Re: AndroiX development

[Timothy Meade]

Forwarding a message I received through HN about restarting development and getting a modern implementation of X on Android as an app.

On Jul 24, 2013 5:32 PM, "Alexander Tarasikov" <alexander...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, tmzt!

Let me introduce myself a bit. I'm known by the 'sp3dev' nickname @XDA and have a lot of experience in embedded hacking, porting u-boot, linux kernel etc, you may look up some of my projects @github (http://github.com/astarasikov). I've always ran X-based distros like GPE, SHR and ubuntu on my PDAs, and now I'm learning the wayland graphics stack.

I've used your AndroiX in the past and find the idea good, but the implementation is far from perfect. I think that having full X on android has huge potential. Personally I would like to run some apps I'm used to on the phone. You probably know about Ubuntu Edge concept - a phone that turns into a full-blown computer when HDMI is plugged in. So, I think that a properly implemented X would also allow to raise some money - lots of people would like OpenOffice on Android, for example.

So, I want to port X onto Android (again!), and heard that you're interested in it (found your post on y.combinator). I don't want to patch all X11 protocol implementations (like libxrender). Instead, I want to implement 'drivers' for X11. My plan is the following:

0. For now, assume we have root, but later it's better to eliminate it.

1. Create android activity that would manage surfaces and handle input.

2. Spawn an X server in chroot. It should communicate with the activity via some IPC, maybe sockets. The idea is that it draws to memory and continues running if android surface dies (orientation change, suspend etc).

3. Use libhybris to forward EGL/GLES calls

4. Use the Wayland 'hosted' mode patches to implement a similiar functionality - i.e., prevent X from accessing TTYs and allow multiple instances of it.

I think it would be good if we find a way to obtain a full-screen surface on the secondary display (MHL) and capure the cable plug events on pre-4.2 Android versions.

What remains unclear are the implementation of the DRI2 without kernel DRM (will probably have to patch Xserver in some places) and the build system (hate autohell).

Thank you for you attention and let me know if you're interested and would like to collaborate.

--
Regards, Alexander

[Gene Mosher]

Alexander, Tim, others;

I am not a programmer but since 1995 I do have point of sale software
for restaurants and hospitality organizations which is based on the X
Windows protocol and I can tell you all that I could easily sell
hundreds, if not thousands of tablets into this vertical market if only
there were a good X Server for Android tablets, especially now that the
new Nexus 7 with HD resolution is available. I could not possibly be
more interested in seeing this project brought back to life and taken to
the next level. I will gladly provide financial support and rewards to
you, Alexander, or to anyone who will make the X Server on the Android
platform a polished product.

Gene Mosher
ViewTouch