Android

Android is an operating system based on the Linux kernel, and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.

Android 4.3.1 (Jelly Bean) for XO-4

OLPC is preparing for a customer an Android, Sugar and Gnome dual-boot system for the XO-4 Touch. This will allow children to switch between the operating systems by rebooting, so that educational content can be delivered in either format.

The final stable build is not yet available, but is planned within a few weeks. --Quozl 01:48, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

Our next development release of a dual boot build is available.

The build is based on our arm-3.5 kernel, with changes which can be found in the arm-3.5-android branch of our olpc-kernel repository.

Installing

• make a backup of anything you want to keep on the XO-4, because it will be erased by this test,
• ensure the firmware is upgraded to Q7B38,
• download the .zd file, from our build directory,
• at the ok prompt, type this:

fs-update u:\32013a4.zd

• when the installation completes, type this:

boot

Booting

• hold the rocker down key to bring up the boot menu, then select either Linux or Android,
  • note: being moved for next release from boot script to firmware, <trac>12776</trac>.
• the choice made will be saved,
  • note: to be removed in next release, because the saved state is undiscoverable ... there will be times that the child forces a power cycle because they didn't remember what state the system was in, either because they forgot or the laptop was used by someone else.
• hold the O game key to boot Android,
  • note: in next release,
• hold no keys to boot Linux,
  • note: in next release,

Known problems

• does not work with Spanish keyboard, <trac>12769</trac> (Spanish membrane keyboard), <trac>12773</trac> (localise onscreen keyboard), <trac>12774</trac> (Spanish keyboard generates wrong characters),
• does not work correctly with 8686 wireless modules, <trac>12771</trac> (Support 8686 wireless modules),
  • status: an 8686 wireless module is being sent to the developer,
• camera recording crashes, due to encode engine problem,
• not implemented; multitouch <trac>12770</trac>, hardware video codecs, dual core SMP <trac>12297</trac>, and ambient light sensor,
• does not coexist with olpc-update,
  • status: wont fix, can add a Android kernel and ramdisk in olpc-os-builder if coexistence is required,
• does not coexist with deployment security; the Android kernel and ramdisk are not signed, <trac>12772</trac> (support anti-theft security), <trac>12776</trac> (boot menu in firmware),
  • status: being investigated, an alternate method documented,

Do not rely on this build for any critical data, in particular do not associate your regular Google account with this build if your Google account is critical to you.

Test cases

• boot,
• use power button for sleep and wake,
• use of e-book switch (close lid) for sleep,
• use of headphones to play music from USB drive in MP3 format,
• use of bluetooth to pair a headset,
• associate with a Raspberry Pi providing Khan Academy content KA-Pi, access via Browser, play video, fullscreen, play to end,

See Also

• 2014-04-07 announcement on devel@ mailing list,
• Android (operating system) on Wikipedia,
• How to build Android for the XO-4,
• How to build an Android kernel for the XO-4,
• How to take screenshots,
• How to connect via ADB,
• How to sign the Android kernel and ramdisk with deployment keys,
• Kernel patches for the XO-4 to enable Android.

• Sugarizer for online use,
• org.olpc-france.sugarizer.apk Sugarizer for offline use.

• Mike Lee's review of a previous release, with photographs and videos

• bug tracking