Project: Android JB 4.1 with Hardware acceleration

[lewmur]

For goodness sake, some people are NEVER satisfied...

I would hope not! The only people who should be "satisfied" with the status quo, are those lying in their graves!

I never said anything about the status quo...at the moment we don't even have Android (of any description), now is NOT the time to complain about it perhaps not working on the 256 device! Run before walking etc.

I guess you didn't notice the smileys. Lighten up. I'm not complaining. Merely pointing out facts.

[sharrisct25]

James in response to why I would want Android I had initially purchased a Pi to test for a potential business use as a easy and cheap thin client. That is moving along ok. I also purchased a few to play with at home for xmbc and a carpc project. The car pc I would really like Android for because of app availibility Rhapsody, trapster, gps, netflix, torque etc etc.

That said something this holiday produced a new potential use that i think could be great for Android on Pi. Much of my family lives in a 3rd world country and a few of them are involved with education. One of them in particular who was visiting us for the holiday is an administrator for a few primary schools (more or less grades K - 5) and she has been constantly battling to get the kids access to computers and the internet. She has failed a few attempts because they were simply to hard or expensive to maintain only getting fixed when I visited and brought parts / expertise. Also in many cases they were too hard to use not only for the kids but also for the teachers. Anyway her focus right now is get ipads because the interface is dead easy and lots of the teachers already use smartphones. She managed to get a few ipads through a charity but again if they break fixing them is very expensive plus each unit costs more than the desktops she used to get plus they have had more issues with security since it is easy for them to walk. So when she was here she was shopping for some inexpensive andriod tablets while I was taking her around to help her look she said "if only I could get a cheap computer that would run android it would be perfect" and all I could think about was how she could use a Pi with her existing monitors and probably outfit all of her schools for less than it would cost for 4 iPads.

I think she is on to something here. My oldest boy is 5 and he likes the PC but is a master when he picks up one of our ipads or my android phone. Teaching kids around to world to be developers etc all good but helping them to read, understand technology, and have access to the wealth of information the internet can provide them could help change alot more lives.

I hope that helps build your list of reasons to bring Android to Pi.

[alanrt]

Torque is a good enough reason on its own.

[ScottyPcGuy_03]

James,

I would also like to be able to use Android for something similar to GPS tracking: Geocaching. I have been considering different options as far as mapping tools go: I originally thought about using the QTQuick framework because I'd really like to have a hardware accelerated map display; but early on I realized Android would take less effort if I simply interfaced my receiver with gpsd and used Google Maps. My current setup uses Viking, which works, but is PAINFULLY slow as it does not support hardware acceleration.

I may be going about this all wrong, but I want to avoid reinventing the wheel.

[Ray_GTI-R]

Get an ODROID dev board.

Seriously ... you'll live longer, get huge support from the manufacturer & the Android O/S Developers and far more positive, constructive comments from moderators

Ray
(ODROID-X * 2 & ODROID-U2 * 4 ... coz' life's too short)
FWIW I tried my best - since March 2012 - to help the foundation understand the importance of Android to the RPi. Non-replies and flames do not reflect well.

To paraphrase a well known saying ... There are none so blind as those who do not want to see.

[ScottyPcGuy_03]

Get an ODROID dev board.

Seriously ... you'll live longer, get huge support from the manufacturer & the Android O/S Developers and far more positive, constructive comments from moderators

Ray
(ODROID-X * 2 & ODROID-U2 * 4 ... coz' life's too short)
FWIW I tried my best - since March 2012 - to help the foundation understand the importance of Android to the RPi. Non-replies and flames do not reflect well.

To paraphrase a well known saying ... There are none so blind as those who do not want to see.

That would put me over budget, unfortunately. I've already spent $120 on this project, and I'm stuck with what I've got. My post was more of a rhetorical question asking if there was a better way to go about what I'm trying to do. That's probably a subject for another topic though.

[Ray_GTI-R]

Get an ODROID dev board.

Seriously ... you'll live longer, get huge support from the manufacturer & the Android O/S Developers and far more positive, constructive comments from moderators

Ray
(ODROID-X * 2 & ODROID-U2 * 4 ... coz' life's too short)
FWIW I tried my best - since March 2012 - to help the foundation understand the importance of Android to the RPi. Non-replies and flames do not reflect well.

To paraphrase a well known saying ... There are none so blind as those who do not want to see.

That would put me over budget, unfortunately. I've already spent $120 on this project, and I'm stuck with what I've got. My post was more of a rhetorical question asking if there was a better way to go about what I'm trying to do. That's probably a subject for another topic though.

