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Development => Calculators => Calculator News, Coding, Help & Talk => Topic started by: Dream of Omnimaga on June 22, 2015, 06:48:58 AM

Title: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on June 22, 2015, 06:48:58 AM
I am unsure if this is legit or not, but if it is, then it's kinda cool :O

https://www.omnimaga.org/ti-nspire-projects/calling-all-linux-kernel-developers!/1170/?topicseen
https://github.com/nDroidProject

I bet it must run extremely slow, though, seeing how slow my Samsung i5510 was. Unless of course this runs a really ancient version of Android, but then it won't be very practical since most people develop for recent versions of Android only.

Update: It is confirmed to be legit and Android 1.6 appears to run at somewhat useable speed. :)
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Duke "Tape" Eiyeron on June 22, 2015, 03:11:10 PM
Well, Android requites at least 256 MB (or more, I don't remember). I don't know if that's possible.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Snektron on June 22, 2015, 03:43:30 PM
The absolute minimum is 200 Mhz cpu, 32 MB ram and 32 MB storage.
Since the nSpire is an arm based calc it could indeed work :P
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Ivoah on June 22, 2015, 03:44:36 PM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on June 22, 2015, 06:48:58 AM
I am unsure if this is legit or not, but if it is, then it's kinda cool :O

https://www.omnimaga.org/ti-nspire-projects/calling-all-linux-kernel-developers!/1170/?topicseen
https://github.com/nDroidProject

I bet it must run extremely slow, though, seeing how slow my Samsung i5510 was. Unless of course this runs a really ancient version of Android, but then it won't be very practical since most people develop for recent versions of Android only.

It is indeed legit, and apparently it doesn't run too slowly, according to the author.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Snektron on June 22, 2015, 03:47:55 PM
It can't be slower than the official android sdk emulator though :trollface:
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: novenary on June 22, 2015, 03:49:03 PM
Quote from: Duke "Tape" Eiyeron on June 22, 2015, 03:11:10 PM
Well, Android requites at least 256 MB (or more, I don't remember). I don't know if that's possible.
HTC Dream/G1 had 192MB of ram. With some optimizations it's surely doable.

Also lol cumred, that's because that emulator is an actual emulator. :P
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Ivoah on June 22, 2015, 03:49:44 PM
He says it runs at about half the speed of the HTC Dream
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: novenary on June 22, 2015, 03:52:02 PM
Indeed, but that has a 528MHz arm11 which is much faster than the 130MHz arm9 in the cx (even though it's overclockable to almost double that).

Oh, also swap can compensate a bit for the lack of ram.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Vogtinator on June 22, 2015, 04:15:14 PM
AFAIK it's Android 1.6, so pretty useless except for the built-in stuff  <_<
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: novenary on June 22, 2015, 04:16:55 PM
Yeah but who said we couldn't write apps ? :P
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on June 22, 2015, 04:28:04 PM
It would definitively be a decent alternative if it's possible to make a game run on both Android 1.6 and lollipop simultaneously, though. It's not like a 2D game necessarily needs much power, anyway. Just look at Pac Man and Portal for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Snektron on June 22, 2015, 09:00:01 PM
It is possible, though android 1.6 contains a LOT of deprecated methods
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Unicorn on June 22, 2015, 09:26:52 PM
Now thats cool. I bet it won't get much use though.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: alexgt on June 23, 2015, 08:09:19 PM
Friends be like: bet you can't get android on your calculator

I be like: http://codewalr.us/index.php?topic=556.0
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: DarkestEx on June 23, 2015, 08:45:14 PM
Android is nice, but it is probably not the best framework for writing games on such a memory and processor constrained platform.
It's nice to see it running, but I guess, running bare Linux with X11 could be more useful. Android is just a big Java VM and a UI made mainly for phones.
That doesn't mean that I dislike Android on phones, tablets, or smartwatches, but it certainly doesn't need to run on anything it is not made for ;)
It would be more awesome to see the community bring up their own UI and framework. I would certainly want to see that. If that happens, I might maybe one day buy me a CX (it is quite pricey for only being able to use it at home though).
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: -florian66- on June 25, 2015, 01:58:28 PM
It could be good to have Android on our Nspire  :D
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: novenary on June 26, 2015, 10:16:25 PM
Quote from: DarkestEx on June 23, 2015, 08:45:14 PM
That doesn't mean that I dislike Android on phones, tablets, or smartwatches, but it certainly doesn't need to run on anything it is not made for ;)
It's mostly for the c yeah factor. Same for gnu/linux. The Nspire being so restricted, a kernel that allows direct hardware access, maybe even support multi threading but not multi tasking is much more efficient.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on June 27, 2015, 04:40:12 AM
Yeah it's more to show that it's possible to run Android on a calculator. I wish this platform was not locked-down so that people with OS 4.0 could also benefit from it, though.

