[ale] difference between android and linux ?

[Ron Frazier]

Mike,

Thanks for the info.  OK, the essence of what you're saying is, Android 
is a variant of Linux and Ubuntu (and other similar) are variants of 
Linux, but as a practical matter, they're not software compatible.  So, 
if I get an Android tablet, I would get apps from the Android 
marketplace (if supported) and independent Android websites.  If I get a 
Linux tablet, I would apps from it's repositories or independent Linux 
websites.  The software from the one would not work on the other type of 
platform unless the software specifically mentioned that it works on 
Android or Linux respectively.

That brings up a couple of more questions.  Hypothetically, say I get an 
ARM9 Android tablet with 512 MB RAM and a 500 MHz processor.  Is it 
possible to reflash it to run either Android (as designed) or a variant 
of GNU/Linux, and to switch back and forth between the two, so I can do 
development and testing either way.  Also, I'm seeing designations of 
several types of ARM processors, such as ARM v5, ARM 9, ARM v9, etc.  Do 
these variations substantially affect the capabilities of the system and 
is it something I need to be worried about.

Sincerely,

Ron

On 8/12/2011 3:36 PM, Michael B. Trausch wrote:
> On 08/12/2011 03:18 PM, Ron Frazier wrote:
>    
>> Forgive me if this is too simple or obvious to some.  What is the main
>> difference between Android and other Linux distros such as Ubuntu or
>> Fedora.  Can an Android device run other Linux's in general?  Can a
>> Linux device of another flavor generally run Android?
>>      
> This is where "GNU/Linux" becomes useful in defining systems.
>
> Most typical distributions that are built around the Linux kernel are
> GNU/Linux systems, with extra stuff built around the GNU/Linux system.
> For example, Slackware, Debian, RHEL, Ubuntu... they are all GNU/Linux
> systems with differing strategies for package management and system
> maintenance.
>
> Android, OTOH, is _not_ GNU/Linux.  It uses the Linux kernel, but it has
> a completely different runtime environment right on down to the C
> library.  Most development for Android other than Android itself takes
> places in the context of the Dalvik VM engine.
>
> If you were to write an application that spoke "directly" to the kernel
> and did not depend on kernel features that are disabled in typical
> Android builds (and the application didn't have excessive hardware
> requirements) then the application would run just as well on
> Android/Linux as it would on GNU/Linux.  However, most applications
> depend on certain things that exist in the GNU/Linux stack that do _not_
> exist in the typical Android/Linux stacks, including glibc.
>
> I could probably write a dozen pages more on this topic, but I'll hold
> back unless there's interest in details.  You can also take a look
> around yourself by checking out a copy of the AOSP (Android Open Source
> Platform) and comparing it with the stack of virtually any GNU/Linux
> distribution.
>
> 	--- Mike

-- 

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Ron Frazier

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