Android Tablet

[richard.pieri-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org (Richard Pieri)]

On Apr 5, 2011, at 9:13 PM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote:
> 
> Beware.  Calling android "linux" is like calling OSX "netbsd."  Or like
> calling Windows 7 "VMS."  (Well, the windows-vms connection is a stretch,
> although the NT kernel does have components that trace all the way back to
> VMS, or so folk legend and falsification would have you believe.)

OS X is Mach + FreeBSD kernel + FreeBSD userland.  It was previously Mach + NetBSD kernel but Apple decided that the NetBSD kernel + FreeBSD userland was a PITA to manage.  But it *is* UNIX, and most of what one might expect from a modern UNIX is there.  Look at the Darwin source code if you don't believe me.

As for the Window-VMS connection, it isn't a direct connection, but the NT kernel was designed by Dave Cutler, who had previously been the senior VMS lead developer.  Much of what he put into VMS went into the NT kernel.  Which eventually lead to the Digital-Microsoft lawsuit that resulted in NT being ported to the CPU architecture of DEC's choice.  That's no legend; that's fact.

> Yes, android runs on a linux kernel.  But nowadays, what doesn't?  It's
> entirely unlike any linux you've ever seen or heard of.  It doesn't even
> have a /bin or /sbin or /usr directory... No gcc, no python or perl or vi or emacs or X11 or anything.

Android is entirely like many other embedded Linux installations out there -- because that's what Android is really most like.  And for the record, Android puts the system directories under the /system directory.  There you will find /system/bin, /system/etc, /system/lib, /system/usr, and the relatively uncommon /system/xbin where you will find a slew of symbolic links to Busybox -- which is part of the stock OS.  The version that you'd get from the Marketplace is a beefier version with more stuff compiled into it.

Python and Perl most certainly are available, in the Android Scripting Environment (ASE).  vi is in /system/xbin/vi.  Emacs wouldn't fit on most Android devices (joke), and X11 is superfluous since Android has its own graphics system.

I seem to recall admonishing you about this before, but please check your facts before making sweeping statements.  You'll save yourself a great deal of embarrassment.

--Rich P.