A few questions (GRUB, x86-64, instability)

[TheReduxPL]

Hello, I'd like to try out Android-x86 but I have a few questions.

1. My PC runs on multi-boot Windows 8.1 and Debian - so I have GRUB already installed. If I start installing Android-x86, will the installer add a new entry to GRUB automatically or I'll have to do it manually? If manually, how should the entry look like?

2. Is the 64-bit version of Android-x86 able to run x86 apps?

3. I was trying to use the standard Lollipop version of Android-x86 but it was very unstable. Even though the interface was working smooth as butter, Android was frequently soft-rebooting - eg. when trying to launch Play Store (once, then it worked well), Give It Up! 2 or the integrated calibration app. Is that because I was running the live version of Android-x86 or because the 5.1 version is that unstable?

Any help is appreciated!

[Antony Stone]

On Saturday 02 January 2016 at 23:54:24, TheReduxPL wrote:

> Hello, I'd like to try out Android-x86 but I have a few questions.

I'll try to help, but if you can tell us more about the machine you want to
try it out on (details of CPU, GPU, and any PCI / USB devices), that will help
us to guide you better.

> 1. My PC runs on multi-boot Windows 8.1 and Debian - so I have GRUB already
> installed. If I start installing Android-x86, will the installer add a new
> entry to GRUB automatically or I'll have to do it manually? If manually,
> how should the entry look like?

The installer will not add an entry to an existing Grub. It will, if you
consent, create a Grub boot loader for you, but that will not contain entries
for your existing O/Ses, therefore this is probably not what you want to do.

To add an entry to your existing Grub, see for example:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/481982
http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/192542
http://www.3open.org/d/tips/how_to_add_android-x86_to_the_grub2_menu

These are not intended as direct step-by-step instructions for your particular
machine, but should give you enough information to work out what to do with
the Grub setup you have already created with Debian.

> 2. Is the 64-bit version of Android-x86 able to run x86 apps?

Yes, provided the apps have an X86 binary included in their APK, or provided
the ARM binary runs satisfactorily under the Houdini emulator in Android-X86.
Some apps have ARM-only binaries; some include X86 as well - you just have to
try them and find out.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_application_package for more details
about APKs.

> 3. I was trying to use the standard Lollipop version of Android-x86

On what hardware?

> but it was very unstable. Even though the interface was working smooth as
> butter, Android was frequently soft-rebooting

Sounds like a GPU problem to me, but someone else may be able to chip in here
with more expertise.

> - eg. when trying to launch Play Store (once, then it worked well), Give It
> Up! 2 or the integrated calibration app. Is that because I was running the
> live version of Android-x86 or because the 5.1 version is that unstable?

I think we can only try to answer this question by knowing more about what
hardware you were trying to run it on. The most important details are:

- what CPU?
- what GPU?
- what PCI or USB peripherals did you encounter any problems with?


Regards,


Antony.

--
Roses are red,
Bacon is too,
Poetry's hard,
Bacon.
with thanks to Claire Davison

Please reply to the list;
please *don't* CC me.

[TheReduxPL]

Thanks Antony. My hardware is as follows:

- CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P

- GPU: Radeon R9 280X

- Devices (I have plenty of them connected but I only need the first two): Keyboard, mouse, USB 3.0 external HDD, bootable USB 3.0 pendrive (from which I started the live version of Android-x86), webcam, Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter.