Thursday, December 31, 2009

Android 2.0 Running on Sun's VirtualBox - Very Nice

I put opensolaris 0906 on three different systems during this holiday break (upgrading from previous versions of opensolaris).  opensolaris has an amazing list of systems that are supported.

Something I installed yesterday and very impressed with is Google's 
Android 2.0 running on VirtualBox.




Above is a screenshot of VirtualBox running Android 2.0 on my Toshiba notebook that is running opensolaris 0906.


It is brain dead easy to install both:

  1. Download VirtualBox.
  2. Goto VirtualBoxImages.com to download a VMI that has Google's Android 2.0
The advantage of doing it the above way is that you completely eliminate downloading then installing an iso image since you are downloading an appliance.  The short instructions are at the links - it could not be any easier.

As you work with Android on VirtualBox it is important to remember the control key that toggles between your host OS and your guest OS (it is typically the RIGHT_CONTROL_KEY) as well as the ESC key inside Android which will switch back to the main screen.

Android has a real opportunity to take significant market share from the iPhone because it is Developer Friendly and an open system.  It will be interesting to watch this market play itself out in the next few months and years to come.