Dell Axim X51v Android (AstainHellbring Edition)

[LennySh]

Ok, me and AstainHellbring are working on porting the Google Android OS over to the Axim X51v. He's doing all the work since he is the long time user/tweaker of Linux. I just am helping out however I can. He has agreed to help us port it over to the device, as well as maintain all future updates/releases of Android as newer releases/sources come to the public.

But we have one problem, he does not actually have a Dell Axim X51v to test with. Even though this may be possible to do without the device, I would personally like to see it released before 2018. So I would like to ask you to donate to this cause if you too would like to see Android on this device. Everybody that donates, will be come Tier2 (Level2) testers of the new open source operating system.

Thanks to a nice little application called Haret, we are able to almost fully test the OS from within Windows Mobile with no changes to the Windows Mobile OS at all. Basically, Haret is a Linux Emulator, and we're making the ROM for it. Once the ROM is perfect, then we'll work on a 100% Android ROM that will be ran natively on the device, instead of with the help of Haret from within WM. That will be when we can see the true colors of the OS, and how fast it truly is.

If you would like to help out on this project, then please click here to donate to it to help him get a device to test/develop on, and to help out with future releases.

Please include the nickname you use on this site in the donation if you wish to become a Tier2 Beta Tester.

This is very exciting... just made a donation to the cause.

[tdbaer]

Would love to contribute but I don't get my pittance till the end of the week. Look for it then. I have wanted to see Linux on the PPC platform for a very long time.

[LennySh]

Thanks so much!... I think we have made some progress with it already with me testing his releases, but don't know yet as to how far we are from it. I'm monitoring at least 2 or 3 other Axim-Android related threads to try and combine all the info read into this project. One thread is for PPC Phones running a totally diff hardware set, but the other one is for the X50v. I don't think they've had as much luck as we have yet, but then again, I'm not even sure how much we've had yet...

So thanks so much for all your contributions, and you will not be disappointed. Now I just wish my old lappy would work so I could run Ubuntu on it, and help out with this project, but then again, I'm a Linux . I've used it for a lil, but not much... Thanks again!

[AstainHellbring]

I would also like to post my thanks for the donations. These are greatly appreciated and I commit that we will work hard to create a nice stable android rom for us all to have fun with. There is so much going on with android right now its amazing.

[greenhorn08]

Thanks and Good luck dudes!!! This is very exciting stuff.

You guys on the dev scene have totally resurrected the x51v

In recent months I was considering eBaying my x51v!!! But now, no way! As others have pointed out, with the new roms, one can actually surf on these little devices! Yahoo!

[prikolchik]

Whoa! That sounds pretty cool!

I would love to donate 10 bux but is there any way i can do it anonymously so that you dont see my mailing address? I'm using PayPal account that i generally use for my ebay shopping.

[ricjaywhit]

Hi Lenny,
Thanks for all you do for us people in the x51v world. Just sent my $10
for the android.

Rich

[LennySh]

Originally Posted by prikolchik

Whoa! That sounds pretty cool!

I would love to donate 10 bux but is there any way i can do it anonymously so that you don't see my mailing address? I'm using PayPal account that i generally use for my eBay shopping.

I would say you might could setup a new PayPal, change the address to a fake one, use your other paypal to transfer the money to new paypal, then donate using new paypal...

Or, maybe just changing the address in your paypal to a fake one, send the money, then change it back...

Either way, just make sure u include ur nickname...

[hosh]

I've been waiting for android on x51v for some time. I will sent my donation when I get paid.

Unfortunately, there is an important problem. All of our wifi wpa problems are related with acx100 chip produced by Texas Instruments. Unfortunately, there is none public documents about that hardware. So, Dell used the drivers written by TI, I think. I read a lot about un-succesfull linux drivers for pc compatible wifi cards.
More info: http://www.handhelds.org/moin/moin.c...ximX50Hardware
http://acx100.sourceforge.net/

I don't expect a driver written for Axim x51v by other than a Texas Instruments engineer

[AstainHellbring]

Yes this may make things interesting but just to have android will be a hell of a start and we'll have to see where we can get from there on the further drivers

[pda-n3rd]

hi,

are there ane screenshots of this OS?

[nellyspageli]

the thing about this android is, it was designed for a cellular device which is constantly connected to a network. this is a great idea, im not trying to put you guys down, but most of the apps written for the android platform are going to rely on this constant stream of data and won't be able to cache or store the data since they dont need to. im sure you guys will be able to find a way around this! best of luck, i look forward to this release!

a dual-boot android/windows mobile would be totally kick-ass, but i think that is asking too much because that would mean that there would need to be two roms...

[AstainHellbring]

thing is so does windows mobile... there are tons of apps that will just run from device and axim has BT and wifi so it can get its data I'm willing to bet we can work around any isssue like that. from what I've seen so far not really all that many apps are requiring constant data access for android

[DJUnreal]

I'm sure myself, Lenny and Astain can get this sorted between us. Yes, that's right, I've been added to the Tier1 team. We will be doing everything we can to keep you people updated

Any more questions?

Keep those donations coming in, guys and gals...

[LennySh]

Lots of interesting talk in here about some real good points. On the dual-boot issue, there is a method of a special 3-key sequence that you can use upon booting (Early stages of Dell Logo) that you can press, and it will tell the device to boot a special ROM image that is loaded on the CF card. That ROM image is only one .IMG file, and thats it. This is the method the Linux OS was gonna use once they got that OS 100%, or damn close. So I think we should be able to do the same with this OS. This method only requires a soft reset to go back to Windows Mobile. So this is in fact a dual boot method that is already there. I'm actually gonna look into this, and see if by chance I can put a WM5 IMG file on my CF, and be able to boot WM5 when needed for testing compatibility between WM6.1 and the native WM5. Only thing is, we should be able to get damn close to 100% being that most of the hardware in the Axim is identical to the hardware in the HTC Phones that Android will be coming on, not to mention that HTC is due to release drivers for Dev's to port Android to some of the more popular devices. And since the Axim is made by HTC, then this looks promising.

As far as the phone only stuff, this OS should be easy to remove the phone related stuff, while still being able to use the OS for other stuff, while using WiFi and Bluetooth for any data connections needed. And yes, Windows Mobile is designed to stay online 100% of the time, and never be disconnected. My phone basically is online all the time. Unless my battery goes weak, I leave it that way. It uses a standby mode on the data connection when it's not in use to not drain very much power, so on that note, Android will be no different. There will be plenty of Apps made that do not need a constant connection, or any connection at all for that matter. I've seen plenty of talk about a bunch of different games being made for this OS already. So at least we can play!

Thanks for all the donations so far! Please keep them coming!

[prikolchik]

Originally Posted by LennySh

I would say you might could setup a new PayPal, change the address to a fake one, use your other paypal to transfer the money to new paypal, then donate using new paypal...

Or, maybe just changing the address in your paypal to a fake one, send the money, then change it back...

Either way, just make sure u include ur nickname...

Donated $10 USD from a fictitious Yukon address Wasn't that hard.

PS: First time ever i donated through PayPal

PPS: I hope there will be atleast screenshots or pre-alpha so we could see what it is all about..

[greenhorn08]

Originally Posted by prikolchik

...snip...

PPS: I hope there will be atleast screenshots or pre-alpha so we could see what it is all about..

Here is a link to Google's Android home page: http://code.google.com/android/. The page contains some YouTube's with glimpses of prototype devices running the Android platform.... maybe gives us an idea of what we can look forward to?

[omar]

Whow! I would like to see Linux on my X51v! The only thing I would like even more were to put my hands on Lenny's kitchen.
I just made my donation.