Running Android in a PC???

[cokie69]

Hi there,
Newbie at Android -albeit not at computing!.

I have a very simple question: can I use some flavour of Android as 'the' OS in a PC? (that is, a device with a x86 or x64 processor).

Why I'm asking this?. I would like to 'revive' an old PIII laptop I have which I shelved because it was too slow to decently run even WinXp (as per today's response time standards!). Given that Android seems to run in low level devices -as in 'little memory', 'slower processor' than PC, etc.- I wonder if there's a chance I could just 'install' it in a PC and use it as some kind of tablet -albeit I wouldn't have a touching screen, I know!

Thanks


PS: Please note I am asking whether Android can be installed as the main OS in a PC, not if I can run it in some kind of virtual machine.

 

[legendary1022]

That is a good question. I know there where some netbooks that where released running on atom processor if I'm not mistaken. Take a look into that. I have no idea if it was just emulation or running through a Linux shell but it would be a start. Honestly, I would just make that computer into a network storage device and your torrent machine that you can send to. You have it laying around doing nothing. Might as well put it to work.

Sent from my HTC Vision

 

[Smitty_82]

Your best bet would be to install a linux os. I had great results with ubuntu. Made my old laptop usable again.

 

[dmnall]

XP will run, just need a bit more ram on it but otherwise what I would recommend is run Gentoo Linux on it and you will make it nice!

HTH,
Charlie

 

[Kyle Gibb]

Don't bother, get a Linux distro like some have suggested.

 

[igotsanevo4g]

Android-x86 - Porting Android to x86

Id recommend throwing ubuntu on there if your actually gonna use the computer, but if you just wanna mess around with some android goodness, there ya go.

 

[cokie69]

Well, thanks for the replies, but... as I said, it's an old laptop which means pretty slow processor (PIII!) and little RAM (192Mb)... I can't run XP with that, regardless MS saying that minimum requirements are even lower. C'mon... don't you remember how it run XP on that!.

Regarding Ubuntu... I'm afraid I have the same problem... too few resources. Maybe there's another distro which might work, but I'd have to have a graphics interface cause I know nothing about Unix.

Finally, regarding buying more RAM -like someone suggested- I'm afraid it's out of the question: firstly there's almost nobody selling memory for such a laptop anymore, secondly I'd end up spending a fortune for such an old machine.

As I said, I'd love to find some kind of OS which allowed me to use this machine as an 'Internet machine', you know: browsing, watching videos and having "apps" that do stuff!

So, anyone?

 

[Kyle Gibb]

Not sure you would have the horsepower to run Flash videos (or any other kind) based on the specs you mentioned.