Acer C-7 Chromebook to Android vs Habey BIS-6332B - Hardware Hacking General

Greetings,
I have had an Acer C-7 Chromebook for a few Months now and find Chromium very limited to what I can do with it.
I started to get involved in the Chromium Development to make it do what I want it to do, but changed my mind when I felt like I was breaking all the 'rules' of F/OSS in doing so.
So I thought about installing an Android on the Chromebook, since it is in fact "Google Signed" which if you investigate, it is pretty hard to get around trying to get another OS into the x86 C-7 Chromebook unless it is a real Google Signed OS.
Then I read a comment about it basically being ludicrous to buy an Acer C-7 with the intent of trying to hack it to get the cheap Hardware to run a real Linux or something else. In other words, its a nightmare to hack.
Then I came across the Habey BIS-6332B. If a person wants a Desktop/Laptop type power with an Android OS I think this is the logical step to take. The thing was quoted to me when it first came out (two weeks after I bought the MITX-6500) at $176.00 US. Pretty reasonable when compared to the NVIDIA Tegra 3 Trimslice.
The Habey BIS-6332B has Android installed out of the box. Has a SATA II hole, and basically wants to be an Android Desktop/Laptop (low power consumption Freescale Quad Core) replacement.
I just posted this here in the hopes of pointing out plenty people want to hack that C-7 to Android, but the thing has been engineered to make this a grueling process.

Related

[Q] so...

Now that we have kernel source... anyone see Ubuntu in our future?
I have unbuntu on my pc and in process of partitioning he for mac os x install 3 OS why not
Well, ubuntu netbook edition 10-10 would be the perfect candidate, but it seems someone already beat us to the punch:
http://techietonic.com/an-ubuntu-netbook-os-tablet-pc-edition-2011-the-tenq-p07-specs-features/#respond
If we could find a somewhere to download that version of ubuntu netbook, all the basic tablet specific work has already been done, might just need a couple tweeks. I have personally had no luck to even find the company's website though.
TheZedo said:
Well, ubuntu netbook edition 10-10 would be the perfect candidate, but it seems someone already beat us to the punch:
http://techietonic.com/an-ubuntu-netbook-os-tablet-pc-edition-2011-the-tenq-p07-specs-features/#respond
If we could find a somewhere to download that version of ubuntu netbook, all the basic tablet specific work has already been done, might just need a couple tweeks. I have personally had no luck to even find the company's website though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That does not apply, there are no hardware similarities between an android tablet and that one other than form factor.
That machine uses an Intel Atom processor, ubuntu install image on a usb drive and you're pretty much done on that one. Not so much for us.
I see now why the lack of Linux support for Tegra tablets...
http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/linux-support-becoming-unsupported
(follow the link in his post for some udated info)
Its sad, but between the Honeycomb delays, and Linux being put on the back burner, we have very limited choices at the moment. Ultimately I would like to have Linux on my A7 too, as long as its not uncomfortably slow with only 512MB DDR2 RAM. It looks like Meego might be the distribution to watch for any kind of prebuilt distributable images, at least they have some big players still on board for backing, and they support a variety of platforms.
If you have access to the Nvidia Tegra 250 Developer kit, you could try building a custom Gentoo distro. I really like Gentoo for its configurability options, but honestly, I'm afraid of bricking my A7 with one little mistake.
Android still uses a Linux kernel though, so with kernel source and ability to compile for the tegra chip progress will not grind to a halt. Things just unfortunately won't move along as quickly as most of us would like.
I think a modified version of Ubuntu NBR would run fairly quick on an a7 though.
After some more digging around on the Nvidia Developers forum, I tracked down a few "work-arounds" to install linux...however, please note that most of these posts are very dated.
http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/workaround-run-ubuntu-now
http://developer.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/fedora-12gnome-running-tegra
http://www.elinux.org/Installation_Detail
I would dare to call this post, "Instructions for the Brave".
After reading those it does sound like we could have a unbuntu os

