[Q] Dual-booting Dell Venue 8 Pro with Android

elixir_pr · Jan 8, 2014

Hi,
Is there any chance of dualbooting Dell Venue 8 Pro with Windows 8 and Android? I like Windows 8 but would also like to be able to use Android on this awesome tablet.
If not dual boot, is there any other way of using Android as virtual machine or something that provides full touch and other sensor's support?
Thanks.

Anonymously_Unknown · Jan 8, 2014

Don't "think" Android. Think Linux instead. It theoretically can be done, but the fact that the UEFI is 32bit while Linux uses 64bit.
You would disable Secure Boot in the BIOS. The other issue is a lack of drivers for the touchscreen during installation.
The stress isn't worth it in my opinion. Leave the device stock as is.

A_Str8 · Jan 9, 2014

I'm waiting for my Venue to arrive. I plan to try running Android on it with Genymotion
http://www.genymotion.com/

Anonymously_Unknown · Jan 9, 2014

Not worth it

A_Str8 said:
I'm waiting for my Venue to arrive. I plan to try running Android on it with Genymotion
http://www.genymotion.com/

I'm downloading it now since it is just an emulator running inside VirtualBox.
There are many Android games, that I've already boght and would want to be able to play on the Venue8 Pro. I'll let you know how it works out in a few hours.

EDIT: I've installed and ran the application. As it stated, it is really just an emulator VirtualBox running a stripped down Android image.
Enabling my real cam with the emulator gave me my first BSOD. Installed a few premium games that I had purchased on my real device. The frame rate in the virtual environment wasn't smooth. It was obvious that you were using an emulator. Genymotion is a very good attempt at emulating Andriod on a running PC, however this solution is not for me. It isn't a replacement for a dual-boot scenario with the native OS.

elixir_pr · Jan 9, 2014

So what would you guys recommend? I have tried both BlueStacks player and an Android virual machine on my Venue 8 Pro. I really want to be running Android smoothly.

Anonymously_Unknown · Jan 9, 2014

To be honest, Genymotion, is smoother than Bluestacks, since it has the Vanilla Android interface (without Samsung's Touchwiz or HTC's Sense). The problem is with trying to use the tablet's hardware such as the camera or gyroscope. The process is then not smooth and gameplay (for serious graphic intensive android games) are choppy or lagging at best. You get the feeling that it is all being emulated and not virtualized in the true sense.

I'm convinced you would have better success running Linux natively then finding a method of running Android apps as opposed to running Android on the device.

Android requires an ARM SoC processor. The Venue 8 Pro uses a full X86/64-bit processor. Therefore Android would need to be re-compiled. This isn't worth the effort in my opinion.

A_Str8 · Jan 9, 2014

I'm wondering if these instructions will work for the Venue. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2321292

Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

Anonymously_Unknown · Jan 9, 2014

It looks plausible. I'd create a system image of my entire system partiotion before even attempting this.

elixir_pr · Jan 10, 2014

Anonymously_Unknown said:
To be honest, Genymotion, is smoother than Bluestacks, since it has the Vanilla Android interface (without Samsung's Touchwiz or HTC's Sense). The problem is with trying to use the tablet's hardware such as the camera or gyroscope. The process is then not smooth and gameplay (for serious graphic intensive android games) are choppy or lagging at best. You get the feeling that it is all being emulated and not virtualized in the true sense.

I'm convinced you would have better success running Linux natively then finding a method of running Android apps as opposed to running Android on the device.

Android requires an ARM SoC processor. The Venue 8 Pro uses a full X86/64-bit processor. Therefore Android would need to be re-compiled. This isn't worth the effort in my opinion.

But isn't install Linux also difficult (given the UEFI problems)? And will I be able to run Android apps smoothly on Linux somehow?

Anonymously_Unknown · Jan 10, 2014

Linux to me would be easier since it already "exists" for PC. You should be able to install it in theory with a USB mouse and keyboard attached to a USB hub. Android on the other hand would simply not work "natively" with your Dell Venue 8 since it would have to be re-compiled for this purpose. I can't imagine why the source code for an Android app can't be re-compiled for Linux despite the differences in processor type.

My only desire for Android on my Tablet is to be able to play all those games that I've bought for my Samsung Galaxy Note2,
If I knew how to compile Android from source code and simply slipstream the touchscreen drivers that would be great. Let's agree to propose this to the developers in the phone section of this forum such as Cyanogem Mod so that something can be custom built for our devices.

SixSixSevenSeven · Jan 10, 2014

Contrary to the above poster. There is no issue with android across architectures.

