It’s been possible to run Linux or Android on ARM based board and producs for a while, with some firmware providing dual boot support, or even simultaneous use running a chroot with a VNC server and client combination. Some developers have come up MicroXwin, a X-windows implementation using a custom Xlib library that communicate directly with the graphics drivers, and not using a client/server implement. This provides much faster performance compare to X11, as shown on Raspberry Pi and Cubieboard2 development boards, and it has given them the ability to run Debian LXDE and Android Jelly Bean simultaneously on their upcoming VolksPC, a mini PC based on Rockchip RK3066 with 16GB flash.
The first VolksPC will have the following specifications:
- SoC – Rockchip RK3066 dual core ARM Cortex A9 CPU @ 1.4Ghz with Mali-400MP4 GPU
- System Memory – 1 GB DDR3
- Storage – 16 GB NAND flash + SD/MMC/MS card reader (Up to 32GB)
- Video Output – HDMI 1.3 and VGA
- Connectivity – 10/100 Ethernet port, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
- USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports
The hardware is pretty standard, except for the 16GB flash as you need enough space to run the two operating systems from flash with some extra space for user’s data. As you’ll see from the video below, the system is very smooth both in Android and Debian, and the same file system is shared between the two operating systems. For example, provided the video has not been edited, LibreOffice is shown to start in less than 10 seconds, and they also showed a YouTube video playing in Debian, albeit not in full screen. Since both operating systems are running at the same time, switching between the two are instantaneous. You can kill Android, and still run Debian, or you can logout of Debian, and still run Android if you need to some free RAM. The demo is apparently running on MK808.
VolksPC mini PC is not available right now, and it’s unclear when it will be released. The unified distribution shown in the video above can not be downloaded either, and MicroXWin does not seem to be open source, or least not yet, so it’s not something you can currently use or port to your device. Nevertheless, it’s probably something to keep an eye on, and you can do so on VolksPC.org.
Via Liliputing and Phoronix
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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IMO, RK3066 will be inferior compared to current SOCs out there today.
Hi cnxsoft,
I have a MK808 loaded with our unified distribution available for evaluation. Send me a private email if you are interested.
Thanks
Vasant
I suppose this take time to develop, at the time the team started, the RK3166 was not available. Now it works, it could probably be ported to more recent SoCs, like RK3166 and RK3266, depending on the state of the drivers. It looks already far usable on a RK3066 :).
no hw video acceleration 🙁
After untarring the raspbian archive:
wget http://www.volkspc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rasbianwheezy.tar.gz
zoobab@heembeek /home/zoobab/soft/microxwin/MicroXwin [13]$ cat LICENSE
Following files :
libX11.so.6.3.0
libXcursor.so.1.0.2
libXext.so.6.4.0
libXrender.so.1.3.0
x11.ko
are the intellectual property of VolksPC LLC, CA, USA (http://www.volkspc.org).
These are made available for evaluation purpose or non-commercial use.
For commercial use please contact info@volkspc.org.
@zooba
That does not seem quite right… libX11 is LGPL… I haven’t checked others.
libX11 is using the MIT X11 license, but they are likely completely reimplementing it anyway and just providing xlib API compatible shim, because their approach is entirely different. However the kernel module x11.ko at least contains significant parts of libpixman (based on the output of “readelf -s x11.ko | grep pixman”). And while libpixman has a permissive MIT X11 license, some obligations still exist (the middle paragraph):
* Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
* copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”),
* to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
* the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
* and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
* Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
*
* The above copyright notice and this permission notice (including the next
* paragraph) shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the
* Software.
*
* THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
* IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
* FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
* THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
* LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
* FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
* DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
Claiming that all these components “are the intellectual property of VolksPC LLC, CA, USA” is not nice without giving credit to the original code it is derived from.
Well, Always Innovating showcased that stuff (2 OSes running at the same time, instant switch) bunch of years ago, there was even source available.
https://www.alwaysinnovating.com/products/smartbook.htm . But Always Innovating failed to deliver complete user-satisfying product, let’s see if some random braggers who start with alleged license violation can do better.
@ssvb
Oops sorry, you’re right. That’s an MIT license. I only checked the first result in Google, which said LGPL but for another libx11…
The company gave me an update as follows:
We have a new release of VolksPC’s unified distribution with the following features:
1. Support for Android Kit Kat and Debian Wheezy. Jessie port is also progressing well.
2. Support for Bluetooth keyboard with simplified keyboard switching.
With this in place we can easily support tablet form factor.
3. Ability to launch applications from Linux desktop. For example we can select a video file
from the XFCE file manager to be played with Android’s video player application.
4. Android based installer with support for network installation of Debian.
Here is a clip of the software running on RK3288, Cortex-A17 based Android TV box (Tronsmart Orion R28 Pro).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc-Nk6YssHI
We are doing an Indiegogo campaign to port VOLKSPC OS to ODROID-C1.
http://igg.me/at/volkspc-odroidc1/x/8311870
Here is a clip of VOLKSPC OS running on ODROID-C1
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USNISy17-YU ).
Vasant