[Q] Windows 8 arm

Hey i have a question like when is the win 8 arm gonna come im tired of waiting already or is it possible to run any other microsoft os on acer iconia tab a500, or can you run win xp with qemu or something like that please help me really need it. thanks for all
aivashc said:
Hey i have a question like when is the win 8 arm gonna come im tired of waiting already or is it possible to run any other microsoft os on acer iconia tab a500, or can you run win xp with qemu or something like that please help me really need it. thanks for all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nobody really knows when or.. now IF it will come.
Microsoft seems to be hitting issues with and there is not much news in this lately. Somewhere i read is to not expect it until mid 2013 if ever..
NO as far as running any windows os on the iconia. What ever qemu is. if thats a emulator i never seen one to work correctly..so its unlikely and if so would be very slow and buggy..
Sell your A 500.. GET A W500.. i have considered trying to trade mine..
ANYONE INTERESTED .
You can use an app like Splashtop to mirror what your home PC is doing. It will look like it's running Windows...
You can use some Win 8 wallpaper and replicate a Metro look
You can even change the Force Close message to "This program has ended unexpectedly...." AKA Exception Error, AKA General Protection Fault.
ive had this conversation so many times its not even funny.
Mainly, forget about it.
Chances are virtually nonexistant you'll be able to buy windows 8 ARM. Even if there was a way to legally port it, which there isn't, it'd still require a whole new set of drivers (which would be incredibly hard to create) and a proprietary, closed source pre-boot environmentwhich would need to bbe illegally modified to make the os run.
Its pretty much impossible without Microsoft helping, which you know they won't do.
And I also feel it nessarry to point out that you won't be able to run windows x86 programs on windows 8 arm, making it a largely useless platform - you only have access to metro apps, and/or windows phone 7 apps. Stay with android, you'll thank me later.
Android rom on windows hardware . CAN I PLEASE..
Can i install the update .zip .. rom from my tablet to my Windows 7 AMD FUSION Cpu notebook..
can i can i can iiiii can i please....
Windows 8 requirements to battle fragmentation:
http://uk.appy-geek.com/Web/ArticleWeb3.aspx?regionid=4&articleid=1911699
Tegra 2 can run Windows 8 !
http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/01/tegra-2-cameos-at-ballmer-ces-keynote-with-windows-on-arm-demo/
@akram_1 - Your 2nd link refers to the Jan 2011, presentation at CES where MS talked about running Win 8 on a Tegra 2 Tablet but it got no further and as Erica Renee said in post above yours, the whole idea of that setup bit the dust during 2011 when MS decided to quietly back away from the idea.
In Jan 2012 again at CES, MS Windows Chief Marketing Officer demonstrated Win 8 on ARM but this was on a special one off unit using the Tegra 3 chip and Metro.
So please don't hold your breath waiting for Win 8 on ARM running on the A500 otherwise you'll end up in the Guiness Book of Records as the "A500 owner with the bluest face and least detectable pulse rate".
Windows 8 on ARM? Absolutely
Windows 8 on the A500? Highly unlikely
Apparently there will be Windows 8 tablets coming out by the holiday shopping season. If any device will be able to natively run either Android or Windows (or even both in a dual-boot environment), it would most likely be on a device designed and marketed for Windows. In fact, now that I think about it, Android 5 (Jellybean?) will be expected around the same time. Seeing how Android has matured over the last few years, I expect this next version to blow us away. With any hopeful wishing, some tablet manufacturers may release the same hardware built to run both Windows and Android and sell them side-by-side. For example, a hypothetical Acer A900 and W900 would be exactly the same hardware, only difference being the OS, in which case they might just name such a tablet the T900A and T900W. Of course, this is just speculation. Also, I'm expecting a lot of these next-gen tablets to copy the design of the Transformer and Transformer Prime. These tablets will ship with a dock, and the UI will change according to how it's being used. In tablet mode, it will be in the Metro UI, then switch to a more familiar Windows UI when docked. If the hardware is being used interchangeably between Windows and Android, maybe Jellybean will feature different UI's based on which mode is being used. Take Cornerstone for example. Speculation once again, but this is what I'd like to see.
But yeah, as far as Windows on the A500... keep dreaming
Better luch if MS makes a tablet with a arm processor and some no decides to port it. Then you would have wp7 or whatever version they call it. I think right now that is the best you could hope for.
I agree with the above for the most part. I do belive Microsoft under estimated the efforts they would need to put into getting windows to run On arm.When and well If They do get a releasable product
(1) It will surely have one of the 3 fallowing problems . It will maybe run windows LIKE!!! programs And suck battery life.(BAD BAD AND A FAIL)
(2) It will Run windows Program like But be so Huge because of the extra batteries it will be to heavy to be useable.(Like the Current win 7 tabs.To big or no battery life.) This to would BE A BIG FAT FAIL.
(3) It will be a extension of the win phone operating system. The one that people complain about and toss and run back to android. Closed SOURCE very little development for it. Few but expensive apps.. WELL NOTHING MORE TO SAY BUT..
THIS TO IS A Near FAIL . They are huge and bulky or die Quickly..
I have 3 friends that have them. and pack charger and spair battery with them all the time..
The above are what i have been reading all over the web in one form or another..I also think there is something going on in the background behind peoples back.. I THINK LOCKING Devices to the installed OS will eventually be a non flash-able rom chip. with a secondary rom to incorporate updates and fixes to the first.. This would make devices obsolete much Quicker. Its becoming harder and harder for developers to break the boot loaders on these devices.
THE BOOT LOADER and its magic .. i feel is the reason acer has not release ICS. AND I BELIEVE THEY WILL NOT UNTIL THE FIX THIS
Just my Opinion. from what i have read over the last few months . There should be a international Protest NOt TO ACER OR ASUS or samsung .. BUT TO THE WORLD MANUFACTURERS. To get a law to disallow them to lock down NON CONTRACT DEVICES....

