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On Tue, 5 Jun 2012, Kai Hendry wrote:
On 31 May 2012 22:07, Gordon Henderson <gordon+lug@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:(and it runs android)Isn't Android a better embedded OS?
Android is built on Linux and in that sense it's just another Linux distribution - although it's one that really knows how to handle the hardware at the bit level - which under the Pi is going to be somewhat challenging due to the closed nature of the GPU. The powers that be (ie. google) have dictated minimum specs for ICS too - and the Pi just falls short of that. 700MHz with about 190MB of free RAM (if using the GPU) is all you get.
I did a quick search for RasberryPI & Android and IIUC the sentiment is that ICS is too demanding.
It would be marginal. Gingerbread might be a better fit.
Which I find a little bizarre, since the Android OS is surely far more cut down and performant that say a general OS like Debian?
A down-side is that Android isn't easy to develop directly on (it's all cross compiled) - so that would go against the aims of the RP Foundation - which is to produce a stand alone PC which can be used for development - or at least teaching progrmaming in an elementary sort of way - so Debian (and others) are capable of being used directly to do devleopment, so that's what the foundation are prefering.
Some people are working to port Android to the Pi - and that's fine. Gordon -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq