Avare on Desktop Computer?

[John Wiley]

I saw yesterday that Google has released a desktop app named ARC Welder. Here's a link to an Ars article:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/04/googles-arc-opens-up-to-developers-runs-android-apps-on-most-desktop-oses/

Has anyone gotten Avare to run on a computer this way? If you'd like to try it, here's the link:
https://developer.chrome.com/apps/getstarted_arc

Basically what it does is set up an emulator on your PC, Mac or Linux computer that will run Android apps in the Chrome browser (app) and give developers a way to port their Android apps over to run on one of the new cheap Chrome (hardware) laptops. My interest is to run Avare on a computer (Mac laptop in this case). That ability will hopefully allow me to more easily share data between the laptop I use for much of my preflight planning, and Avare which I use for initial route planning and quick airport lookups. Right now during initial preflight planning I switch between Avare on phone, and Firefox on laptop. Sure I could do it all on the Nexus 7 I actually use in flight, but typing on that is far inferior to a keyboard and the large laptop screen greatly aids task & window switching.

So today I made an initial attempt to fire up the ARC Welder on the Mac. My impression is that you can only install and run it via the Chrome browser, so I launched that rather than my preferred Firefox. I signed into Chrome and the Store, but couldn't get it to install.

My initial review gives it a G10 (Gn = G number = Google factor = Geek factor). That is, it's way googly/geeky. A perfect ten in that it's complex, poorly documented, poorly supported, and won't even load. It took a few minutes of reading the "friendly" who/what/how intro/directions, clicking a few things, watching a launcher get auto-added to my "Dock" (quick launcher bar), and then noticing a larger download happening. Then this cryptic popup:
An error has occurred
Manifest file is invalid
Reload | Close

I tried Reload a few times, with the same result.

I don't know what a manifest file is, or what to do about it being an invalid. Up in the URL box, at the left end is a lock icon and along with the error message appeared a popup box pointing at the lock saying: "Manifest file is invalid." Imagining that might help somehow I clicked on the box and of course nothing happened. I then clicked on the lock icon it was pointing at, changed every setting there to whatever looked most like, "Google, please do whatever you want to." No change.

I've googled the error message, and it seems a Linux user gets the same one:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/29433535/cannot-install-arc-welder-from-chrome-web-store-in-chrome-40-linux

The helpful people there basically told that user to go away, so I then looked where one of the less unfriendly ones said to go:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/arc-welder/emfinbmielocnlhgmfkkmkngdoccbadn/support

I've not yet found anything helpful, but if anyone has ideas please share.  I'll post an update if I figure anything out, but for now I'll just wait a few days and see if it becomes a known problem or a solution gets easier to find. Since the Mac runs an OS quite similar to Linux, it could be that people running Windows have been able to get it working.

[midlifeflyer]

I've also been trying to find a decent emulator to play with Avare on my PC. I tried BlueStacks but it seems to e geared toward apps I'm not particularly interested in and won't install those I am interested in.

[Dan]

See my posts here:

https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email#!searchin/apps4av-forum/surface$20pro$203|sort:relevance/apps4av-forum/o7p5HBoWphI/jcuUlfke_3IJ

Works nicely except I haven't been able to get a GPS hooked up.

[Bruce Bockius]

After a 3-part download ArcWelder seems to have installed for me on Chrome/Windows.  I fed it the Avare apk and it loaded the first time... asked to register my account, then let me download databases and a map... which came up nicely.  I could pan the map with the mouse... but I couldn't figure out how to zoom the map (how to do 2-finger gestures with a mouse?).  Now every time I start it it crashes immediately...   I tried another Android app I wrote and it wouldn't even start... I guess I'll wait for a later version of ArcWelder.

  -Bruce

[John W SBA]

Thanks for the update. I guess it's even harder to get it working on
Mac/Linux, so like you I'll wait. :)

[Glenn Meyer]

You could try running avare on a virtual machine. This is a relatively simple setup, especially on a Mac or Ubuntu Linux. First you install VirtualBox on your machine (Windows, Linux or OS X), then you download the installation ISO for Android, and use that as the boot disk to install Android on the virtual machine. I am in a group where nobody would use anything but Apple, and I wanted to show them avare. So on my HP workstation, running CentOS 5.11, I had avare up and running in no time. I installed avare on Linux, made a snapshot of my virtual machine, and transferred that snapshot to VirtualBox running on a MAC. The instructions I used for installing Android on Linux are here: http://www.linux.org/threads/android-4-4-kitkat-in-virtualbox.7175/, and work for Linux, OS X and Windows. However, I have yet to figure our how to do a pinch zoom.