windows 8 requiring secure boot on arm devices pc aint much better

so i was checking out the windows 8 requirements that have released and came across the whole arm 8 dvices being required to hve a secure boot that cannot be unlocked to block non windows oses and the pc aint much more open looks like its gonna be up to communities to do what we want on devices anymore.....damn microsoft taking lessons from apple or what this really jkind of bumms me out, it seems like at every turn big business is trying to stifle developement. it seems for every advancement that could stimulate innovative developement theres several things implemented to directly oppose those advances can we say one step forward two steps back.
ive been hearing all the hype of arm windows tablets just to hear this....is somebody afraid of what android or linux might do on a tablet running pc specs.....
X86 devices will be ok. Running sth other than Windows on any ARM device will become probmatic.
I'm more concerned what this means if we get a proper mingling of chips (at long fraking last) in the domain of netbooks and low cost desktop/nettop systems, then I am for W8 phones and tabs.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Granted this will be a step backward but in the same respect, as usual, microsoft is late to the party. Everything I have read and heard through the grapevines are pointing to a Q1 2013 release of Win8 ARM tablets. By that time the A15 based beasties will be out running Android 4.x or possibly even Android 5.x. In essence all MS has accomplished is shooting themselves in the foot.
well i've got a alternate view of this. Sure ms is late i the app/phone/tablet market. But you still have to remember that they still have the largest piece of the market in the computer department. And if they could deliver a system similar to windows..well that will give them a big chunk of the market today. Due to a large userbase which know how to handle windows applications.
Even analystics has given out reports about this. That ios and android have reached their top. But what do i know ^^i'm just hoping for the best, and userfriendly applications.
Except the majority of closed source programs people use, will not get ported to Win8/ARM. Many of the cross platform open source ones already compile on Linux and/or *BSD's ARM targets.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Darkseider said:
Granted this will be a step backward but in the same respect, as usual, microsoft is late to the party. Everything I have read and heard through the grapevines are pointing to a Q1 2013 release of Win8 ARM tablets. By that time the A15 based beasties will be out running Android 4.x or possibly even Android 5.x. In essence all MS has accomplished is shooting themselves in the foot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I seem to remember hearing the same thing about game consoles. People said Nintendo and Sony had a lock on the market and Microsoft was wasting time trying to break in with the XBox.

