Run Android 5.1 Lollipop Exton build on Raspberry Pi 2

Posted on April 5, 2015 by exton

logoNEWS 150405
I have compiled an Android 5.1 Lollipop system which can run on Raspberry Pi 2. I call “my” new system RaspAnd.

What is Raspberry Pi?
The Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and uses a standard keyboard and mouse. It is a capable little device that enables people of all ages to explore computing, and to learn how to program in languages like Scratch and Python. It’s capable of doing everything you’d expect a desktop computer to do, from browsing the internet and playing high-definition video, to making spreadsheets, word-processing, and playing games.
Read more about Raspberry Pi…

model-b-plus-300x225
Raspberry Pi model B made in February 2015. It has a 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU and 1GB RAM. Read more…

Kernel
Kernel 3.19.0-exton-v7+ is used in RaspAnd.

My sources
You’ll find my sources for RaspAnd here.

How do I install RaspAnd?
Almost like any other Raspberry system. The installation has to take place in Linux though. (From hard drive or while running a live Linux system from cd or a USB stick). Follow this instruction. The whole thing has to be done exactly like this.
1. Unpack the download Zip-file (unzip raspex-arm-android-lollipop-5.1-134mb-150405.zip). You will get the folder raspex-android-arm-lollipop-5.1 with the folder boot and the system file system.img
2. Create four partitions of/on your Micro SD Card with Fdisk or GParted.
a) Part 1 for BOOT of 512 MB ; format as fat32 ; flag as boot
b) Part 2 for /system of 512 MB; any filesystem
c) Part 3 for /cache of 512 MB ; format as ext4
d) Part 4 for /data; size the remain; format as ext4
When you are done with partitioning it shall look like this.
GParted
3. Now open up a terminal as root and run this command (make sure which name your SD card was given when you inserted it (/dev/sdb2 or /dev/sdc2 or as in the example here /dev/sdd2):
dd if=system.img of=/dev/sdd2 bs=1M
4. Then just copy every file in raspex-android-arm-lollipop-5.1/boot (8 files) to /dev/sdd1. If not mounted already you can mount it with mkdir /mnt/sdd1 followed by mount /dev/sdd1 /mnt/sdd1

Note: You shall not do anything with /dev/sdd3 and /dev/sdd4. I.e: Do not create folders /cache or /data.

Booting up RaspAnd – Slide show
Now just place your SD Card in your Raspberry Pi 2 machine and turn on the power. Watch this Slide show.

This version (150405) has been replaced by version 150527.

Android is a trademark of Google Inc.
Raspberry Pi is a trademark of Raspberry Pi Foundation

Posted in Android, RaspEX | Tagged , , , , | 149 Comments

RaspEX for Raspberry Pi 2 based on Debian “Jessie”, Ubuntu “Vivid Vervet” (15.04) and Linaro :: Free download

Posted on March 18, 2015 by exton

raspberry-logoNEWS 150403
RaspEX can now be downloaded for free.

News 150318
I have made a perfect (as I think) Linux ARM system for Raspberry Pi 2. I call it RaspEX. It is based on Debian Jessie (upcoming Debian 8), Ubuntu Vivid Vervet (upcoming Ubuntu 15.04) and Linaro (Open Source software for ARM SoCs).

Softpedia review
RaspEX was reviewed by Softpedia 150404.

What is Raspberry Pi?
The Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and uses a standard keyboard and mouse. It is a capable little device that enables people of all ages to explore computing, and to learn how to program in languages like Scratch and Python. It’s capable of doing everything you’d expect a desktop computer to do, from browsing the internet and playing high-definition video, to making spreadsheets, word-processing, and playing games.
Read more about Raspberry Pi…

model-b-plus-300x225
Raspberry Pi model B made in February 2015. It has a 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU and 1GB RAM. Read more…

About RaspEX
RaspEX is a full Linux Desktop system with LXDE (an extremely fast-performing and energy-saving desktop environment) and many other useful programs pre-installed. Chromium is used as Web Browser and Synaptic as Package Manager. You can use Synaptic to install any extra packages you may need. For example LibreOffice. RaspEX uses Ubuntu and Linaro software repositories so you can install thousands of extra packages if you want.

Kernel
Kernel 3.18.7-v7+ is used

Why shall I use RaspEX?
Eight Operating Systems are recommended by Raspberry.org. Among them Noobs, Raspbian (Debian Wheezy) and Snappy Ubuntu Core. RaspEX is faster, more useful and more fun to use. (In my opinion).

How do I install RaspEX?
Just like any other Raspberry system. I.e.: Unpack the downloaded ZIP file (raspex-ubuntu-15.04-armhf-923mb-150318.zip) and transfer the IMAGE file (raspex-ubuntu-15.04-armhf-3050mb-150318.img) to your Micro SD card of at least 8GB. For that you shall use Win32DiskImager in Windows.
Win32DiskImager
How do I use RaspEX?
When you start up your Raspberry Mini computer with RaspEX you will (after a few seconds) end up at LXDM‘s login page.
login-raspex
Log in as the ordinary user linaro with password linaro or as root with password root. When logged in as linaro you can use Sudo to become root. (Command: sudo su).

When logged in as linaro your Desktop will look like this.
raspex-desktop-screenshot-linaro2
Click to view a larger picture

When logged in as root your Desktop will look like this.
raspex-desktop-screenshot-linaro
Click to view a larger picture

Upgrade the system
If you want to upgrade the system you shall/must run the following commands as root:
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get remove lxdm
apt-get install slim
apt-get install xinit init
If you miss to run any of the above commands the system will be unusable.

View all installed packages in RaspEX version 150318

DOWNLOAD
This first build of RaspEX has been replaced by version 160307 especially built for Raspberry Pi 3.

Posted in RaspEX | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 46 Comments