Glenn

[John W SBA]

> You could try running avare on a virtual machine.

Interesting idea. Thanks for suggesting it. I'd been thinking about
having another go at Android's Eclipse or Studio as a way of at least
running Avare on my Mac, but never did get that to work when I tried
last year. Guess my tech brain cells are too far gone. :)

> This is a relatively simple setup

Maybe closer to impossible for me.

> made a snapshot of my virtual machine

If you'd have the time maybe the process would be easier for readers of
this topic, if you made that image available along with instructions on
how to get it running in VirtualBox on Mac, Linux & PC? I have an old
netbook it might work on.

> I have yet to figure our how to do a pinch zoom.

Maybe there's a way to map pinch zoom on a trackpad to the VirtualBox?

Anyway, thanks for your pointers even if I never get it working.

[Zubair Khan]

Android emulators do not support multi touch.

Z

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Zubair Khan
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Sudbury, MA 01776

[Glenn Meyer]

On Tuesday, April 7, 2015 at 1:05:08 PM UTC-7, John Wiley wrote:

> You could try running avare on a virtual machine.

Interesting idea.  Thanks for suggesting it. 

You're welcome!

> This is a relatively simple setup

If you'd have the time maybe the process would be easier for readers of
this topic, if you made that image available along with instructions on
how to get it running in VirtualBox on Mac, Linux & PC?  I have an old
netbook it might work on.

The old netbook might not work, I'm not sure. I'm running the VirtualBox image with 1GB of memory and 16 GB of drive space, so the required resources might overwhelm your netbook, depending on how it's configured. As for making the image available, my image is about 10GB, not optimum for uploading over the internet. I COULD make it smaller, I'm using 2-3 times the resources recommended for an Android installation in VirtualBox, but it would probably be better to describe the steps required to install an Android ISO on your machine, which is under 400 MB.
 
Once you install Android in VirtualBox, you can install Avare the way you would on a tablet or phone. The procedure I used is described in detail here:

http://www.howtogeek.com/164570/how-to-install-android-in-virtualbox/

I used this on CentOS 5.11 and on OS X 10.8.5, worked without a hitch, well written and documented with supporting pictures of the screen.

And by the way, the Android ISO was configured to be installed on a netbook, among other things, so if you're feeling really adventurous, you might try skipping VirtualBox, and putting Android directly on your netbook. I haven't tried that, however. 

> I have yet to figure our how to do a pinch zoom.

Maybe there's a way to map pinch zoom on a trackpad to the VirtualBox?

As Zubair said, but I'm thinking there should be a pointer or keyboard alternative. If I find one, I'll post it here.

Anyway, thanks for your pointers even if I never get it working.

Oh, come on, be positive! ;)
 

[John W SBA]

> Android ISO was configured to be installed on a netbook

Actually, I had it running back at v.2.something but couldn't get it to
coexist well in dual boot with the Linux version I was running then.
Unless the situation is worse with newer versions, I might try that
again. I'd much rather run it on my Mac laptop, but that now seems
pretty daunting.

Thanks again for your ideas, help and encouragement. :)

[Glenn Meyer]

John W SBA wrote:
>> Android ISO was configured to be installed on a netbook
>
> Actually, I had it running back at v.2.something but couldn't get it to coexist well in dual boot
> with the Linux version I was running then. Unless the situation is worse with newer versions, I
> might try that again. I'd much rather run it on my Mac laptop, but that now seems pretty daunting.

I have it running on MacBook Pro. Installing VirtualBox was easy (and I'm NOT an Apple user), and
instructions I referenced are easy. So if you have a fairly new MacBook (this one was a dual core
intel with 8GB of memory and a 128GB hard drive), you should install it there. The instructions
recommend a VirtualBox image probably 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the one I created. I always allow for
more resources than recommended, if I have them.

>
> Thanks again for your ideas, help and encouragement. :)

You're welcome!