Looks like B&N Caved to MS

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have settled their patent litigation, and moving forward, Barnes & Noble and Newco will have a royalty-bearing license under Microsoft’s patents for its NOOK eReader and Tablet products.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Press/2012/Apr12/04-30CorpNews.aspx

			
				
Wait what... Reading article
Edit: does this affect us at all?
brendan10211 said:
Wait what... Reading article
Edit: does this affect us at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably not with current devices, but to me, it means that future devices are very likely to be windows based instead of android based.
I don't think that it will switch immediately to Window-based,
but no good can come from inviting an 800 pound gorilla to our private party.
I think M$ is more looking to bundle the Nook reader App with Windows 8 and leverage B&N's store for the books.
I really can't foresee M$ being able to scale down Windows 8 to run with any efficiency on an e-reader like the NST.
And M$ investment amounts to 17.6% so they are not in a controlling position, just a favorable one.
I don't see it as a bad deal for B&N as it gives them some capital to shore up the new company as well as get a sticky piece of patent litigation off their backs.
It still remains to be seen how it all plays out. Remember M$ did pretty much the same thing with Apple and look how that turned out for them.
From the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17896534
The Windows 8 operating system is specifically designed to work with touch screens and mobile devices like tablet computers.
Its Metro user interface can host small dedicated applications like Nook to sit on top of Windows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, a new Nook Color tablet device could be built for Windoze 8, but they would have to ramp up the hardware on an e-ink reader to run that.
Which would raise cost of manufacture which translates to a higher consumer price.
There are already complaints about the $40 price increase for the new Nook GL (which I love btw, got mine today...woot!). The Flexiglow tech is still a new technology and early adopters have to pay a premium for using it in their devices.
How much more would people pay for an e-ink capable of running Windoze 8?
Then there is the Windoze 8 interface. M$ is hard bent on ensuring that the OS remains the same core across all hardware platforms. That would not be an insignificant hurdle for an e-ink reader.
Could it happen? Sure, it's not impossible. But I think there are more than few tough barriers to pass to get there.
How much money will it cost and is M$ willing to spend it?
And then there the fickle consumer.
B&N currently has a working formula. It could use some tweaking, but do you totally scrap that for Windoze 8?
Ok, I probably rambled too much, back to reading in the dark!
B&N CEO Lynch doesn't immediately foresee a Windoze 8 Nook either:
Fortune: Will we see Microsoft engineers and other Redmond-based talent actively working on new Nook devices and software?
Lynch: Currently, we've not communicated anything related to the roadmap about any hardware collaboration on Nook. Nook, as you know, uses open sourcing. Microsoft is obviously very entrenched in Windows. On the reading software side, in reading technologies, they're making interesting integrations into Windows, potentially Office. That kind of work has already started. Definitively yes.
Fortune: With the announcement, there's a lot of speculation now about what can come out of this partnership, like a potential Nook based on Windows 8, as opposed to Android. What can you tell us about the possibilities there?
Lynch: If you look at the content sort of flow from authoring tools, obviously, Microsoft is one of the leaders, if not the leader in authoring tools with Word, PowerPoint, Excel, their Office franchise, all the way through the transaction buying merchandising, sale or cloud management of the content. You can see us working across that.
So again we haven't announced anything specifically, but imagine an integration where an information worker, student, author, consumer, creates something in Office and has it immediately published for sale through the Nook book store. It starts to open a lot of exciting possibilities.
Full article including adding NFC: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/05/01/nook/
why all this speculation focusing on a Nook device of the future running on full Windows 8 when the perfectly natural OS would be a Win Phone 7 variant?
