Android for R-Pi

[bassman651]

Hello,

I am an Android Developer from SDX-Developers and i'm extremely interested on getting an R-Pi Android Distrobution. Some possible useful applications of having an Android distro are:

Most/All Android applications are made to run on ARM Processors.

Could be used as a Portable Skype Client. With its high capacity video capabilities, you could use R-Pi as the ultimate HD tool for Skype video calls.

Integration with Google Apps

I am going to start looking for the source code for the board and onboard chips to build an Android Development Tree for it, and see if I can get it to boot. I think it would be a relatively easy task considering that a recovery application is not needed. This is because the entire filesystem is mounted on the SD card, which can be removed and the files installed on a regular PC. The only thing that might be a problem is getting Android to work with a USB Mouse, Keyboard, Webcam, and Microphone (for skype).

First things first, I am going to try to get everything necessary for it to build and compile sucessfuly so installations and testing can begin as soon as it is released. If you would like to help or contribute, email me at bassman651@gmail.com

[hvc123]

i too intend on trying to port GB to the RPi but im having trouble understanding how to get the arch in the build, i mean i have built GB for my phone from source but i had the phone proprietary binaries, so i can select the target. i mean its not exactly like building openwrt where you have a nice menu to choose the cpu and/or device.

id like to help or be helped is probably the truth

[joeofloath]

I'm not experienced, but you'll want to set your compiler of choice (Hint: gcc) to cross compile to the architecture of the Pi, which off the top of my head is Armv7.

[bassman651]

Hmm, I thought I read ARM11 somewhere...

Either way, that will have to be done.

[hvc123]

hmmm i thought it was armv6 (v11!!) or something like that ..

[JustinPM]

This might help clear up the difference between ARM11 and ARMv6.  You're both right, but the ARMv6 portion of things is what really matters.

[hvc123]

yer thats what i mean im not sure how to set the arch type in android source code. and if armv6 is not there how do we 'make' it be there

[bassman651]

in the Device Tree that I will have to make from scratch, there is a file named "BoardConfig.mk". This is where the CPU will be specified. For example, here is the BoardConfig.mk file for my Samsung Moment.

http://pastebin.com/gK3BmqBU