Has any of you folks tried out the X86 Google Android OS on their computer? If so where you able to do WCG crunching with it? How does it compare to Windows or LINUX?
Here is a background article on how to install it: http://www.askvg.com/tip-how-to-inst...VG+%28AskVG%29
Here is where you download the Google Android x86 OS ISO Image: http://www.android-x86.org/download
I may rundown 1 rig for a while and start this up to see if boinc runs on it. thanks for the links
I'm not sure I would want it for anything else though
EDIT: Quite curious to see points and efficiency and if all the usual options are there like number of threads.
Will do it on Sunday on a clean hdd....then we will see ....after all the wcg app for android is ARM based so the question then is which boinc to choose?
Last edited by OldChap; 06-19-2014 at 01:14 PM.
My Biggest Fear Is When I die, My Wife Sells All My Stuff For What I Told Her I Paid For It.79 SB threads and 32 IB Threads across 4 rigs 111 threads Crunching!!
OC,
I Googled for info on this. Got lots of hits for WCG on various Android phones and tablets but nothing specific to PC X86. One person stated that they were able to crunch on a tablet with a dual cores X86 CPU but provided no details or validation. The latest KitKat 4.4 RC2 seems to be the ISO to go for and download. Here is a couple more interesting article on the subject:
Is Google Thwarting Android-x86 Development? http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/80202.html?rss=1
Android-x86 Just Might Make a Good Linux Desktop Alternative http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/80145.html
BOINC Version to use for Android/x86 looks like ver 7.3.7 possibly downloaded straight from google store. See here at page bottom: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download_all.php
I burnt a DVD from the X86 v4.4 RC2 ISO download and then tried to run android 4.4 X86 from the CD without installation on a PC with an I7-2600K and a wired network connector.. As expected this was a very slow and somewhat unresponsive boot up process. I gave up on it at what appears to be the 3rd or 4th step. I discovered the following during the boot process:
1- You are first asked to select a language (3 options given on left, select one then click on arrow on the right
2- Install process then looks for Wi-Fi to access a network (no wire connection option given) I skipped this since PC did not have Wi-Fi
3- Next screen asked for my Google account info which I provided
4- Next screen stated that it could not connect to Google and sent me right back to step 2 the wi-fi connection
5- This is where I gave up.
6- Mouse response was jerky and unreliable throughout, I had to use keyboard arrows and return keys for inputs.
Google Android X86 V4.4 KitKat appears to be still optimized for operating on X86 CPU Tablet with a wi-fi connection and a touch screen. I will now make a USB boot-able version of Google Android X86 and try to run/install it on a X86 PC with a Wi-Fi rather than a wired network connection.
Last edited by jeanguy2; 06-20-2014 at 07:28 AM. Reason: Spelling corrections
if it uses grub 2.0 at boot up, try editing the line and insert "TORAM" to starting parameters, this way it'll load it to RAM and will work much fasterOriginally Posted by jeanguy2
I like large posteriors and I cannot prevaricate
Evantaur, I looked at the ISO file with Win ISO and could not find any reference to "grub.2". The only thing I found that could possibly be of interest is a file titled "isolinux.cfg". Here is its content:if it uses grub 2.0 at boot up, try editing the line and insert "TORAM" to starting parameters, this way it'll load it to RAM and will work much faster
Could this possibly be where I would insert "TORAM" parameters? If so, where and in what format?default vesamenu.c32 timeout 600
menu background android-x86.png
menu title Android-x86 Live & Installation CD 4.4-RC2
menu color border 0 #ffffffff #00000000
menu color sel 7 #ffffff00 #ff000000
menu color title 0 #ffffffff #00000000
menu color tabmsg 0 #ffffffff #00000000
menu color unsel 0 #ffffffff #00000000
menu color hotsel 0 #ffffff00 #ff000000
menu color hotkey 7 #ffffff00 #00000000
label livem
menu label Live CD - ^Run Android-x86 without installation
kernel /kernel
append initrd=/initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 video=-16 quiet SRC= DATA=
label vesa
menu label Live CD - ^VESA mode
kernel /kernel
append initrd=/initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 video=-16 quiet nomodeset vga=788 SRC= DATA=
label debug
menu label Live CD - ^Debug mode
kernel /kernel
append initrd=/initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 video=-16 vga=788 DEBUG=2 SRC= DATA=
label install
menu label Installation - ^Install Android-x86 to harddisk
kernel /kernel
append initrd=/initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 video=-16 INSTALL=1 DEBUG=
Most of the other files in the ISO are in compiled machine language which is way beyond my ability.
Thanks for your input. I am a bit reluctant to modding the original ISO file at present for fear of introducing an error in the installation process. I will pursue the bootable RAM disk option for now.
Last edited by jeanguy2; 06-20-2014 at 08:21 AM.
while it's showing the menu (Run Android-x86 without installation,vesa mode...) press tab or e (can't remember), go to the end of teh line of append initrd=/initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 video=-16 quiet SRC= DATA= and add toram
like so
or just edit it to isolinux.cfgCode:append initrd=/initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 video=-16 quiet SRC= DATA= toram
I like large posteriors and I cannot prevaricate
Thank you very much Evantaur, that's exactly the detailed guidance I was looking for.
Have a great weekend...
Any update on this? Looks like they have a build especially for eee pcs? I might have to dig that old thing out...
Anyone crunched with this on a desktop with Virtualbox? Android OS works OK, it's the NativeBoinc install I can't get working.
Now got it installed but it won't attach me to WCG. Get error 113
Last edited by stoneageman; 09-28-2014 at 06:28 AM.
Hello Sam,
I tried to set the Google OS on one of my PC last June and found that this OS was was not yet ready for a full PC without a touchscreen. The version I used was still better suited for a tablet than a full PC. I ran into problems with mouse control and video control during the initial setup that saw me give up on the OS. If I recall right, during the OS setup the mouse and the Keyboard would not work while being asked to take action on what appeared to be a touch icon displayed on the screen. Further research on the web revealed that other folks had run into a similar situation. I concluded that the Google OS was not yet ready for PC Primetime. In summary Sam, I could not get the Google OS version (in June 2014) to play nice on a Full PC and never did get to install boinc on it. I have not followed up to see if they have released a newer PC Google OS version that makes it more suitable to use in a full PC environment.
Ok, thanks. As I cannot connect to any project it might be a network/firewall issue although the browser & play apps connect fine. I'm a bit stumped for now.
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