I wonder how much RAM does Android need? Because The HP Prime has a much faster processor than the TI-Nspire. Maybe it could handle ANdroid better if it requires less than 32 MB of RAM?
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Snektron on June 27, 2015, 09:55:33 AM
Google has a specification for every major release, but i can't find an official list of all the version specifications so
i just refer you to this question: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/34958/what-are-the-minimum-hardware-specifications-for-android
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on June 27, 2015, 05:10:08 PM
Oh thanks, tgat could be handy. The Prime apparently has 2D hardware acceleration so I bet performance would be considerably better, but I fear that RAM would be a problem. Also even with a wifi dongle, you would have to forget about Facebook because it's several times larger than every Android version combined.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Snektron on June 27, 2015, 05:41:18 PM
Why would you want facebook on a calc? :P
(Imo its one of the worst social medias available)
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: DarkestEx on June 27, 2015, 06:43:55 PM
Quote from: Cumred_Snektron on June 27, 2015, 05:41:18 PM
Why would you want facebook on a calc? [emoji14]
(Imo its one of the worst social medias available)
Absolutely my opinion.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: novenary on June 27, 2015, 11:19:07 PM
What's facebook ? /s
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on June 28, 2015, 12:01:14 AM
I am one of the only Facebook member here. No wonder why our FB page only has 12 likes. O.O
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: CKH4 on June 28, 2015, 12:46:41 AM
I use Facebook but not actively. Maybe we'll get some exclusive project that will add some views and likes. Maybe you should do community project updates on YouTube and post them.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on July 02, 2015, 03:42:24 AM
That could work, although it would be a considerable amount of work, especially if I need to convert all screenshots or worse, make them.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Unicorn on July 03, 2015, 02:51:32 AM
Quote from: DarkestEx on June 27, 2015, 06:43:55 PM
Quote from: Cumred_Snektron on June 27, 2015, 05:41:18 PM
Why would you want facebook on a calc? [emoji14]
(Imo its one of the worst social medias available)
Absolutely my opinion.
Agreed. The mobile app is soo weird too, and it looks kind of like instagrams feed. (from seeing other peopls stuffs)
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: alexgt on July 03, 2015, 01:22:37 PM
I don't have any social media accounts :-\
it is kinda nice tho :)
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Snektron on July 03, 2015, 03:43:35 PM
Quote from: Unicorn on July 03, 2015, 02:51:32 AM
Quote from: DarkestEx on June 27, 2015, 06:43:55 PM
Quote from: Cumred_Snektron on June 27, 2015, 05:41:18 PM
Why would you want facebook on a calc? [emoji14]
(Imo its one of the worst social medias available)
Absolutely my opinion.
Agreed. The mobile app is soo weird too, and it looks kind of like instagrams feed. (from seeing other peopls stuffs)

It's probably the other way around, considering facebook was around way before instagram
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: CKH4 on July 03, 2015, 03:45:56 PM
I'm pretty sure that Facebook changed their feed a few years ago. Not absolutely sure but I seem to remember less random stuff then I get now.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Snektron on July 03, 2015, 03:49:01 PM
Every big site changes their layout every few years :P Though personally i find Facebooks colors still quite 2004-ish
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: CKH4 on July 03, 2015, 03:53:00 PM
I think that they changed more than just layout. Also I agree about the colors, not quite that old but whatever was before holo. I really think they've made leaps and bounds on their Android app. I'd call it almost modern although it doesn't fit into any of the regular themes (ie. Metro, Material etc.).
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: alexgt on July 03, 2015, 05:15:42 PM
I am installing it now :)
and cleaning up my Documents <_<

EDIT: Here is the vid from omni
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skbuc_pQj9g
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Snektron on July 03, 2015, 09:51:01 PM
That looks pretty smooth actually. I guess to controll it woth the hw keys?
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: alexgt on July 07, 2015, 03:52:36 PM
NVM I have no idea how to install it :P

Quote from: Cumred_Snektron on July 03, 2015, 09:51:01 PM
That looks pretty smooth actually. I guess to controll it woth the hw keys?
I would think that it would be controlled with the hw keys :)
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on July 07, 2015, 05:10:31 PM
You could always ask in the official thread if you have troubles figuring out to install it.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: alexgt on July 08, 2015, 01:43:21 PM
True, i don't even think the guy who made it has a CW account :P
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Unicorn on July 08, 2015, 01:54:42 PM
Quote from: alexgt on July 08, 2015, 01:43:21 PM
True, i don't even think the guy who made it has a CW account :P
I don't think tooo many people have CW acounts... :P
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on July 10, 2015, 03:37:58 AM
Indeed, the site is still only 8 months old and isn't known much. I think we get about 6 times less traffic than Omnimaga, for example and since we are much smaller, some people might think we're kinda inactive (since they might judge by the total post count rather than the daily post rate).
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: CKH4 on July 10, 2015, 03:41:07 AM
At least here everyone kind of knows who everyone else is. On some forums there are thousands of active users and its chaos. Anyways I like it here and stuff.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Unicorn on July 10, 2015, 02:36:35 PM
^

Also, whenever I'm on on omnimaga there are only two members on and <40 guests usually.
Title: Re: Android on a TI-Nspire CX?
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on July 10, 2015, 11:33:29 PM
Quote from: CKH4 on July 10, 2015, 03:41:07 AM
At least here everyone kind of knows who everyone else is. On some forums there are thousands of active users and its chaos. Anyways I like it here and stuff.
Well that used to be the case on Omni too, even when they had 40 online users at a time sometimes, since many were quite active. It's more on gaming and general topic forums that it becomes a problem.
Quote from: Unicorn on July 10, 2015, 02:36:35 PM
^

Also, whenever I'm on on omnimaga there are only two members on and <40 guests usually.
I'm not gonna get into the subject since it's kinda off-topic and some people might consider this matter controversial, but the lack of site maintenance since Juju demotion in March 2012 (except the upgrade) and the behavior/decisions of certain upper-level managers since November 2013 were issues. Nonetheless, many active users stuck around and didn't give up. From July 2011 (when I stepped down) to November 2013, Omnimaga activity was actually higher than what CodeWalrus gets now. However, at one point it became clear that it was time to take a different route for the best of the community (and for Omnimaga, since the CW<>Omni split almost completely eliminated drama from Omnimaga)

Anyway, we should get back on topic, which is Android on a TI-Nspire. :) Other discussions should go in their own threads, me thinks.