Training for embedded Linux and Android

Update: This page is out of date. I have put together all of the information on running Android on BeagelBone on the Android4Beagle page

After a little bit of tweaking I have got my port of Android KitKat up and running on the BeagleBone Black. For some background on why I am doing this, read my previous post about Android on the BeagleBone Black

Everybody who works on Android platform development knows that the vendor OpenGL libraries are located using information in egl.cfg. As of Android Kit Kat 4.4, they are out of date. Read on to find out why.

Update: This page is out of date. I have put together all of the information on running Android on BeagelBone on the Android4Beagle page

A little while ago I wrote Building Jelly Bean 4.3 AOSP for Beaglebone Black which describes how to install Android on a micro SD card and boot the BeagleBone from it. Then I did some research on integrating fastboot into U-Boot and wrote Android fastboot for BeagleBone Black. Now I am bringing the two together.

I did think about editing the first article, but I think it is cleaner to have a new tutoruial that works for the new use case.

In this article I describe how to install U-Boot with Android fastboot support on a BeagleBone Black, which means that you can install new Android images onto the internal eMMC memory over a USB cable using the normal “fastboot” command-line tool.

I will be speaking at the Android Builder's Summit 2014 and Embedded Linux Conference 2014 this year. Both are held in San Jose between 29th April and 1st May.

Update: This page is out of date. I have put together all of the information on running Android on BeagelBone on the Android4Beagle page

This blog post describes how to use vanilla AOSP Jelly Bean 4.3 source to build and run Android on the BeagleBone Black development board. All components are built from source (well, nearly all: the GPU drivers contain some binary blobs).

For those people who attended my lectures at the Embedded Live in Earl's Court, London this week, and for anyone else who is interested, here are my slides.

Android is an interesting platform for embedded devices of many types, not just phones. There are ports for various development boards, including the Beagleboard. To get an idea of how easy it is to implement on a new platform, I ported it to the Digi Wi-i.MX51 Jumpstart board which I reviewed earlier (see http://www.embedded-linux.co.uk/hardware/ccwi.imx51). I will post full details to Inner Penguin later. In this article I just want to show the end result.

Android was developed initially as an operating system for smartphones, but now it is popping up in other devices such as netbooks, sat nav and ereaders, not to mention development boards like the ubiquitous Beagleboard. So, why would you choose Android over any other version of embedded Linux? I think it comes down to critical mass. Android is a known quantity, promoted by a well-known and wealthy organisation which creates a standard platform where non existed before. Whereas each implementation of Linux on an embedded device is (more or less) unique, implementations of Android are going to be (more or less) the same.