not to mention the OS that e-reading and font smoothing was marketed on first and the foundation of what xda-dev was made for - WINDOWS CE, which is still in develoment as an embedded OS.
I for one welcome a CE Nook, no rooting required!
also, coincidentally, MS just filed a patent app for e-ink 2nd screen to display interactive info. I'd also love to slave my NST to my Windows 8 as a separate touchpad with display!
Personally, I don't want to see a Windows 8 Nook for one reason: Price.
As it is the price for nooks is mostly hardware what with Android being a free OS and not requiring things such as royalties (being opensourced and all) if it all goes to Windows 8 I see the price going up as you'll not only be paying for the hardware, but you'd also be paying for the Windows 8 OS on the device, which would no doubt push the price point higher cause you know M$ has to have their cut. Instead of a $99 e-ink reader we'd probably be looking at $199 or $299 if say it were possible to switch the current Nook Touch to Windows 8 (it isn't but still). The higher end hardware which would be required for Windows 8 will mean that will also push the price point higher than it needs to be. Also replacing current devices with all W8 devices means they've effectively killed their App Market and since I can't see M$ playing nicely on that front they'd lose a source of income.
Another thing is, I can't see M$ playing nicely with people who want to create their own UI to replace whatever UI is on the tablet. Meaning that while you could run a Nook app on the device, you'd still be able to access everything else. So this could be a good point getting away from the restrictive UIs Nooks are known for if they went Win8.
Personally I think B&N needs to stick to android based devices, possibly releasing a W8 Tablet separately that doesn't replace any of their current devices. This would allow for them to continue making lower priced devices for customers who don't want all the bells and whistles of a higher end device.
Yes.
Thanks for an interesting read, guys
If any products are replaced, I'm pretty sure people will stop buying them.. Even though Windows 8 is cool and all, M$ is pushing too hard.
brendan10211 said:
Yes.
Thanks for an interesting read, guys
If any products are replaced, I'm pretty sure people will stop buying them.. Even though Windows 8 is cool and all, M$ is pushing too hard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mainly because the Windows Phone 7 interface was pretty much the only one they came up wtih by themselves. They're acting like a kid that just learned a new word that's fun to say; all they want to do is show everyone the word and try to get them saying it.
That sounds like me..
Thanks for the great analogy.
GabrialDestruir said:
Personally, I don't want to see a Windows 8 Nook for one reason: Price.
As it is the price for nooks is mostly hardware what with Android being a free OS and not requiring things such as royalties (being opensourced and all) if it all goes to Windows 8 I see the price going up as you'll not only be paying for the hardware, but you'd also be paying for the Windows 8 OS on the device,
...
Another thing is, I can't see M$ playing nicely with people who want to create their own UI to replace whatever UI is on the tablet. Meaning that while you could run a Nook app on the device, you'd still be able to access everything else. So this could be a good point getting away from the restrictive UIs Nooks are known for if they went Win8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
again... Windows CE is still in developement for embedded devices and runs on way more anemic ARM hardware than the NST and about the same as the WP7 OS. Plus their development is already paid for and very reliable and very developer friendly. remember, the core of XDA-DEV was built on modding Win CE and changing the UI. I could certainly see that for an eInk budget device.
yet, the future of the Nook Color / Tablet could be running on the Win 8 ARM OS, I agree with you there, and that would open up the device more than B&N does out of the box. target price of a full Intel based Windows 7 and 8 tablet is already $500. they are totally aiming for the $200 - $300 market with their ARM version of 8. I bet price would remain competitive.
although if you look at the aquisition of Skype, MS has been very slow to change anything or absorb them into other products. MS may do absolutely nothing to the Nook hardware line if it's working.

