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Android-x86 r2.1-update1 (Eclair) on the Dell Mini 9, 10, and 10V

Warning!

#include <std_disclaimer.h>
/*
 * Your warranty is now void.
 *
 * Android-x86 r2.1-update1 for the Dell Mini is not well tested on the three Mini's
 * I've tried it on, may or may not work with the various combinations of hardware
 * offered by Dell in the Mini series.  Android-x86 for the Mini has lot of bugs,
 * limitations, and annoying features.  I am making it available for hackers,
 * geeks, power users, developers and people who are willing/able to help debug
 * the distribution and make it better.
 *
 * Install at your own risk!  Improperly installing Android-x86 can lead to hard
 * drive erasure, and could render your Mini un-bootable.  Make sure your Mini is
 * backed up, and not mission-critical for you before you attempt to run this software.
 *
 * This distribution is not affialiated with nor endorsed by Dell, Inc.  All trademarks
 * are property of their respective owners.
 *
 * THE SOFTWARE IS OFFERED "AS IS," AND MAGICANDROIDAPPS GRANTS AND 
 * LICENSEE RECEIVES NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, BY STATUTE,
 * COMMUNICATION OR CONDUCT WITH LICENSEE, OR OTHERWISE.  MAGICANDROIDAPPS
 * SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
 * FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE OR NONINFRINGEMENT CONCERNING THE SOFTWARE OR ANY
 * UPGRADES TO OR DOCUMENTATION FOR THE SOFTWARE.  WITHOUT LIMITATION OF THE 
 * ABOVE, MAGICANDROIDAPPS GRANTS NO WARRANTY THAT THE SOFTWARE IS ERROR-FREE
 * OR WILL OPERATE WITHOUT INTERRUPTION, AND GRANTS NO WARRANTY REGARDING ITS
 * USE OR THE RESULTS THEREFROM INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ITS CORRECTNESS,
 * ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY.
 *
 */

Overview

The Dell Mini 9, 10, and 10V can now run Android-x86 r2.1-update1.

Download

Please choose the USB image or ISO (CD-ROM) image:

USB Image

You can download a USB image, which can be copied to a USB stick and booted on your Dell Mini. Using this, you can run Android-x86 "live" or install Android-x86 to your Mini's hard drive. Installing to the hard drive will erase everything else from your Mini, so I would not suggest doing it, unless you really love Android.

Download USB Image dellmini_usb.img.gz (207MB.)

Be sure to gunzip the USB Image before writing it to a USB FLASH Drive!

linux$ gunzip dellmini_usb.img.gz

ISO (CD-ROM) Image

You can download an ISO image that can be burned onto a CD-ROM and used with an external CD-ROM drive on your Mini. Using this, you can run Android-x86 "live" or install Android-x86 to your Mini's hard drive. Installing to the hard drive will erase everything else from your Mini, so I would not suggest doing it, unless you really love Android.

Download ISO Image dellmini.iso.gz (206MB.)

Be sure to gunzip the ISO image before burning it to a CD-ROM!

linux$ gunzip dellmini.iso.gz

Installation

You will need a Unix/Linux system to write the USB image to a USB FLASH Drive.

1. Un-gzip the USB .img file:

linux$ gunzip dellmini_usb.img.gz

2. Connect your USB FLASH Drive to your Linux machine. Determine the drive letter of your USB drive as follows:

linux# dmesg -c

Examine the syslog output, and look for the newly inserted USB drive. It should be something like /dev/sdX where X is the letter of the USB FLASH drive. Don't get this wrong, or you could end up overwriting the hard drive in your computer.

3. Copy the dellmini_usb.img to the FLASH Drive as follows (substitute X for the drive letter you found in step 1.)

linux# dd if=dellmini_usb.img of=/dev/sdX

4. After the image is copied (takes about five or six minutes), remove the USB FLASH Drive from your computer.

5. Make sure your Mini is powered off, then insert the USB FLASH Drive into a USB port on the Mini. Boot the Mini, and make sure the BIOS is configured to boot from USB Drives. If you don't type anything during boot, Android-x86 will boot up in "Live" mode. In this mode, nothing should be changed on your Mini's hard disk, and all of your settings/changes to Android-x86 will be lost upon reboot.

6. You will most likely have to disable power management. Do this in Settings->Applications->Development by checking "Stay Awake."

Installation to your Mini's Hard Disk

See the Tutorial on the Android-x86 web site.

(Slightly) Tested Models

  * Dell Mini 9
  * Dell Mini 10
  * Dell Mini 10V

Feature	Mini 9	Min 10	Mini 10V	Notes
Display	Yes (1024x600 VESA)	Yes (1024x576 VESA)	Yes (1024x576 VESA)
Power Mgmt	Yes	No	Yes	Mini 10 will not resume, check "Stay Awake" under Settings->Applications->Development
Ethernet	Yes	Yes	Yes
WLAN	Yes	Yes	Yes
BT	Yes	???	No	The Mini 10 that I have does not have BT.
Sound	No	No	No	Not even through BT A2DP Headset, and can't even select ringtones.
Trackpad	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hard Disk	Yes	Yes	Yes
USB	Yes	Yes	Yes
SDCARD Reader	Yes	No	No
GPS	N/A	No	N/A

WiFi on the Mini

Wifi is working on the Mini 9, 10 and 10V. Please be patient with it. It can take a few seconds to join a network, and Android'd UI will take a while to go from "Remembered" to "Obtaining IP Address" to "Connected."

Known Issues / Release Notes

Using UVESA framebuffer driver is required with the 2.6.31 kernel. Screen gets corrupted on resume without this.
Power management on the Mini 10 is broken, so make sure you disable it in Settings->Applications->Development->Stay Awake. It seems to work on the Mini 9 and 10V, at least from the limited testing I've done.
WLAN may not reconnect automatically on resume.
Audio is broken on the all Mini's. This might be a more generic issue, since it is not possible to even select ringtones (although they are copied to system/media/) and audio via BT A2DP Headset doesn't work.
BT does not work on Mini 10V, not sure about Mini 10, and works on Mini 9.
PinyinIME is enabled by default, as is Android Keyboard. Since the Mini has a physical keyboard, it's usually desirable to turn these off in Settings->Language and Keyboard
You may experience random lock-ups, reboots, etc, even with power management disabled.
Source not available yet. I am working to get the changes merged upstream.

Debugging

You can use the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to debug Android-x86. You can use ADB running on either Linux or Windows hosts, with or without the Android Eclipse IDE. To use ADB with Android-x86 on the Dell Mini, you need to have your Mini connected via Ethernet to your local area network.

1. Note the IP Address of your Mini running Android-x86: open Better Terminal Emulator Pro included with Android-x86 for the Mini, and type 'netcfg'. Look for the IP address of the eth0 adapter.

2. On your ADB machine, set the ADBHOST environment variable to this IP address:

linux$ export ADBHOST=192.168.0.105
windows> set ADBHOST=192.168.0.105

3. Kill the ADB server if it is already running:

adb kill-server

4. Connect to the Linux shell of your Dell Mini:

adb shell

Reporting issues

If you have issues with Android-x86 r2.1-update1 for the Dell Mini not reported above, you can Contact MagicAndroidApps.

Please remember that this software is not well tested/debugged.

Building from Source

I am currently working on Froyo-x86 for the Dell Mini. This is a work in progress, but here are some notes on building it:

$ . build/envsetup.sh
$ lunch dellmini-eng
$ m -j4 usb_img
# dd if=out/target/product/dellmini/dellmini_usb.img of=/dev/sdX

Dell Mini