Android minimal cost!

NoobForThis

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Hi Pizzadude,

ooops, sorry!!!!

I edited the link, you may try it now!


I am trying to add the costs for a minimal hardware required to run android.
Application is just that, running android with the minimal hardware cost.

thanks
 

anon(94115)

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Link is still bad.

I think it would depend on what version of android you want to run. I am also assuming you are trying to run android on a stand alone box.
 

NoobForThis

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I think it would depend on what version of android you want to run. I am also assuming you are trying to run android on a stand alone box.

Well, yes... I want to know how much the minimal hardware costs to run a version of Android! Apparently, it requires a microprocessor, some Ram and some flash!!!
How much would this total to money wise???

thanks
 

Shadowriver

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I think around 256MB is minimum, but even so you can cut content to free up memory (some people was able to run ICS on G1 with 192MB RAM) , but apps might start to fail. CPU clock speed does not matter, it will work anyway, but it will be fast as CPU is fast. Flash ram is minimum as system size is + some reserve
 

Jerry Hildenbrand

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You should contact DigiKey or Newark Electronics.
You'll need to talk with a sales technician to make sure the parts you're buying are compatible, then you'll need to figure out the many other parts you need that you've not listed. You need I/O for your board, you need circuitry to handle the memory bus, You need the board itself, etc.

My guess, if I had to throw out a quick budget for this project, would be about $200 USD to build 3 units. That's not counting an enclosure or network interface(s). I'm assuming you're doing this as a project where you need to build from scratch. If so, please snap some pictures and keep us informed of your progress :)
 

NoobForThis

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Hi Jerry,

If I may ask you a few more questions...I am really green at this.

If all I need to do is a simple app where I require some simple graphics such as buttons, check boxes, list boxes a small data base and some
analogue and digital I/Os:

1)For a minimal system as just described, how much external sdram should I require and how much sdram is in a memory block in terms of Mega-bytes?
2)For a minimal system as just described, how much storage memory should I require and how much memory is in a memory block in terms of Mega-bytes?
3)Also, under the Adroid environment, how does one draw up screens? Is there a tool to draw check boxes, buttons etc...?
Thanks so much for your help!
r
 

Shadowriver

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3)Also, under the Adroid environment, how does one draw up screens? Is there a tool to draw check boxes, buttons etc...?

Yes there is tool for that in SDK :) layouts (because this is how Android forms are called) in Android kind of like HTML on behavior aspect, they are described in XML files. So if you ever play with HTML i think you should easily learn even edit XMLs manually and even find it easier.... like me, personally i never used layout tool :p

Here whole articule about it: Layouts | Android Developers
If you plan any Android development that site is your bible, so search other information there too, you will find anything (that is officaly supported)
 
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Shadowriver

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Well with 1) and 2) you need to do some research, it all depends on what you really want to do with system. Storage for system should be around the system it self + some reserve for extending size and as i know darvik needs place for cache. With RAM i think 256 is minimum (as i said above soem crazy people was able to run ICS on 196 ram) but most android devices even low end runs on 512, but again it all depends what you need to do, more ram = more applications can run at once and you can always try to slim the system.

Android is system that runs on top of Linux kernel and it it's very elastic was able to run same version of Linux system that i run on P4 2.4GHz with 1GB of ram (i think) on my old calerion 300MHz (ofcrose slower but usable) with 256MB, so there no set minimum, even if you cross some point that it run out of memory you can always slim system on things that you don't need. I'm not an expert on this and you probably won't find anyone here that could help you much on that, but Google have special forum group for Android porting:

https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/android-porting

I think they might help you :) Google also have whole site about Android system development:

Welcome to Android | Android Open Source

which have lot info on low level technical stuff
 

npco543

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The availability of schematics would probably be an issue, but here's something to consider, if for no other reason than an example of the needed components:

MK802-II

You haven't said what your specific application is, but for the money, these are pretty hard to beat for a turn-key minimal Android system. I had been looking into getting a Raspberry Pi to play around with, but for the cost, these things are far more capable. I actually picked up the 802-III version, which includes a dual core cpu and 8 gigs of memory.
 

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