Review about Android x86 Oreo Release 2

[Bruno A. Vieira]

Hello.

I tested the Android x86 Oreo builds on a VirtualBox 6.x virtual machine, both 32 and 64 bits, with 1556 MB of RAM, 16 GB of HD, 2 cores of processing, 128 MB of video memory, with 3D acceleration and VBoxVGA, and did an review on my blog that, despite being in Portuguese Brazil, can be translated by the website itself, independent of the browser and device, for those who want to take a look:

- https://brunoalvieira.blogspot.com/2019/03/analise-android-x86-oreo-parte-1.html

- https://brunoalvieira.blogspot.com/2019/03/analise-android-x86-oreo-parte-2.html

With this, I wanted to expose some points that I found in my tests, for suggestion purposes:

- Despite the variety, Android Pure does not support certain types of keyboard, such as the ABNT2 PT-BR format, and there is a project called RaidSix Input Devices, which adds this and other additional formats. Since the project has the code posted in GitHub, I'd like to know if the project will include these defaults by default, since the app is no longer in the Play Store.

- The virtual wireless connection only worked in the clean installation; when ugrade from 7.1 R2 or 8 R1 to 8 R2, the connection is not displayed and I lose access to the internet.

By checking the devices, they are as they should except that they do not get the IP address.

I checked the topics about the problem and, although I said that the problem would only solve with a new build, I tried to switch back to what it was before 8 R2, but it was not successful.

- I tested the SWAP partition installation with cfdisk but the system does not support it. Does Android still support the use of SWAP, as it used to, in the Gingerbread era? If so, if it were supported by the project, could it not improve system performance, considering memory consumption or even system suspension and return?

- What would be the possibility of creating a build based on Android Go, at least in the x86 architecture?

- What is the possibility of including Google apps versions of Calendar, Calculator, Contacts, Background, Clock, Keep, instead of their AOSP variants, with outdated codes that are out of the rest of the system (considering official builds)?

Could old Pico TTS, for example, be replaced by the Google Text to speech engine, which supports more languages?

- What is the need to include the Phone app if the devices supported by the project do not involve the use of telephony features? (at least, what is the possibility of hiding the app for the user, if the system depends on the features of this it?)

- Has upgrading from one build to another been planned to support upgrading from x86 to x64 and vice versa? I've noticed that the system does not allow uninstallation of an updated native application when I upgrade.

- Since the project does not support Over The Air update, what is the possibility of hiding screens and options related to checking system updates, to speed up operations such as the Setup Wizard?

I will be available for any clarification and thank you for your attention.

[Chih-Wei Huang]

Bruno A. Vieira <brunoav...@gmail.com> 於 2019年6月28日 週五 上午4:56寫道：

>
> I tested the Android x86 Oreo builds on a VirtualBox 6.x virtual machine, both 32 and 64 bits, with 1556 MB of RAM, 16 GB of HD, 2 cores of processing, 128 MB of video memory, with 3D acceleration and VBoxVGA, and did an review on my blog that, despite being in Portuguese Brazil, can be translated by the website itself, independent of the browser and device, for those who want to take a look:
>
> - https://brunoalvieira.blogspot.com/2019/03/analise-android-x86-oreo-parte-1.html
> - https://brunoalvieira.blogspot.com/2019/03/analise-android-x86-oreo-parte-2.html

Thank you for sharing!

> With this, I wanted to expose some points that I found in my tests, for suggestion purposes:
>
>

> - Despite the variety, Android Pure does not support certain types of keyboard, such as the ABNT2 PT-BR format, and there is a project called RaidSix Input Devices, which adds this and other additional formats. Since the project has the code posted in GitHub, I'd like to know if the project will include these defaults by default, since the app is no longer in the Play Store.

If the author provides a way to build with AOSP,
I can consider.

 
> - The virtual wireless connection only worked in the clean installation; when ugrade from 7.1 R2 or 8 R1 to 8 R2, the connection is not displayed and I lose access to the internet.
>

> By checking the devices, they are as they should except that they do not get the IP address.

I can reproduce and confirm the issue by testing
upgrade from 7.1-r2 to 8.1-r2.

It's because /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf has wrong permission.

Not sure why. A simple way to fix it is just remove the file.

I've phased in a workaround to fix it.

Thank you for finding the issue.

 
> I checked the topics about the problem and, although I said that the problem would only solve with a new build, I tried to switch back to what it was before 8 R2, but it was not successful.
>

> - I tested the SWAP partition installation with cfdisk but the system does not support it. Does Android still support the use of SWAP, as it used to, in the Gingerbread era? If so, if it were supported by the project, could it not improve system performance, considering memory consumption or even system suspension and return?

I checked your article.
Seems you created the swap file on /mnt?
That's weird since /mnt is mounted in tmpfs (ram).
It's nonsense to create swap file in it.

I just tested to create and use a swap file on /data.
(mounted on a persistent storage)
It works fine.

> - What would be the possibility of creating a build based on Android Go, at least in the x86 architecture?

What's the point?

> - What is the possibility of including Google apps versions of Calendar, Calculator, Contacts, Background, Clock, Keep, instead of their AOSP variants, with outdated codes that are out of the rest of the system (considering official builds)?

I think we should avoid that.
You'd better to install the apps you want yourself.

> Could old Pico TTS, for example, be replaced by the Google Text to speech engine, which supports more languages?

Is that legal? What's the license?

 
> - What is the need to include the Phone app if the devices supported by the project do not involve the use of telephony features? (at least, what is the possibility of hiding the app for the user, if the system depends on the features of this it?)

OK, add it to todo.

> - Has upgrading from one build to another been planned to support upgrading from x86 to x64 and vice versa? I've noticed that the system does not allow uninstallation of an updated native application when I upgrade.

Please avoid doing that.
Think about a Linux distribution.
Does any distribution support that?

> - Since the project does not support Over The Air update, what is the possibility of hiding screens and options related to checking system updates, to speed up operations such as the Setup Wizard?
>
> I will be available for any clarification and thank you for your attention.

Thank you for the feedback.
 

--
Chih-Wei
Android-x86 project
http://www.android-x86.org

[Alain Kalker]

On Friday, June 28, 2019 at 6:36:55 AM UTC+2, Chih-Wei Huang wrote:

Bruno A. Vieira <brunoav...@gmail.com> 於 2019年6月28日 週五 上午4:56寫道：

> - What is the need to include the Phone app if the devices supported by the project do not involve the use of telephony features? (at least, what is the possibility of hiding the app for the user, if the system depends on the features of this it?)

OK, add it to todo.

Please do not remove the Phone app unless there is a compelling reason to do so!
The Phone app can be used to make SIP calls (using an Internet connection) as well as regular calls (hardware permitting). SIP calls are a perfect use case for Android-x86 running on tablets and desktops without telephony modems.

Kind regards,

Alain Kalker

[Alain Kalker]

More information on using SIP with the Android Phone app:
- http://sipxcom.org/android-sip-client/

- http://wiki.ezuce.com/display/sipXcom/Android+Integrated+SIP+Calling

- 

Alain Kalker