Documentation of Operating Systems and Developers

Android operating system

Android OS

The android platform was founded by Google and offers on the base the Linux kernel 2.6 a uniform interface for mobile equipment and programmes. Through this it is easily to port and is programmed in Java. After the conversion into the own binary program format Dalvik (.dex) it is not compatible to Java any more. Advantage is the faster execution and the lower memory footprint of programmes than in pure Java. Every Dalvik application is executed in a Dalvik VM of its own. Applications can access all equipment functions. This makes it possible for the programmer to make innovative programmes which offers the user high value by the combination of all sorts of data sources with the equipment functions.

The Eclipse IDE with an official plugin is used for the development. The operating system Android for Smartphones is supported by the Open Handset Alliance. Including more than 30 communication provider, equipment and semiconductor manufacturers as well as software companies. Because Android is an open platform in the meaning of the software and product development the source code shall be available completely at a later time and is in opposite with the market leading closed operating systems Symbian, Palm OS and Windows Mobile.

Android include C/C++ function libraries used by different parts of the operating system.

• Surface manager for 2D and 3D even overlay display
• System C library, specialized for Linux-based devices (BSD implementation)
• SGL, 2D graphic system
• 3D libraries, based on OpenGL ES 1.0 APIs with hardware or software accelerated 3D display
• Media libraries for playback and record of audio, graphic and video formats (MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG)
• LibWebCore, Android internet browser
• FreeType, for representing of bitmap and vector fonds
• SQLite, an efficient and slim relational database for all applications

The Android SDK is available for Linux, MacOS and Windows. It contains an emulator with the surface of Android to try applications. After unpacking the SDK the emulator can be found in the subdirectory » oolsemulator.exe» that shows a HTC Smartphone with keyboard.
Standard programs for e-mail, SMS, contacts, calendar, road maps, internet browser and others are preinstalled.

The first Google Android Developer Challenge (ADC) started in April 2008 for engaged programmers to realize and present ideas. Approximately 1,800 programmes were submitted and 20 honoured with a price money under the best 50. Part of the best applications are for example cab4me by combination of Google Maps, GPS signal and a database to send a taxi in the simplest mode by click to the current position on the map. Or GoCart which reads the bar code of goods with the mobile telephone camera and looks over onlineshops and registered shops in the circumference for the best price.

Google creates a sales platform for Smarthone applications with Android Market. At first the market place is provided free of charge. The first Android mobile telephone cames from the taiwanese manufacturer HTC with the T-Mobile G1 smartphone starting at October 22nd, 2008 in the USA and at the beginning of 2009 in Germany. The Android Market was renamed in Google Play on 6th March 2012.

The market research group Gartner, Inc. released a press news about the worldwide market share of smartphone ventors and operating systems on 19th August 2016. In the 2nd quarter 2016, 296.9 million Android units have been sold, this represents a market share of 86.2%. The Android operating system increased his share, in 2nd quarter 2015 the market share was 82.2% with 271.6 million units sold.

What is Android operating system? A beginners read!

Today, the name Android operating system has become synonymous with a handheld device that can show movies, allow one to talk to another person, send messages, pictures, emails, play games and let you stay in touch with everybody.

Android operating system

Android is perhaps one of the most used Operating System plus framework available for what we call smartphones today. And it is poised to become an all-encompassing framework that will be used not only on a simple handheld device like smartphones but its uses will also be on HDTV’s, Automotive Infotainment systems. Any system which will require a simple, elegant, and easy to develop User Interface might be built on the Android framework.

What is Android?

Android is a Mobile Operating System, developed By Android Inc. and now, marketed by Google. Google and other members of Open Handset Alliance collaborated on Android development and release. Its software stack and framework is built on Linux kernel, which has been very instrumental in its seamless acceptance as an OS of choice in Mobile phones. Android OS consists of over 12 million lines of code written in C / C++ / Java and XML.

Android can be visualized basically as a framework of C C++ and Java libraries based on a Linux kernel. Because of this and the fact that Java apps can be effortlessly built through SDK’s the applications are portable on all mobile devices.

The Android system consists of 3 layered stacks:

1. An application built in Java running on Dalvik Runtime Engine
2. System Library is written in C and C++
3. Kernel-based on Linux

Application Layer

Java language was chosen as the development language. There are a lot of mobile developers who are well versed in Java and hence can have a seamless transition to writing Mobile apps and widgets on Android-powered Smartphones

Java is a proven technology, portable on different software and hardware platform. Java is already available on the majority of mobile phones. Current Java on mobile (J2ME) has a lot of limitations, so major mobile phone companies add in their own extension to the Java library, this makes portability of Java application on mobile more difficult. Normally Java was used to create Java games on mobile; many other applications are still built on the native OS and not on the Java layer.

Sun has been pushing Java technology on mobiles for years, it was successfully deployed on most of the mobile phones, but lack of standardization made it difficult to reach the depths of the Mobile phone market.

