Bray: Preparing for [Android] Handsets

[Posted September 20, 2011 by ris]

~~Tim Bray~~ Scott Main notes that the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) release will support more form factors compared to the current Honeycomb. "Early this year, Honeycomb (Android 3.0) launched for tablets. Although Honeycomb remains tablets-only, the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) release will support big screens, small screens, and everything in between. This is the way Android will stay from now on: the same version runs on all screen sizes. Some Honeycomb apps assume that they'll run only on a large screen, and have baked that into their designs. This assumption is currently true, but will become false with the arrival of ICS, because Android apps are forward-compatible - an app developed for Honeycomb is compatible with a device running ICS, which could be a tablet, a phone, or something else."

Bray: Preparing for [Android] Handsets

Posted Sep 20, 2011 19:45 UTC (Tue) by bawjaws (guest, #56952) [Link] (1 responses)

The article isn't by Tim Bray. He often posts articles to that blog written by others, Scott Main in this case.

Bray: Preparing for [Android] Handsets

Posted Sep 20, 2011 19:58 UTC (Tue) by ris (subscriber, #5) [Link]

Yep. My bad. Thanks for the correction.

Rebecca

Source code? Bray: Preparing for [Android] Handsets

Posted Sep 20, 2011 19:53 UTC (Tue) by mjw (subscriber, #16740) [Link] (2 responses)

Will the Ice Cream Sandwich source code be released?

Source code? Bray: Preparing for [Android] Handsets

Posted Sep 20, 2011 20:01 UTC (Tue) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link] (1 responses)

It should be. Google promised it, at least.

Source code? Bray: Preparing for [Android] Handsets

Posted Sep 20, 2011 22:14 UTC (Tue) by xxiao (guest, #9631) [Link]

I hope this turns out to be true, though I think it's getting more and more unlikely.

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 20, 2011 20:07 UTC (Tue) by job (guest, #670) [Link] (12 responses)

It's hard to believe that the main Android web site would choose a design with a large unscrollable header that's unusable on small screens, but apparently anything is possible.

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 20, 2011 22:36 UTC (Tue) by klbrun (subscriber, #45083) [Link] (11 responses)

The Android SDK apparently assumes you will run Eclipse on a 17 inch monitor or better. I had a devil of a time working around this on my notebook computer. The latest SDK now requires slightly more than 2 GB RAM if you want to run the emulator, so I have upgraded to a notebook with a larger screen and more RAM.

But I agree, this is annoying.

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 21, 2011 5:10 UTC (Wed) by rsidd (subscriber, #2582) [Link] (10 responses)

I own a Android tablet, and got a Linux XFCE environment running very nicely in a chroot. With a folding keyboard case, it makes a very nice netbook (a photo is here). With a tap on the touchscreen I can switch between the Android interface and the Linux desktop, and share files easily between them. In the Linux chroot I have emacs, gcc, python, TeX (texlive), libreoffice, and basically everything else I need for my work. In fact the tablet is running a kernel compiled inside that chroot.

What I don't have is Eclipse and the Android development kit -- because those are available only for x86, not ARM. So if I want to develop an Android app, I cannot use my Android/Linux laptop.

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 21, 2011 9:47 UTC (Wed) by kugel (subscriber, #70540) [Link] (1 responses)

Why do people post links to random forums where you need to register just to see a photo, instead of just linking the photo directly?

That's so 90s too.

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 21, 2011 10:12 UTC (Wed) by rsidd (subscriber, #2582) [Link]

Sorry, I didn't realise you needed to register to see it. But you don't really have to see it -- I put in the link as an afterthought.

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 21, 2011 12:36 UTC (Wed) by callegar (guest, #16148) [Link] (2 responses)

Interesting setup. Information on how to do this appears to be rather dispersed. Can you provide any link? Is libreoffice usable (better/worse than on an Atom netbook)? Do you touch or do you need a mouse in XFCE?

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 21, 2011 14:24 UTC (Wed) by rsidd (subscriber, #2582) [Link] (1 responses)

I gave some directions here, somewhat specific to the device I use, but easily generalisable. I used LibreOffice Writer to edit a document extensively, and LibreOffice Calc to quickly view a spreadsheet; I haven't used the other components, but these were as usable as I'd expect them to be on a screen and keyboard this size. I use the touchscreen, but it should be possible to plug in a mouse.

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 22, 2011 13:26 UTC (Thu) by callegar (guest, #16148) [Link]

Thanks! Is stuff on tableroms.com persistent or is it better to copy your instructions elsewhere?

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 21, 2011 21:01 UTC (Wed) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link] (4 responses)

Would you happen to have a tutorial somewhere for how to do that? I've been mulling over an ASUS Transformer for a while, but would like to also run my actual setup on it as well.

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 21, 2011 21:02 UTC (Wed) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link]

Ack. Missed the reply you gave to callegar.

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 22, 2011 5:21 UTC (Thu) by rsidd (subscriber, #2582) [Link]

The transformer looks like a very nice device. The chroot should work fine on it (with adjustment to the vncserver resolution), especially if the 32GB internal storage includes a sizeable linux-friendly filesystem or can be repartitioned -- but in any case, the device seems to include an SDcard slot and you can always run the linux chroot off that. Of the current devices out there, I'd go for it (I especially like the included keyboard dock).

My tablet, the Adam, is sold online-only by a rather weird and secretive company, Notion Ink. Its big advantage is its transflective (Pixel Qi) screen, which lets me switch off the backlight when the ambient light is bright enough (and keep it at minimum brightness otherwise), and is very readable in sunlight. But in all other respects, the Transformer would seem a much nicer device.

The chroot'd XFCE currently displays on vncserver and I view it with an android VNC viewer. But there is a project to develop an X server for android: I'm hoping to get that working soon.

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 22, 2011 6:06 UTC (Thu) by neilbrown (subscriber, #359) [Link] (1 responses)

The ASUS transformer is quite a nice device, but it appears to be un-rootable at the moment so a chroot environment it out of the question.
More info: http://androidroot.mobi/2011/08/26/b70-and-beyond/

That is - unless you can find with with a serial number below B70

Most web designers left frames in the 90s

Posted Sep 22, 2011 6:22 UTC (Thu) by rsidd (subscriber, #2582) [Link]

Ah, that's too bad. I wonder whether it's Asus or Nvidia that's to blame. Incidentally, the Adam too uses Nvidia Tegra and every problem that it has can be attributed to Nvidia's closed/proprietary blobs (while, on the plus side, Notion Ink seems to be the most actively hacker-friendly manufacturer out there).

Asus are shutting off a potential market by doing this. If they were smart, they'd do exactly the opposite: get an official, polished linux chroot running, and market the thing to scientists as a scientific tablet-computer.

Apple were smart enough to see how attractive the Unix roots of Mac OS X were to scientists, and macs have taken over the formerly linux-dominated academia...