should this be possible?

Ok, no. You will need root access for anything like that unless you want it to run super duper slow. Root access allows the OS to actually run on the hardware. If you didn't have that, you would need to virtualize the hardware which would be very slow and would actually make people think the Pandora sucked if that was their only impression of it. It is a good idea, though. I run Ubuntu on my galaxy S 3 and it's a bit slow, but funtional (expecially for flash content)
 
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