I feel for you. I did the same. Anyway - take the $120, subtract THAT $35 which has to be worth something on the open market. I got a quad core blah-de-blah ODROID and within days from purchase I was up & running.
Alternatively - it's a bit like saying to someone 200 feet underwater, with an empty aqualung ...
"That cost a lot, would you like to keep using it ... or have this new one for peanuts which is so full of oxygen you could last ages and get regular updates from the manufacturer at no extra cost.)

[jamesh]

Get an ODROID dev board.

Seriously ... you'll live longer, get huge support from the manufacturer & the Android O/S Developers and far more positive, constructive comments from moderators

Ray
(ODROID-X * 2 & ODROID-U2 * 4 ... coz' life's too short)
FWIW I tried my best - since March 2012 - to help the foundation understand the importance of Android to the RPi. Non-replies and flames do not reflect well.

To paraphrase a well known saying ... There are none so blind as those who do not want to see.

That would put me over budget, unfortunately. I've already spent $120 on this project, and I'm stuck with what I've got. My post was more of a rhetorical question asking if there was a better way to go about what I'm trying to do. That's probably a subject for another topic though.

I feel for you. I did the same. Anyway - take the $120, subtract THAT $35 which has to be worth something on the open market. I got a quad core blah-de-blah ODROID and within days from purchase I was up & running.
Alternatively - it's a bit like saying to someone 200 feet underwater, with an empty aqualung ...
"That cost a lot, would you like to keep using it ... or have this new one for peanuts which is so full of oxygen you could last ages and get regular updates from the manufacturer at no extra cost.)

Android isn't a priority. I've always said that. The Foundation has NEVER give any information on an Android release date, so people should not be relying on one. If you really want Android, I'd would take Ray's advice and get something else. The Raspi is not an Android device.

If you want an educational system, then get a Raspi. After all, that's what it was designed for. You're not going to learn much from an Android device, despite what people seem to think.

[jamesh]

Actually, worth adding that I reckon, if Android were available, the Foundation would sell hat loads more devices. BUT, the Foundations priority is on education, not just selling more devices. If the Foundation were a for profit company, Android would be a higher priority. But it's not, it's an educational charity, where the aims of the Foundation rather than profits, come first.

[ScottyPcGuy_03]

Actually, worth adding that I reckon, if Android were available, the Foundation would sell hat loads more devices. BUT, the Foundations priority is on education, not just selling more devices. If the Foundation were a for profit company, Android would be a higher priority. But it's not, it's an educational charity, where the aims of the Foundation rather than profits, come first.

That's exactly what I was thinking, James. If your niche is NPE, it makes no sense to prioritize something that doesn't really further your goals. I don't really want to have to buy an Android device, but if it's easier, then I might use one. Then again, I've always hated paying more for the easy way out, so I might come up with some software just so people can use the rPi as a GPS (with hardware display acceleration).

[Jessie]

I have found mk802s' on aliexpress for as little as $40 now and then and they come with Android 4.0 or 4.1 preloaded. They have 1Gb ram and a 1GHz Allwinner processor. You want the mk802 v2 (or II) because it has more ram and a power protection circuit because the original version was cooking some peoples HDMI port.

For a tad more you can also find rocketchip based mini computers that have dual cores based on ARM Cortex A9s running at 1Ghz or higher. Most of these inexpensive computers come with all the cables.

You will be limited to Android, Ubuntu, or Arch as far as I can tell but if all you want is Android on your TV set these are the cheapest way to get there.

[lasloHU]

I hope that Android will soon be at least test version.

Hmm.. Why are not releasing the version that is in the video http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1700 after all, works pretty well or not?

[lasloHU]

http://s8.po---age.org/3koazhe37/--v.jpg

one simple question, why?

Delete the link ^^^, please

Use this link please http://i46.tinypic.com/10hrb0y.jpg

[ghans]

They are doing this for another customer.
I don't think it would be a good idea to release this , before even
the customer himself (who paid for it !) gets the finished
version.



ghans

[tufty]

Nah, that's rubbish. They're doing it because they actively enjoy taunting you.

Obviously, this is the wrong place to whine^H^H^H^H^Hask questions about its eventual release (or not), as, despite what people may think, the Raspberry Pi Foundation is not Broadcom.

[Dedalus]

They are doing this for another customer.
I don't think it would be a good idea to release this , before even
the customer himself (who paid for it !) gets the finished
version.
ghans

Is that right? Do you have a source for this info? I wonder why they'd want an Android port?

[jamesh]

They are doing this for another customer.
I don't think it would be a good idea to release this , before even
the customer himself (who paid for it !) gets the finished
version.
ghans

Is that right? Do you have a source for this info? I wonder why they'd want an Android port?

