Monday 13 August 2012

Android OS in Your Laptop !!

                     

When I read this heading in a Linux For You magazine, I was amazed. That was a short note which tells how to install Android OS in your Netbook/Laptop. Then I searched in Google, whether I can install and use it in my Asus EeePC Netbook. And I found it is possible. I searched for the 'android ISO' and found an ISO that suits for my Netbook.

                   The ISO was around 181MB of size. To make a bootable USB stick, I installed a software named 'uNetbootin' that runs on Windows, and its of around 5MB of size. With the help of that software I made a Bootable USB stick. Before the installation, I just went through various blogs and sites that explained about android installation.



                          The Android that I tried in my netbook is Android 4, which commonly known as 'ICE CREAM SANDWICH'. There are different versions of android are available in Website. Just Google it ! That is the best way to find the good one. Make sure that the OS is supported and compatible with your netbook/laptop.




                           You can make a bootable USB drive for install in your PC. For that install uNetbootin. That will help you to create a bootable USB drive. Everything will be so easy for you, if you know how to install Linux/Ubuntu. Its just the same with slight difference. Now it is the time to get uNetbootin:



                                  Now its the time to install Android in your PC. You have to make a partition in your hard disk to install  the OS. No need to give a huge disk space for that. I think Android can be installed on any file system, like ext2,3 or FAT32. You have to note the partition you have made for Android. That is important. For that if you use an Linux OS, open a Terminal and then type:

            sudo fdisk -l

This will show you the entire disk partition table,like this:
   

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048      206847      102400    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2          206848    62916607    31354880    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3        62918654   625141759   281111553    5  Extended
/dev/sda5        62918656   312915967   124998656    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda6       312918016   500918015    94000000    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda7       562917376   566915071     1998848   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda8       566917120   625141759    29112320   83  Linux
/dev/sda9       500918272   562900991    30991360    b  W95 FAT32


/dev/sda9  is the partition where I installed the Android OS. Note your partition for some further use. 

                                      Now, change the boot option in the boot menu and enable it to boot from the USB stick. Connect the Bootable USB and boot from it. You can try a Live Android at that time and have your first look at android in your PC. Else go straight into installation process. It is just similar to the   any Linux/Ubuntu installation and so easy to do.

                                      Let me mention some important points; if you have Linux/Ubuntu already in your PC the please ignore the installation of Android grub during OS installation by choosing SKIP. Another thing is create an sdcard image during installation when the window for that option appears. You can give maximum of 2047MB for that. Please check yourself why you have to do this.






                                     Finally you will have your New Android Operaring System in your PC. After installation I faced some problem regarding the Ubuntu grub2 that doesn't have any option to boot the Android. But I fixed that problem by doing some steps, for that  you need the use of previously mentioned disk partition. Still I have some problems that is to be fixed, but I believes in Google!! :-)




                                          Now, its your turn. Try yourself. Enjoy the taste of Android Ice Cream Sandwich !!



                                   



                        

9 comments:

  1. Nice article Mr.L.K.Raj.Congrat`s...
    http://sreethaalam.blogspot.in/

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  2. Elkey, it was really a new info for me. Keep posting such things.
    --
    anand

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  3. i've been searching for this so long, here i've a question, i've successfully install this OS on my Asus laptop, unfortunately i cant use whatsapps, facebook, etc apps, any suggestion on where to find the compatible apps for laptop based android?

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  4. It is better to install android OS in a memory card of flash drive. Live booting is more recommended than booting from the hard disk. I think it will help you to install those applications too. Thank you.

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  5. I love it... going to do it today!

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  6. I recommend you to try it in a virtual box first.

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