Android apps are compiled to dalvik bytecode and run within the dalvik virtual machine. Its platform independent. x86 builds of android exist. There are x86 android devices on shelves, there is android-x86 and there is android-ia. Android is also available on MIPS processors. Community ports to PowerPC have been done. As long as you have a dalvik virtual machine you can run the dalvik bytecode, problem solved.

The driver issue is a big one. x86 operating systems dont have the issue of having to target different devices. But there arent touchscreen, wifi, bluetooth or sensor drivers for all combinations of hardware out there. The asus w700 seems to be the device best off in that regard.

Theoretically it could be done for the venue though. Without those drivers though it will be unusably slow (software drawn screen etc) and interaction wouldnt be possible without external USB.

Anonymously_Unknown · Jan 10, 2014

SixSixSevenSeven said:
x86 builds of android exist.

Thanks for letting me know.

CL0SeY · Jan 12, 2014

Has anyone given this a go with the Venue Pro 8 yet? The IA (Intel architecture) android project seems quite mature. You could try booting from an SD card?

elixir_pr · Jan 12, 2014

CL0SeY said:
Has anyone given this a go with the Venue Pro 8 yet? The IA (Intel architecture) android project seems quite mature. You could try booting from an SD card?

I was thinking of trying that but was too afraid to run into a problem that would ruin my new tablet.

xueyao · Jan 12, 2014

Atom x86 phones and tablets use libhoudini to be able to run arm apps, so android dual boot is theoretically possible

SM N9005 Rocking Temasek CM11 With Temasek Kernel

SixSixSevenSeven · Jan 12, 2014

xueyao said:
Atom x86 phones and tablets use libhoudini to be able to run arm apps, so android dual boot is theoretically possible

SM N9005 Rocking Temasek CM11 With Temasek Kernel

thats a different problem and solution entirely

A_Str8 · Jan 13, 2014

CL0SeY said:
Has anyone given this a go with the Venue Pro 8 yet? The IA (Intel architecture) android project seems quite mature. You could try booting from an SD card?

From what I've read, booting from an SD card is not an possible. That's what has stopped me from trying this. I'm not interested in resizing my C drive

In theory, it sounds like the Acer instructions should work on the Dell, but once you're in Android, there may be some driver issues.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

elixir_pr · Jan 15, 2014

A_Str8 said:
From what I've read, booting from an SD card is not an possible. That's what has stopped me from trying this. I'm not interested in resizing my C drive

In theory, it sounds like the Acer instructions should work on the Dell, but once you're in Android, there may be some driver issues.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

I am planning to give this a try if it this doesn't break my Venue 8 Pro. Will it break it?

CL0SeY · Jan 15, 2014

elixir_pr said:
I am planning to give this a try if it this doesn't break my Venue 8 Pro. Will it break it?

There is never any guarantee of not breaking a device! Perhaps starting with a USB OTG cable and booting the USB might be a first step - without installing to the device... that is if that is possible. I know it worked on my x86-64bit laptop, but the Venue Pro 8 is 32 bit apparently?

Anyway I don't have a Venue Pro 8 of my own... perhaps there is a guide somewhere on taking a full backup of your SSD in the device (or a similar device), including all the partitions etc?

masterchiefb117 · Jan 30, 2014

CL0SeY said:
There is never any guarantee of not breaking a device! Perhaps starting with a USB OTG cable and booting the USB might be a first step - without installing to the device... that is if that is possible. I know it worked on my x86-64bit laptop, but the Venue Pro 8 is 32 bit apparently?

Anyway I don't have a Venue Pro 8 of my own... perhaps there is a guide somewhere on taking a full backup of your SSD in the device (or a similar device), including all the partitions etc?

I about to take the plunge very soon. I just completed the usb part of the tut. I am gonna use the IA3 file. I guess Ill see what happens soon. I already took the time to offload my backup on a usb, initially to make more space since I got the 16gig which really left me with only 6-8 gb. Taking out the recovery partition made about 3.45 gb free from the tab.

I already disabled "Secure Boot"
After doing this and restarting this you will run into the problem about the bitlocker and needing to type in your bitlocker code from MS again. You could bypass and disable this by hitting disable bitlocker. But for the concern it will come up. I plan on making a thread for this and be the pioneer guy.

So yeah kinda scared to start it as I got this when MS store had there $99 deal.... waited for 8 hours till i got mine and hate to break it....

[Q] Dual-booting Dell Venue 8 Pro with Android

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