The Brcm2835, the SoC on the Raspi, uses a Videocore 4 GPU. This GPU is also used on other Broadcom chips that are sold to mobile phone manufacturers. They use Android. So the libraries to use the Videocore on Android have been developed for those customers.

[CoolApps]

Code: Select all

W/dalvikvm(  369): threadid=1: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x40cc7300)
E/AndroidRuntime(  369): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
E/AndroidRuntime(  369): java.lang.RuntimeException: eglConfig not initialized
E/AndroidRuntime(  369):    at com.android.systemui.ImageWallpaper$DrawableEngine.initGL(ImageWallpaper.java:579)

Looks like that OpenGL cannot configure the Drawable EglGL Engine correctly, most likely to be the hardware acceleration driver/kernel module issue.

Code: Select all

I/SurfaceFlinger(   52): SurfaceFlinger's main thread ready to run. Initializing graphics H/W...
W/gralloc (   52): FBIOPUT_VSCREENINFO failed, page flipping not supported
W/gralloc (   52): page flipping not supported (yres_virtual=880, requested=1760)
I/gralloc (   52): using (fd=12)
I/gralloc (   52): id           = BCM2708 FB
I/gralloc (   52): xres         = 1720 px
I/gralloc (   52): yres         = 880 px
I/gralloc (   52): xres_virtual = 1720 px
I/gralloc (   52): yres_virtual = 880 px
I/gralloc (   52): bpp          = 16
I/gralloc (   52): r            = 11:5
I/gralloc (   52): g            =  5:6
I/gralloc (   52): b            =  0:5
I/gralloc (   52): width        = 880 mm (49.645454 dpi)
I/gralloc (   52): height       = 1720 mm (12.995349 dpi)
I/gralloc (   52): refresh rate = 60.00 Hz

The issues are most likely to be caused by mali.ko, ump.ko and gralloc.default.so, the .KO files are from the kernel and the .so file is from /system/lib/ so from the looks of it, you have to replace a few files from the kernel.

Code: Select all

E/AndroidRuntime(  433): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
E/AndroidRuntime(  433): java.lang.OutOfMemoryError
E/AndroidRuntime(  433):    at android.graphics.Bitmap.nativeCreate(Native Method)
E/AndroidRuntime(  433):    at android.graphics.Bitmap.createBitmap(Bitmap.java:640)

Too much data in RAM/GPU.

[Warg]

The issues are most likely to be caused by mali.ko, ump.ko and gralloc.default.so, the .KO files are from the kernel and the .so file is from /system/lib/ so from the looks of it, you have to replace a few files from the kernel.

Might I inquire as to where you got that information?
mali.ko is a kernel module for the Mali-series GPUs, unsure of specifically what it does but I can assume it's the framebuffer-driver. We do not have a Mali-series GPU.
ump.ko is a driver for the "Unified Memory Provider", which (and correct me if I'm wrong) we don't use.

I'm assuming the error here is the following:

Code: Select all

W/gralloc (   52): FBIOPUT_VSCREENINFO failed, page flipping not supported

which has very little to do with gralloc, if anything at all, despite the log tag being gralloc. It has to do with the FB driver in the kernel, which does not currently (in the official kernel, whose repo is maintained by the foundation, anyway) support page flipping.

Who am I to know all this? I am the only current dev for the RazDroid-project. I know this stuff.

[EDIT]
mali.ko is for the "Mali memory allocator", had to google it. :>

[CoolApps]

The issues are most likely to be caused by mali.ko, ump.ko and gralloc.default.so, the .KO files are from the kernel and the .so file is from /system/lib/ so from the looks of it, you have to replace a few files from the kernel.

Might I inquire as to where you got that information?
mali.ko is a kernel module for the Mali-series GPUs, unsure of specifically what it does but I can assume it's the framebuffer-driver. We do not have a Mali-series GPU.
ump.ko is a driver for the "Unified Memory Provider", which (and correct me if I'm wrong) we don't use.

I'm assuming the error here is the following:

Code: Select all

W/gralloc (   52): FBIOPUT_VSCREENINFO failed, page flipping not supported

which has very little to do with gralloc, if anything at all, despite the log tag being gralloc. It has to do with the FB driver in the kernel, which does not currently (in the official kernel, whose repo is maintained by the foundation, anyway) support page flipping.

Who am I to know all this? I am the only current dev for the RazDroid-project. I know this stuff.

[EDIT]
mali.ko is for the "Mali memory allocator", had to google it. :>

I did have to google for the driver part but thats how you can get information.
There is alot of files which needs modification and extra files which needs to be added to the libs and kernel modules.

[mrpi64]

AWESOME IDEA!

