[clug] Android

[Scott Ferguson]

On 21/01/17 01:53, Bryan Kilgallin wrote:
> I was looking-up wearable medical devices. Which seem to require
> interfacing with usually a mobile phone or tablet computer, running iOS
> or Android. However, I don't have a mobile phone. And my PC and laptop
> both run Ubuntu.
> 
> "Why You Can’t Run Android Software on Desktop Linux

This is technically incorrect, you *can* run Android Software on a KDE
Plasma Desktop - if you have a recent kernel and use the Shashlik EL.
You should be able to use Kubuntu, I've only tried with Debian Jessie
(YMMV).

> 
> Linux doesn’t include the Dalvik virtual machine, so it can’t run
> Android apps. The Dalvik virtual machine and all of Android’s other
> software can’t simply be dropped onto a desktop Linux machine — you’d
> have to do more work to make Android apps output to a window on a
> standard desktop through Xorg, for example."
> 
> http://www.howtogeek.com/189036/android-is-based-on-linux-but-what-does-that-mean/

This is incorrect/outdated.
Dalvik is no longer used by Android. It now uses Android Runtime (ART)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Runtime

If you want to run Android apps on a Linux machine you have a few
methods, the simplest two are:-

* install an Android x86 port into a Virtual Machine e.g. VirtualBox,
https://sourceforge.net/projects/android-x86/

* or install the Shaslik emulation layer (which I've only done with KDE
- it 'might' be possible to use other Window Managers)
https://github.com/shashlik

Note that those approaches won't be particularly useful for a wearable
device - unless you don't go very far and are happy lugging a laptop.

You can pick up a low-end second-hand mobile phone that runs Android for
less than $100 (if your budget stretches that far) - or someone on the
list may gift you with one. Alternatively, budget allowing, buy a
netbook that supports Android.



Kind regards