Running Android on other hardware

Now that building Donut for Dream is not working at the moment (because of the prioritary files) and it is unkown if it will be possible (because of the memory size on the device) I become interested in porting Android to different hardware.

It would be nice to have hardware with the complete specifications. This way there is no (or less) problem with proprietary files because code can be written to implement these parts (because of the hardware specification available). This would be great to expand my knowledge about Android (and the linux kernel) which is currently not that big.

I was looking at some hardware and found two options: the beagleboard or the chumby. Both devices don’t have a GSM radio stack but maybe this can be added by the use of an USB device.

Beagleboard

The USB-powered Beagle Board is a low-cost, fan-less single board computer that unleashes laptop-like performance and expandability without the bulk, expense, or noise of typical desktop machines.

Above is the description of the beagleboard (http://www.beagleboard.org) as written on their website. It is a really small piece of hardware (about 7.6 cm) and can be extended with other (USB) hardware. Just like the Dream it also uses an ARM processor.

Beagle Board

A small shopping list of hardware that should be bought when using the BeagleBoard can be found at http://code.google.com/p/beagleboard/wiki/BeagleBoardShoppingList Looking at the minimal hardware list, the total price is about $250 without shipping costs(with the current exchangerate of 1.4 this will be 176 EUR). You can lower the price if you buy some parts on eBay (for example the USB HUB with Ethernet http://www.supermediastore.com/gwc-usb-2-0-3-port-hub-ethernet-adapter.html can be found on eBay for 12.50 EUR). BTW with the hardware you don’t have a nice touchscreen.

Beagleboard with connected hardware

Chumby

The chumby (http://www.chumby.com) is some kind of cute device which can be described as an Internet radio/media player/alarm clock. Because it is a complete product there is already software installed. The Chumby runs linux and makes use of widgets (which are developed in Flash).

Looking at the hardware, the Chumby has an ARM processor, 3.5 inch touchscreen, Wifi connection and sensors (Squeeze and accelerometer). The hardware specification and source code of the Chumby is available (http://www.chumby.com/developers) which makes it a really good starting point for porting Android to the Chumby.

Chumby

The price of a Chumby is $199.95 (141 EUR) shipping costs not included. The only problem for me is that I cannot order it to my address in The Netherlands.

What’s next?

I know that there is already some porting done (like for the Beagleboard http://labs.embinux.org/index.php/Android_Porting_Guide_to_Beagle_Board). But let’s be clear, I am more interested in where to start with porting Android and which steps to take than simply run some build scripts. If I know the details of the porting process than I can describe them here as a reference for other devices. BTW I am not trying to reinvent the wheel, so if some porting is done and for me it is clear why that has been done, i might/will use that ported stuff. But it should be clear why and not because somebody else said so.

When looking at the BeagleBoard and the Chumby, my choice goes to the Chumby. In the mean time, while ordering the hardware, I would like to get some pointers of you where to start with porting Android.