Try beating Broadcom at getting it out to download, and you will be regarded throughout the Pi/Android-Pi world as a HERO! (I think...)

[perejil]

Hi, I am from Spain, a lot of people is waiting for android on raspberry.

I want to do a carpc too, but the available diferent xbcm versions are not very usable on car. The volume icon don´t exist, can´t install a gps or engine monitoring and a lot of apps usefull for carputer projects.

We need android

Thanks for your project!!

[itimpi]

Hi, I am from Spain, a lot of people is waiting for android on raspberry.

I want to do a carpc too, but the available diferent xbcm versions are not very usable on car. The volume icon don´t exist, can´t install a gps or engine monitoring and a lot of apps usefull for carputer projects.

We need android

Not quite sure why you think Android will help with any of these? At its heart Android is still Linux based.

[cleverca22]

Looks like that OpenGL cannot configure the Drawable EglGL Engine correctly, most likely to be the hardware acceleration driver/kernel module issue.

Code: Select all

I/SurfaceFlinger(   52): SurfaceFlinger's main thread ready to run. Initializing graphics H/W...
W/gralloc (   52): FBIOPUT_VSCREENINFO failed, page flipping not supported
W/gralloc (   52): page flipping not supported (yres_virtual=880, requested=1760)
I/gralloc (   52): using (fd=12)
I/gralloc (   52): id           = BCM2708 FB
I/gralloc (   52): xres         = 1720 px
I/gralloc (   52): yres         = 880 px
I/gralloc (   52): xres_virtual = 1720 px
I/gralloc (   52): yres_virtual = 880 px
I/gralloc (   52): bpp          = 16
I/gralloc (   52): r            = 11:5
I/gralloc (   52): g            =  5:6
I/gralloc (   52): b            =  0:5
I/gralloc (   52): width        = 880 mm (49.645454 dpi)
I/gralloc (   52): height       = 1720 mm (12.995349 dpi)
I/gralloc (   52): refresh rate = 60.00 Hz

from my recent digging, gralloc will query the framebuffer for the default xres/yres (which seems to be the prefered res from edid)
then it will blindly double yres and stuff that into yres_virtual (to make a buffer twice as tall, for page flipping)

Code: Select all

bcm2708_fb_check_var: ERROR: VerticalTotal >= 1200; special treatment required! (TODO)

the kernel module then says no! (yres_virtual must be under 1200), so it fails and runs without page flipping

i used config.txt to force the hdmi mode to 800x600, so when it doubles yres to 800x1200, it fits into the buffer
that solves the problem about page flipping not being supported, but then the screen simply stays black all the time


i also tried a patch mentioned on the razdroid kernel github, and that allowed a yres over 1200 for page flipping, but caused major rendering glitches and crashing

[aaa801]

Looks like that OpenGL cannot configure the Drawable EglGL Engine correctly, most likely to be the hardware acceleration driver/kernel module issue.

Code: Select all

I/SurfaceFlinger(   52): SurfaceFlinger's main thread ready to run. Initializing graphics H/W...
W/gralloc (   52): FBIOPUT_VSCREENINFO failed, page flipping not supported
W/gralloc (   52): page flipping not supported (yres_virtual=880, requested=1760)
I/gralloc (   52): using (fd=12)
I/gralloc (   52): id           = BCM2708 FB
I/gralloc (   52): xres         = 1720 px
I/gralloc (   52): yres         = 880 px
I/gralloc (   52): xres_virtual = 1720 px
I/gralloc (   52): yres_virtual = 880 px
I/gralloc (   52): bpp          = 16
I/gralloc (   52): r            = 11:5
I/gralloc (   52): g            =  5:6
I/gralloc (   52): b            =  0:5
I/gralloc (   52): width        = 880 mm (49.645454 dpi)
I/gralloc (   52): height       = 1720 mm (12.995349 dpi)
I/gralloc (   52): refresh rate = 60.00 Hz

from my recent digging, gralloc will query the framebuffer for the default xres/yres (which seems to be the prefered res from edid)
then it will blindly double yres and stuff that into yres_virtual (to make a buffer twice as tall, for page flipping)

Code: Select all

bcm2708_fb_check_var: ERROR: VerticalTotal >= 1200; special treatment required! (TODO)

the kernel module then says no! (yres_virtual must be under 1200), so it fails and runs without page flipping

i used config.txt to force the hdmi mode to 800x600, so when it doubles yres to 800x1200, it fits into the buffer
that solves the problem about page flipping not being supported, but then the screen simply stays black all the time


i also tried a patch mentioned on the razdroid kernel github, and that allowed a yres over 1200 for page flipping, but caused major rendering glitches and crashing

Its not exactly that, hop in the irc and ask warg