Gizmo-DO Android

From GizmoForYou Wiki

Credits

The Android port to FLOW and implementation of features is a community effort and we are only making a fraction of all the work that is needed for completely make FLOW operational with all the features in the device. There are several individuals that have made an incredible effort to help us and the least that we can do is mention them here.

• Elvis Dowson - Android Port and Kernel patches for the FLOW (a large chunk of work that simply cannot go unnoticed) as well as Button implementation and other features.
• Ke - A member of the Android-Porting community who helped us implement the WiFi module located on the Overo Fire platform and make the necessary changes to make it work on Android.

Overview

Here you will find all the information that we have about porting Android on the FLOW which is based on the Gumstix Overo Platform. We shall try and explain the entire process of preparing and working with this Gizmo. Starting from flashing your Out Of The Box FLOW and finishing with tips on how to upload new applications and customize your theme.

Have in mind that a more detailed information on Build Environment and Linux in General for the Overo Platform can be found at Gumstix Website. The information here is mostly related to features of FLOW.

Getting started

Before we begin explaining how to port the wonderful Operating System Android onto the FLOW you have to firstly setup the Build environment on your development machine and configure the Kernel for the FLOW hardware. How to do this is described in the FLOW Build Environment section of this wiki. This information is based on the basic build setup which can be found Gumstix Wiki, since FLOW is based on the Overo (OMAP35xx) platform.

Downloading pre-built images

You can find prebuilt images of the MLO, u-boot, Kernel (uImage) and the filesystem with Android already setup for the FLOW hardware in the Files section of the project.

Writing images on to FLOW

You can read about how to setup the bootable Micro-SD card for the FLOW and upload ether built or downloaded images and Filesystem in the Setting up the microSD section.

Resources

This section provides links to Android related resources.

Android Websites

• Android Official Website.
• Android Developers.
• Android on bc9. This page contains useful information on how Android was successfully ported to a gumstix Verdex Pro with the ConsoleLCD16-vx and the 4.3" Samsung LCD touchscreen panel.
• Android on OMAP. This page collects information about and guides you through the installation of Google's Android on TI's ARM based OMAP SoCs.
• Android on Beagle Project.
• Android Porting Guide to Beagle Board.
• Android on OMAP Zoom.

Android Framework & APIs

Here are some Videos that explains the Android framework and APIs. It also explains the high level architecture of the android system. It will come in handy, when pulling packages from git repositories.

• Androidology - Part 1 of 3 - Architecture Overview
• Androidology - Part 2 of 3 - Application Lifecycle
• Androidology - Part 3 of 3 - APIs

Android Programming Tutorials

• A first hand look at building an Android application
• Google I/O 2008 - Building an Android Application 101

Porting Android From Source

For those who don't wish to download already compiled images for the FLOW with all the drivers set up and Android already preloaded then read the below information on how to do the process your self.

The steps described here are the same steps that we took in order to compile and customize the environment for the FLOW hardware and the Gumstix Overo Platform. More information on Gumstix platforms and hardware support can be found at Gumstix website.

Porting Android

Android has been ported in many platforms and information about this is located at sites of individual devices. With the help of the community and some very talented and smart people we have managed to port Android onto the FLOW which operates on the Overo platform. In order to port Android on the the FLOW please read the Porting Android section.

Customizing Android

Below are some links to forums and pages with information regarding Android Themes and Custom Widgets as well as Concepts to new development ideas on Android themes in general.

• Android Themes Forum
• Sweeter Home Shows Huge Potential For Custom Android Themes
• Android Community Forum

Since FLOW is completely customizable we have done a GizmoForYou theme it in order to look well with the Look & Feel images of the enclosure. This should give you an idea on how to make your own themes and customizations for Android.

You can check out our small tutorial on making the GizmoForYou theme in the Android Theme Tutorial section.

Changing the Look & Feel

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Adding New Applications

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