[Q] windroid 8?

Can someone point or steer me in the right direction?
I am a IT/hackit type person, and I am searching for the best "do it all" system. I don't mind glitchy/buggy systems so long as I can always boot or flash the system stable if I need/want to.
(Read below, if you want to know why/how I got here)
I am largely clueless about windows 7, 2008r2, 8, 8rt, and all post wince phone varients, but I want to expose myself to it if at all possible. I really want to re.perk my interest in linux/android/windows and anything else I am not up on (Facebook/twitter/cloudXYZ intigration).
I haven't used an iphone/ipad much (I had an early ipod, one of the USB sticks with no screen). Other than almost always smooth interface, and high res display, it hasn't perked my interest much. That may just be all the guppies, itunes, closed mindedness, and general leash to many of them wear. If I ever got one, it would either need to run android (or heck, windows, bsd, anything), or there would need some other compelling reason ( runs android/google play apps, has a 3rd part app store, or I dunno, something).
Anyways, back on topic...
I am seeking hardware that can do all, or most all, of the following:
Run android ICS/JB
Has a somewhat active community
Can operate as a tablet and phone (preferably gsm/3g with native phone support)
Can run whatever flavors of windows are interesting (Windows 8, windows 8 rt, etc)
If needed, I can jump ship to x86, but I don't know how unusable android might be.
I'm willing to virtualize or split hardware if I must. (I.e. voip, vmware, terminal, etc.)
A nice plus would be incredible hardware specs (4 core or >1gb ram), even if price is high.
Right now I have a 2 month old galaxy tab 7.7 (p6800). It died, and is in the process of being fixed/replaced/refunded. It's demise prompted my search for a replacement, which in turn, brought me across some windows 8 articles. All I know about windows 8 is what I read in the past hour or so. I came across some stuff about an ARM capable windows (though limited by secure boot), some dual booting of windows x86 tablets, and I think some ICS/win7phone?, etc. I couldn't figure out where to start reading and/or if I should skip it or split it.
BELOW:
Welcome to my personal short story. In short, I have been very ill, and offline for the past 4 years. Prior to that I haven't gone more than a day or two since 1986 without in some way using a computer. I have always hovered at the bleeding edge, and started my career pushing customized solutions, documentation, and "proof of concept" designs.
Fast forward to 2007, using my IT skills I switched to a more top end systems/workflow design, decision matrix, and proof of concept (often centered around server consolidation, virtualization, and terminal emulation (everything from bsd/linux to dos/windows). I also touched countless applications from legacy to high end multimedia/desktops. Most all of my off time was spent pushing hardware, network(+internet), operating system, and virtulalization/duel booting/cross platform interoperability.
Shortly before 2004, I had a life saving surgery, and was good to go (at my best). Then, in 2007/2008 I suffered several major relapses in health. From then until early this year (2012), I was so sick, I couldn't do much at all. Being an early adopter of the original motorola droid, I did manage to stay in touch. I did some very simplistic modding, but didn't have the brain power to do much. My family got me a droid x and a xoom tablet later on, and I had a couple good spells where I rooted and did lite modding.
Why all this detail? It's my best effort to show my perspective and maybe where I am trying to come at or re-enter the IT/hackery world. I really want to catch up, start having fun again, and get cleared to work again!
Thanks for reading this, any pointers to hardware, ariticals, forums, and/or just some search terms would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
-D0c5i5 (aka. Jon or JonC)
There is nothing
I believe there is an old 2.x version of Android running on x86 meaning you could buy a normal x86 device and install Win 8 and Android
using win RT devices with android isn't possible yet
installing RT on Android devices isn't possible yet
Windows phone was never "hacked" as such so if MS insisted on the same level of security its highly unlikely we will have dual boot ARM devices any time soon.
as for dual boot x86, well, youd better get on to the android folk for that one
dazza9075 said:
There is nothing
I believe there is an old 2.x version of Android running on x86 meaning you could buy a normal x86 device and install Win 8 and Android
using win RT devices with android isn't possible yet
installing RT on Android devices isn't possible yet
Windows phone was never "hacked" as such so if MS insisted on the same level of security its highly unlikely we will have dual boot ARM devices any time soon.
as for dual boot x86, well, youd better get on to the android folk for that one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.android-x86.org/
There's also BlueStacks for emulating Android apps on Windows. I don't believe they have an RT version, though.
JihadSquad said:
http://www.android-x86.org/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Known issues
•Suspend and resume doesn't work on some targets.
•Not support Ethernet.
indeed, its been updated to ICS

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