Android has a very reach and standardized set of API’s and libraries, developers can use those API to develop games and applications, integrate well into mobile phones, and Java will make Android application portable on all (Android) mobile phones.

The Java program doesn’t run directly on Android; it is converted into Dalvik byte code. Basically Android can make any app run as long as it can be converted to Dalvik byte code.

The System Libraries

The system libraries on Android mainly built on C and C++, so they are fast and efficient. Since the library runs on top of the Linux kernel, there are a lot of drivers and libraries available which can be customized as per the vendor’s requirement.

The Linux Kernel

The Linux kernel was chosen because it was proven to be stable and powerful. Linux has good memory management, process management and already built in with many other functions like TCP/IP networking which is necessary for an operating system (especially you need it to connect to data network on your mobile).

For a new hardware mobile manufacturer, the first thing to do for building an Android platform is to build the device driver on the Linux kernel; there should be a lot of developers around who have the know-how to build the software stack from scratch or customize it from the available software.

There were a lot of companies trying to build a mobile phone operating system based on Linux kernel before Android did, but have not been very successful.

Even Motorola and Nokia had released some mobile and internet devices which run on the Linux operating system, but they were not very successful as well, like the Motorola A series phone started with A760. Nokia has an Internet Table device (N770) which was built using the Linux operating system too. From a technical point of view, Android using Java over Linux is a smart move. Both Java and Linux are proven the technology and provide portability for mobile applications on the Android platform.

Date: January 12, 2017 Tags: Android, Open Source

6 Best Android OS for PC (32,64-bit download) in 2021

Get to know the best Android OS for PC available on the internet and learn how to install them. In this guide, we reviewed the popular Android Operating system available to download and use for free.

After the drill-down list of the best android OS forks, we discuss other options to install or simulate the Android environment on your computer. All these operating systems can be downloaded in ISO system image which allows one to easily create a bootable USB (with Rufus) read the instruction at the end.

There are multiple reasons for using Android on a computer.

1. Testing Android apps and games on computers.
2. Android OS boots faster compared to Windows on old machines.
3. You can WhatsApp your friends, or did I tell you setting up a VPN in Android is way easier.

Android OS for PC list in 2021

You can use these Android OS to bring all your favorite Android games and apps to your computer. You’ve many options to run Android OS on your PC, start with Phoenix OS. Android is popular with millions of mobile users worldwide, installing and using Android on a computer is also possible, how?

Natively installing android on your computer allows games and apps to run butter smooth and without any fuss. You can run the Android operating system for both 32-bit and 64-bit machines. We understand that by now you should have received enough information about the Android operating system on computers. You can now you can easily decide which Android operating system you can install on your computer. If you know any Android device for PC we are looking forward to hearing from you as well.

AndroidOS fork	latest version	Release date
Androidx86	9	March 2020
Bliss OS	10	2020
FydeOS	–	2020
OpenThos	–	nil
Phoenix OS	7 and 5	Mid 2020
Prime OS	Android 7	Mar 2019

Android OS for pc table for overview.

1. Prime OS – the newcomer

Download PrimeOS (external link) | Dual boot PrimeOS (Quickfever article) Android 7, DecaPro Keymapping.

Prime OS is an operating system that gives full desktop experience just like Mac and Windows. Combines the best of Android and computer features and the output is incredible. You are seeking a gaming Android operating system you should check this out. The special thing about it is deca-key mapping for gamers. Read our in-depth review on PrimeOS

Sure, PUBG Mobile is on-trend and players have been using Android Emulators which doesn’t do justice to the game performance, the lag problem goes away when you use Android as an operating system on your computer. Also, It does not change aspects and aesthetics which is a good thing, we don’t require something heavily modded like MIUI.

2. Phoenix OS – for everyone

Phoenix OS was released shortly after the publication of the Remix OS. At the time it went popular, especially because it was the only Android operating system to work on 32-bit machines. PhoenixOS is a great Android operating system, which is probably because of features and interface similarities to the remix operating system. Both 32-bit and 64-bit computers are supported, new Phoenix OS only supports x64 architecture. It is based on the Android x86 project. It has many good features if you want to play games like PUBG Mobile.

The Phoenix OS installer makes it easier to install the operating system on your hard drive/USB drive. This is an only android x-86 fork that currently offering updates and hopefully, they will continue to do so in the future. This is one Android operating system for the computer which is based on Android 7. The downside is annoying ads and built-in apps.

3. Android-x86 project

Android x86 is the project to port AOSP-Android for x86 machines. The project plays a very significant role in all the mentioned Android operating systems. If you want a lightweight android operating system without customization, install android OS build from here. You’ll get the same key features and interface seen on a real Android smartphone.

If you lack good computer hardware you can test the KitKat/Marshmallow x86 build which is 350+MB image file you can burn into a USB to create bootable media. After, simply boot and use the Android OS. Also android-x86 ports of Android Lollipop and Marshmallow you can use in computers with moderate hardware.

Note: For most users, the 64-bit version should just work fine, people with the single onboard processor can use the x86_64 build.

