R U ready to become a developer?
LoopyByteloose
Posts: 12,537
I've been interested in Beagle Boards, Panda Boards, the Raspberry Pi, and now I finally have my own Cubieboard.
Just because it is so open, I have perferred Linux to Android. But the more I look at what I have and what is offered, the Android support is much more sophisticated than Linux. Much of what I might like to do in Linux would be a longer journey to the finish line.
On the other hand, Android is inviting just about anyone with an idea to become a developer. I am not sure I have enough fresh ideas or enthusiasm to come up with a new app for anything, but this is certainly an opportunity for youth amongst the Parallaxians to make use of what they have learned.
I am rather amused that I can a version of MS Office for the Android for under $10USD, which the same will cost me hundreds of dollars in Windows7.
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/102065/Android-A-beginner-s-guide
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/102065/Android-A-beginner-s-guide
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/want-to-learn-how-to-program-for-android-start-here/
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/want-to-learn-how-to-program-for-android-start-here/
http://developer.android.com/index.html
http://developer.android.com/index.html
Just because it is so open, I have perferred Linux to Android. But the more I look at what I have and what is offered, the Android support is much more sophisticated than Linux. Much of what I might like to do in Linux would be a longer journey to the finish line.
On the other hand, Android is inviting just about anyone with an idea to become a developer. I am not sure I have enough fresh ideas or enthusiasm to come up with a new app for anything, but this is certainly an opportunity for youth amongst the Parallaxians to make use of what they have learned.
I am rather amused that I can a version of MS Office for the Android for under $10USD, which the same will cost me hundreds of dollars in Windows7.
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/102065/Android-A-beginner-s-guide
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/102065/Android-A-beginner-s-guide
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/want-to-learn-how-to-program-for-android-start-here/
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/want-to-learn-how-to-program-for-android-start-here/
http://developer.android.com/index.html
http://developer.android.com/index.html
Comments
There are a lot more useful things I can run on Debian on my Raspi than there are for Android. I would say "Linux is inviting just about anyone with an idea to become a developer."
For example I can run propgcc and SimpleIDE on there and develop C and Spin for my Propellers. That may not be so easy under Android.
There are tons of editors for Linux and LibreOffice gets me as close to MS Windows as I ever want to be.
Of course if you have a touchscreen the Android user interface may be preferable for some dedicated app you have in mind.
In a perfect world we would have the option of running the Android GUI with Debian after all Android does sit on top Linux (actually I believe there are such set ups though I have never seriously looked).
Meaning that after one compiles the linux kernel for a processor, the work begins.
If one wants a user interface, Android is a set of GUI oriented tools for touch screens and smart phones etc. Linux OS distributions like ubuntu etc are more oriented towards workstations. Either options is more appropriate with a particular set of user input device options, workstation or smart phone. But there is overlap. If we want Ubuntu on a smart phone, there would probably be some additional work to get the touchscreen, minimalist keyboard,accelerometer etc to function properly and integrate these into a system. If we have a workstation, and don't have an accelerometer, etc; android might not be as useful.
So the choice is dependent upon what direction one wants to go. Loopy has a cubieboard, similar to RPi with 2x the RAM, NAND flash, and a SATA interface, at a higher price. Both boards are equal candidate for linux. Both have potential for use with Android. The question is "What is the end user application?" If the goal is a very specific embedded applications, usually one option or the other will show specific advantages. If the end goal is to "mess around and make it dance" (which is often the goal of experimenting with new hardware), any option has appeal.
"Rooting" android means "getting the linux command line with administrative function". Usually on a purchased device with a purposefully closed system.
For the most part, Linux alone means "lacking the functions of android", and android means "these functions on top of a linux kernel".
I am sure some of you will argue with my semantics, but I doubt that I'd ever get it right for everyone.
For the most part I personally prefer Linux as it is able to do more at low-levels. On the other hand, bringing something to the public to use generally means that it has to be as visually appealing as possible. I have read that 75% of the people in the world are graphically oriented and selling them is not about what's under-the-hood. It is about the nice shiny appearance of the product.
In general I use Linux, Ubuntu Linux - as I like to learn about the under-the=hood stuff. But since MS provides an OS whether I want it or not, I have dual boot XP, Vista, and Windows7 on my 3 computers. The Vista is a very visually seductive OS interface. If it worked as well as it looked, I'd probably never have gone to Linux. I suppose a lot of Apple users are loyal because they have a Unix-based system that is very stable while the visually sensual display that Apple has long been famous for.
Android tries to compete with both MS and Apple by doing what Apple does so well and using Linux under-the-hood.
Overall, I just wanted to mention that some of us can at least try our hand at developing with Android for a very low entry cost. Apple and MS are generally a lot more cash out of pocket to do so. One might even find a way to create an Android/Propeller app that might be quite useful and fun. One might have something like an Android based device communicate with a Parallax Spinnerette over the Internet to control and monitor devices remotely.
The idea is to template HTML gadgets for viewing and controlling remote processes with a browser. And - make it easy to use, which is the hard part.
BTW, all the new W5200 code runs on the Spinneret with very little configuration changes. Sorry if I derailed this thread a bit.