Platform requirements for Android-x86 releases?

[Antony Stone]

Hi.

I've been looking around http://www.android-x86.org - specifically pages such
as:

http://www.android-x86.org/documents
http://www.android-x86.org/documents/installhowto
http://www.android-x86.org/download
http://www.android-x86.org/releases

trying to find out what are the minimum platform requirements for running
various releases of Android-x86 (such as CPU type / capabilities, GPU type,
minimum RAM, minimum disk size).

Am I missing the magic page which tells me "to run version X of Android-x86,
you need the following minimum spec machine", or is this information buried in
individual documentation for each release?

Either way, where can I find it?

Essentially, I'm trying to work out two things:

1. If I have a machine and I know all its specs, how can I identify the
highest version of Android-x86 which I can run on it?

2. If I want to buy a machine to run a particular version of Android-x86 on,
where can I find the specs I need to make sure I meet?


Thanks,


Antony.

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[Mauro Rossi]

On Friday, January 4, 2019 at 5:25:13 PM UTC+1, Antony Stone wrote:

Hi.

I've been looking around http://www.android-x86.org - specifically pages such
as:

http://www.android-x86.org/documents
http://www.android-x86.org/documents/installhowto
http://www.android-x86.org/download
http://www.android-x86.org/releases

trying to find out what are the minimum platform requirements for running
various releases of Android-x86 (such as CPU type / capabilities, GPU type,
minimum RAM, minimum disk size).

CPU requirements: SSE4 for x86_64 builds, SSE3 required for x86 builds

RAM: oreo-x86 requires 2Gbytes of RAM, former releases may run with 1Gbyte of RAM

Disk Size: usually not a problem, 8 Gbytes minimum recommended

GPU: Release note have the info you seek about GPU drivers: http://www.android-x86.org/releases 

in the first release candidate (rc1) of each branch, you have the OpenGLES HW accelerated drivers

NOTE: Intel IGP support according kernel/mesa, radeonsi/amdgpu support according to kernel/mesa version, nouveau is NOT stable in oreo-x86 so not recommended

 

Am I missing the magic page which tells me "to run version X of Android-x86,
you need the following minimum spec machine", or is this information buried in
individual documentation for each release?

Either way, where can I find it?

Android-x86 has the same requirements as per Android which are documented in CDD (Compatibility Definition Document)

e.g. https://source.android.com/compatibility/8.1/android-8.1-cdd.html describes how much memory is necessary for oreo-x86

considering the screen resolution

 

Essentially, I'm trying to work out two things:

1. If I have a machine and I know all its specs, how can I identify the
highest version of Android-x86 which I can run on it?

"Does the machine you have support version X?"

It depends basically on:

CPU (SSE3 for x86, SSE4 for x86_64), 

RAM (see CDD based also on screen resolution),

GPU (see http://www.android-x86.org/releases rc1 versions release notes, but basically,  radeon available since 4.0.3 ICS, nouveau, radeonsi added in lollipop-x86, 

amdgpu (GCN 1.2 aka 3rd Generation an later) in nougat-x86,  nouveau support added in lollipop-x86 and now problematic in oreo-x86

HDD not listed as you would anyway require a minimum size indepedendent from Release X

  

2. If I want to buy a machine to run a particular version of Android-x86 on,
where can I find the specs I need to make sure I meet?

Info provided above, but in case you buy you can steer the requirements to Intel IGP or AMD GPU, 

personally I've seen that Lenovo T450/T460 or equivalent are working very well with oreo-x86_64

and also Acer ES1-521-87V7