Hacking Android on Wii

[LightyKD]

So I'm sitting here and I'm trying to figure out why Android was never ported over to the Wii, by this community. The obvious reasons begin to enter my mind. We focused on emulators, media players and linux. I have been doing a small amount of research and it seems like the latest version of Android that could possibly be ported to Wii would be Gingerbread. Google claims that it has "no minimum processor limit" and I read somewhere else that at minimum, it might be able to run on 80-100 megs of RAM. The safest thing would be to try for a lower version of Android

Apparently someone has started work on a PowerPC version of android
https://code.google.com/p/ppcdroid/

Here's another link of somebody else's PPC work
http://www.androidppc.com/

I'm curious. What is the biggest thing keeping Android 1.6, 2.2 or 2.3 away from the Wii? I would love to see a detailed conversation. I know that this is no small task so I'm hoping to be schooled.

 

[yuyuyup]

there are bigger fish to fry

 

[LightyKD]

there are bigger fish to fry

Like what? This seems like the biggest fish?

 

[yuyuyup]

Like what? This seems like the biggest fish?

Like hacking the vita, hacking the Wii U, PS4, Boner, etc. Yesterday I dug a Kyocera Rise out of a Target phone recycling bin. That's a 4.0 device that's ready to play DS games, has a camera with a flash, a gps, etc and it cost me the gas money to drive to Target. If people are throwing away such things, why would there be such interest in porting Android to a dead system? You can buy an Android device with HDMI output for $50 right now that could run 1080p videos flawlessly, all the apps etc and control it with a wii-remote.

 

[LightyKD]

Like hacking the vita, hacking the Wii U, PS4, Boner, etc. Yesterday I dug a Kyocera Rise out of a Target phone recycling bin. That's a 4.0 device that's ready to play DS games, has a camera with a flash, a gps, etc and it cost me the gas money to drive to Target. If people are throwing away such things, why would there be such interest in porting Android to a dead system? You can buy an Android device with HDMI output for $50 right now that could run 1080p videos flawlessly, all the apps etc and control it with a wii-remote.

Good luck with your Rise. I have one right now and there are days where I wish I could toss the son-bitch into a blaze of smoky fire. Also the Wii is only as dead as the lack of sales and BTW it's STILL selling.

 

[RiCK420]

I wondered this myself one day, why there is no Android ported to Wii, and actually did a lengthy web search for it, and came up empty.

 

[calmwaters]

So... this thread is dead... no need to do whatever with Android...

 

[Hielkenator]

The Wii hasn't nearly enough working RAM.
It's capped at ~25 megs I think.

 

[Duo8]

The Wii hasn't nearly enough working RAM.
It's capped at ~25 megs I think.

Huh? Why so little?

 

[obcd]

The wii has indeed insufficient memory for Android. Next there is the different processor architecture.
While you might be able to recompile the android kernel for PPC, you won't be able to compile most apps as they don't come with source code.
Indeed as stated before, for 50 - 80 euro you can buy an Android device with dual core arm processor. If you don't like the Android sticks, have a look at the MELE range of devices. Their intended use is to add "smart" tv functionality to your television, internet connectivity and media playback.

Basically all I can say is good luck in finding a developper with the skills to port Android to the wii.
Even if it would happen, it would just be a proof of concept. Even linux is struggling with the limited amount of ram the wii is having.

 

[RiCK420]

Just a note, but Android is written with linux kernels.

"Android is a Linux-based operating system"
"Android is open source and Google releases the code under the Apache License.[11] This open-source code and permissive licensing allows the software to be freely modified and distributed by device manufacturers, wireless carriers and enthusiast developers."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)

 

[RiCK420]

You shouldn't have to port the apps, the WiiDroid should just use them like a normal Android would.

 

[RiCK420]

Maybe as a work around for the limited RAM in the Wii, something like the equivalent of a Windows PageFile could be used instead, to take the place of the RAM.
It could be stored on the SD card, or external hard drive.

 

[Kouen Hasuki]

sweet jesus the size of that image D:

 

[CheatFreak47]

This is something I would like to see happen as well. The wii is plenty capable of running an Android OS. Gingerbread probably.
It probably won't happen though.

 

[RodrigoDavy]

While you might be able to recompile the android kernel for PPC, you won't be able to compile most apps as they don't come with source code.

Actually, the Android apps runs in Dalvik (Android's Virtual Machine), meaning apps doesn't have to communicate directly with hardware resources... that's why Android apps can run in a wide range of very different phones. I think it should be no problem running apps intended for ARM in a PPC android.

 

[DinohScene]

Android on Wii with the purpose of what?
Emulators?
I think that optimizing an emu for the Wii natively is a better waste of time then doing it for Android on a Wii ._.

 

[bobmcjr]

Actually, the Android apps runs in Dalvik (Android's Virtual Machine), meaning apps doesn't have to communicate directly with hardware resources... that's why Android apps can run in a wide range of very different phones. I think it should be no problem running apps intended for ARM in a PPC android.

All pure java stuff will work on any architecture if android itself works. Anything using native libraries will have to be recompiled for the new architecture.

 

[Kouen Hasuki]

All pure java stuff will work on any architecture if android itself works. Anything using native libraries will have to be recompiled for the new architecture.

But based on that it would probs be easier to make something that runs Java apps for Wii rather than getting Android to work on it and then a Java app on top of that.

The whole project sounds nice as a pipe dream but is on the whole a dead end project i think

 

[bobmcjr]

But based on that it would probs be easier to make something that runs Java apps for Wii rather than getting Android to work on it and then a Java app on top of that.

The whole project sounds nice as a pipe dream but is on the whole a dead end project i think

Android java != regular java. It would take too much effort to rewrite a dalvik vm specifically for the wii and hook up all of the hardware to it rather than just working on android itself. I agree with the last part though.