I've decided to do a little more experimentation with my home-brewed
glass panel display.
So I purchased at 10" Android tablet computer to see if I can make my
script files run on this platform. I paid $159 for the computer from
"http://buy.com" with free shipping.
It seems to be designed mostly as a toy. It works great for emails and
stuff, is kinda slow at browsing the web when web pages are complex, and
so far I have not managed to figure out how to run any custom software
on it. An Android SDK (Software Development Kit) is available, but
after examining its features I've concluded that I may not have enough
years left on this planet to reap any benefits from studying the SDK.
I have found web sites that describe methods of making small Android
devices boot Linux, so I ordered some micro-SD memory cards which appear
to be necessary for Linux usage. The trick is to get the device to boot
off the external SD card instead of the internal solid state memory. We
will see.
R Berglund
Agptek 10" 8GB
Android 4.0 Ice
Cream Sandwich
Tablet - Wi-Fi,
ARM Cortex-A9 1
GHz, Multi-touch
Screen 1024 x 600
WSVGA Display, 1GB
RAM, Front
Camera/Webcam
That pretty much parallels the experience I have had with the Auzus
Transformer. They
are mostly toys without enough I/O for serious use.
I assume you did not get a USB port with yours.
Paul Lamar
It appears to have two mini-USB ports. At least one of them works; I
connected it to a thumb drive and was able to view stored images.
R Berglund
You should be able to boot Linux off that.
You can get into the Linux that is in there by getting a terminal app.
I have "Terminal Emulator" in ours. There is a bunch of them.
Some are free.
You have to be root to see everything and so far I have not discovered
how to do that
but I have not really tried.
Works best with an external keyboard.
Paul Lamar
---------------------------------------------------
Robin, my wife just discovered Terminal IDE by Spartacus Rex
with a full Java/HTML/Android development kit, that runs on your Android
device.
Five stars. Free! 590 users so far.
IDE = Integrated Development Environment. Hopefully it supports the USB
ports.
Paul Lamar
What you need to do is create a development environment on your PC,
then write code in "JAVA". Sorry, no C, no Assembly here.
Once finished, you simply compile it into an APK file. With that, you
can copy it to your Android device, and install the APP, just like you
would with any downloaded APPs.
It is possible to access USB to Serial converter. That way you can
talk to any serial device. The strength of the Android is that it is a
very inexpensive device with a touch screen panel. Current factory
price, for a single core, non-registered panel with an ARM processor
running at over 1GHz is around US$50. That is without GPS. Figure
about $100 for everything including Wifi.
The really cheap one has a processor between 600 to 800 MHz and is
usually very hot and have short battery life.
Henry Nee
I have been using a new windows tablet in my plane with a Pixel Qi screen.
That is e-ink like technology in an LCD on a windows tablet. Totally
awesome in direct sunlight. Not cheap because they are low volume, but way
less than a high end 2k nit LCD with much less power draw. I got it from
Sol computer: http://www.solcomputer.com/