4. Bliss OS – latest x86 fork

Download Bliss OS | Android 10

Blisspop is pure Android x86 ports but with few modifications like the taskbar and system stability. You can also launch apps in Windowed mode rather than the full-screen which helps opening two or more apps side by side. A note about Openthos and Bliss OS: When testing both OS failed to boot over UEFI firmware, they run successfully when Legacy mode was turned on from the BIOS settings. So if you have a computer with only UEFI firmware you maybe not be able to boot both of the Android Operating systems from a bootable media device.

But if you insist and like to test them you can use a virtual machine software to run them on the operating system you are using. Some of the modern computers might have support for Legacy mode, but you need to enable it from the BIOS settings. So technically if you are running on Windows 8 or newer your computer probably has support for UEFI firmware in you might face problems booting these two so check in your BIOS settings if you can find Legacy mode and enable it.

For people who care less about highly modified Android OS under a Windows look-alike skin but still want some usability features should try this.

5. FydeOS – Chrome OS + Android

Download FydeOS | Chromium OS with Android App support, 64-bit only. Use Eicher tool to make bootable USB.

FydeOS is based on chromium fork to run on Intel computers. Version 10.x runs on running on Chromium r83 (I tested) and supports Android Apps. Despite you won’t find play store as it was mainly focused on the Chinese market where Google services are banned. Still, you can sideload Android apps or even install the Google Play Store.

Since the last time we checked, it made lots of progress and booted quickly. Sadly 32-bit machine owner won’t be able to boot this operating system. You can choose a Google Account to login to sync your Chrome Browser data. To install Android Apps, open “Android App” from shelf (app drawer) it’ll ask for an agreement after that you can just download .apk file and open them to install.

6. OpenThos – ahh IDK

Project abandoned and unknown status | Download OpenThos

Openthos is new, and it supports Android apps and Linux apps in multi-windows. For this to run your computer’s CPU should be 64-bit architecture. Getting the ISO file of this operating was a task itself. First, you have to go through the link and enter the password, and later you need Baidu client software where you need to create an account (which is also problematic because everything will be in Chinese) then you can download the operating system image. Moreover, tested in the Legacy mode as it failed to boot in UEFI mode. If you really want to test put android OS on your computer, you may probably want Phoenix OS or something near stock-like Android x86. OpenThos vision is good on paper but still, it has not achieved a great user experience just yet.

Remix OS (Dead)

[Marshmallow, discontinued] Remix OS — the first best Android operating system is released in 2016 by Jide. It was the discussion topic because of its similarities to Windows 10: the taskbar, notification system, etc. Remix OS supports both 32-bit and 64-bit computer architecture and can be easily installed whether PC is UEFI-based or Legacy. If you want a great Android operating system, then Remix OS will work best. For starters, you have to make a bootable USB remix OS so you can directly boot and run on a computer. Then if you wish to keep running it from USB, you can do so by creating persistence USB that will allow running this Android operating system from a USB drive. Otherwise installing it on the hard disk is a better option when you solely want to have this as your primary operating system.

Remix was probably the greatest Android OS until it was pulled off and discontinued. You can still use this operating system by downloading its system image, but you need to know that you will be using a system released back in 2016 with no future updates.

Bonus: Android 5 and 6 (android x86)

Android 5.1 for x86 fork: download and Android 6 download

If you have limited resources try the Android lollipop or marshmallow forks of Android-x86 project. Android Lollipop is known to be the best fork available for x86 machines and popular Android emulators like LDPlayer run on version 5.1. To boot Android version 5 Android OS fork on your computer, download appropriate ISO file using links below and use Rufus to create bootable media.

Try Android Emulator; LDPlayer

LDplayer is an emulator to play online android games like PUBG Mobile and Call of duty. You would love to emulate the Android environment on your Windows computer when you have good hardware. It is possibly an amazing Emulator for playing PUBG mobile. Tested on an i5 (Gtx 1060) computer, it was able to run the game at 60fps, HDR extreme graphics, and 2K resolution. This is the best you can get from this game. Because it is a royale battle game, you may notice frame drops at certain times.

Other Options

Virtual Machines are much like emulators as they help you test any Android operating system in a simulated environment. You control resources like CPU and RAM to allow. For instance, you can select how much RAM and disk space to assign along with the CPU cores. VirtualBox and VMWare are some favorite free Virtual Machines. It is always good to test, and operating systems for you to use on your computer too quickly to know if you’re good to go with it.

Starting with a virtual machine is quite easy, first, download any of the Android OS ISO and save it from your on your computer. Open up your favorite Virtual Machine software and create a new environment and select the ISO image as a boot image. Please understand that installing an Android operating system on a virtual machine is not the best idea if plan to do intense tasks including Gaming.

Also, PUBG mobile players with emulators deal with game lag, screen tearing so it’ll be super awesome if you play these games on the Android operating system. Emulators only take a percentage of computer resources and won’t be able to give you a smooth Android experience.