Android Running on Eee PC 1000 Netbook (new Google mobile OS - Lookout Microsoft!)

SlashGear.com ^ | 1-2-2009

[webschooner]

Google may have started out with cellphones for their Android platform, but that doesn’t mean they’re limiting their future options. The guys over at VentureBeat have loaded the open-source OS onto an Eee PC 1000 netbook, with a display almost five times the size of the T-Mobile G1, and aside from some initial networking and sound issues Android is now running normally on the ASUS machine.

Screen resolution adjusted automatically, and while digging around in the code they came across not only the phone policy but a MID (mobile internet device) policy suggesting that Google are already considering netbooks in these relatively early Android builds. One of Google’s own developers, Dima Zavin, ported the platform onto another Intel CPU-based netbook, proving that there was no real technical issue preventing it.

Getting Android ready for the Eee PC took around four hours. That left VentureBeat with a working netbook capable of media playback, internet access, messaging and, presumably, if the 1000 had a 3G modem, wireless broadband. Since the open-source version of Android doesn’t currently support the Android Market, downloading apps from there wasn’t possible; however, they did find Czech, German, English (Australia, United Kingdom, Singapore, United States), Spanish, Japanese, German and Dutch translation options, suggesting launches of the platform in some those countries may be next.

[Astronaut]

Anyone interested in a really good open source OS should try OpenSolaris http://www.opensolaris.com. Its the open source version of Solaris 10 from Sun Microsystems. I’m running it on a ThinkPad and its very stable, has a much better looking GUI than any Linux I’ve seen, and is very easy to learn. There is a ton of support on the web from Sun. They stand behind OpenSolaris.

[MichiganMan]

I got my daughter a Dell mini-laptop/netbook (9" screen) for Christmas that runs Ubuntu Linux and so far have been quite pleased by the performance. My only concern is finding anti-malware software that runs on Linux.

You're not going to find much as there is virtually no need for it.  The user gets most if not all of their apps (of thousands that are available) from a repository using a package manager that performs the installation for them, thereby eliminating one major vector for malware.  Ubuntu uses Firefox instead of IE, thereby eliminating another vector.  The OS itself is written more securely from the ground up, requiring the user to affirmatively make a downloaded file executable with a user permission system that is effective without relentlessly pestering the user.  If the user runs the downloaded file and it does do something untoward, its influence is limited to the user's own home directory, as opposed to the whole system. 

Additionally, you'd be hard pressed to find malware that even runs on a Linux system as almost all of it is written to exploit holes in Windows. Market share and therefore benefit to the hacker is an explanation with some merit for the discrepancy, but one that ignores the number of internet facing Linux servers that would reap the malware writer rewards several orders of magnitude greater than Windows desktops if they could only be exploited. 

[DevNet]

Android is based on Linux.

[DevNet]

If the user runs the downloaded file and it does do something untoward, its influence is limited to the user's own home directory, as opposed to the whole system. That is exactly the way windows does it as well.

[martin_fierro]

Hmmmm.

[upchuck]

My guess is that Microsoft is not taking this development lying down and will eventually release a leaned down and inexpensive version of Vista or Windows 7 to compete in this space.

How 'bout Win 7 on an ASUS Eee?

[hoosierham]

If that is Apple software you have bought I think you should be able to use it on your lawnmower if you want;just don’t expect Apple to support it !

[bert]

I heard they are thinking of merging with the New York Times

[hoosierham]

Radio Shack had these mini pcs for $99 pre Christmas IF you would commit to a 2 year $60 monthly wireless subscription.Post Christmas,it's $199 .

Personally I prefer a larger screen and keyboard.

I have a co-worker who was given a little ASUS but prefers to use an older Thinkpad for its bigger screen.

If someone ever makes a device that fits in regular pockets but opens up easily to a comfortable screen and keyboard ,then look out!

[RedWing9]

If someone ever makes a device that fits in regular pockets but opens up easily to a comfortable screen and keyboard ,then look out!

Ever see a Storm??

[hoosierham]

Screen is too small.

[Wonder Warthog]

"The Wikipedia article seems to have a good summary of this Linux derivative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)."

Thanks. Looks like an excellent reference. I kind of suspected that there was a strong Linux connection somewhere.

I've been thinking of getting one of the Acer units just to begin to familiarize myself with Linux. But for purposes of our scientific instrument work, the Windows XP versions work handily.

[Excellence]

I really want one of these things, but hesitate to get the first generation. I’m wondering if I could use something like Vonage through it, then I would just give up my cell phone. Does the eee machine have a card slot to accomodate a Verizon wireless pc card?

[ShadowAce]

[jetxnet]

Great, now all we need is Google getting access to our file systems through the Internet.

Do not use Google, they are going to be part of the Obama administration in different ways.

www.icerocket.com is for an alternate search engine.

Google’s goal is to have your computer become a dumb terminal for the Internet.

[webschooner]

This eee PC running the Android OS is strictly a first-time experiment by some techies. It’s not on the market. The android OS is currently only sold on the G1 cell phone

If you want more info on the eee PC now on the market, do a search.

[Still Thinking]

Google is AOL only bigger.

Well, and if you tell someone you use Google, they don't look at you like you're a moron.

[Still Thinking]

Well, if you just need Winders for a few specific things, there are ways to run them in Linux, (Wine, etc) or at the very least under virtualization.

[Swordmaker]

Nowhere did I state that Android was or would be superior to Linux on netbooks. I only posted the story because I thought it is technically interesting and newsworthy that the Android OS has been successfully and experimentally loaded onto a netbook.

Definitely a hobbyist thing. Putting a stripped down version of Linux (Android) on a machine capable of running a full LINUX or Windows install is not going to accomplish much more than people saying, for the moment, that's neat...

It was like the people who installed LINUX on an iPod... neat that you can do it, but now what?

[Swordmaker]

As far as I have been able to find out, it is an entirely new OS, developed from the bottom up.

Nope, it's open source, a subset of Linux, and based on the Linux Kernal.