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Android on your PC: Remix OS

I'm looking forward to trying it. I have a whole bunch of working, but old, computers that I'd like to recycle to people, but even Neverware's ChromeOS system is too slow on them. I'm hoping this runs a little better...
 
If this is as good as their video makes it appear, I think we'll have what Android on tablets should be.

It would also make a good OS for relatives you don't want to provide tech support for anymore.
 
From using the leaked version for a few hours the last 2 days:

- it’s surprisingy fluid
- apps load fast (even from an USB 2 flash drive) and once you load them, they stay in RAM even when you close the app, so the next time it starts "immediatly"

I think if they managed to make a deal with Google and make it posible to run the full (linux) version of Chrome alongside the rest, this could really become something interesting.
Mobile chrome works fine for the most part but the lack of extensions is not ideal. There are problems with video playback from the browser. Also the bundled video player seems to not have a broad codec support. There are apps that wont start or some that will rotate your screen… Some interactions are abit untypical for a desktop OS, like you need to press and hold to select a word, you can click and scroll… But that might be intentional to some extend as they might be making a PC for the generation that grew with smartphones.
Currently I think it’s especially a great solution for kids, so they can have their PC on a USB stick and not mess up your data, it has an infinite supply of "silly" games and social stuff from the playstore. But IMO the potential is there for it to be a serious competitor to Chromebooks and even low end Windows PC for home use. The excitement about this OS exists, now if devs will also put some more effort in developing scalable apps (MS office is a great example).
However keep in mind this is a leaked, non final version, so things should only get better.
Overall I thought it will be much worse, I was positively surprised and waiting for the official release tomorrow.
 
Fun fact: Andy, an Android OS emulator, will just remove your prior vmware installation without asking first.

At least my images are still there.

Found out about Andy while looking into Remix OS, thought I'd give it a go. Since it's installed, I'll still give it a spin, but it's not sticking around. Not worth giving up the VM's I need for school.

EDIT: The initial image they give is old. 4.2.2 old. But as far as running Android on a PC, it's been the least painful experience I've had. I've got Android x86 in a VM before, but I never could get the Play Services running on it. I'll still give Remix OS a spin on my thumb drive tomorrow.

EDIT 2: When trying to start it for a second time, it takes me to their facebook page while it loads. The emulator itself seems nice enough, but they've done enough screwing around on my system.
 
Last edited:
sweenish said:
It would also make a good OS for relatives you don't want to provide tech support for anymore.
Click to expand...

You haven't met my parents whose ability to learn *anything* remotely technical ended some time in the mid 1990's.

Per a comment on Ars Technica, apparently the USB 3.0 flash drive isn't a strict requirement to get this up and running so I may give it a spin and see if it indeed works without one.
 
Sheep said:
You haven't met my parents whose ability to learn *anything* remotely technical ended some time in the mid 1990's.

Per a comment on Ars Technica, apparently the USB 3.0 flash drive isn't a strict requirement to get this up and running so I may give it a spin and see if it indeed works without one.
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised. My great grandmother who has never used a computer in her life was able to learn - fairly quickly I might add - how to get to and use Skype on an Android tablet. Android and iOS are more intuitive than Windows for people who aren't tech savvy.
 
sweenish said:
Fun fact: Andy, an Android OS emulator, will just remove your prior vmware installation without asking first.

At least my images are still there.

Found out about Andy while looking into Remix OS, thought I'd give it a go. Since it's installed, I'll still give it a spin, but it's not sticking around. Not worth giving up the VM's I need for school.

EDIT: The initial image they give is old. 4.2.2 old. But as far as running Android on a PC, it's been the least painful experience I've had. I've got Android x86 in a VM before, but I never could get the Play Services running on it. I'll still give Remix OS a spin on my thumb drive tomorrow.

EDIT 2: When trying to start it for a second time, it takes me to their facebook page while it loads. The emulator itself seems nice enough, but they've done enough screwing around on my system.
Click to expand...

Ami DuOS is the best android emulator I have used. bluestacks and Andy suck in comparison (though I haven't used either in about 8 months). DuOS costs $$ (30day trial), but well worth it if you really need it.

Will have to give this a whirl to see how well it works.
 
quikah said:
Ami DuOS is the best android emulator I have used. bluestacks and Andy suck in comparison (though I haven't used either in about 8 months). DuOS costs $$ (30day trial), but well worth it if you really need it.

Will have to give this a whirl to see how well it works.
Click to expand...

How does DuOS compare to ARC Welder? I've had a pretty good experience with that so far.
 
Looks promising, but what are the reasons for having this on a desktop PC? What it has that Windows doesn't, for example?
 
sbpromania said:
Looks promising, but what are the reasons for having this on a desktop PC? What it has that Windows doesn't, for example?
Click to expand...

Because they can? I played with it last night and a bit this morning. I see no real appeal for it. Can't install apps from play store so I havent tested any games or such. It's nifty, I just see the appeal.
 
No play store?!? Forget it then. My ultimate goal was playing survivalcraft with a mouse. The search continues.
 
sbpromania said:
Looks promising, but what are the reasons for having this on a desktop PC? What it has that Windows doesn't, for example?
Click to expand...

Well, I have a super old Dell Laptop with 1.2GB RAM and a Centrino CPU. Nothing past XP runs too good on it, but this OS runs just fine.

It basically gives a second life to any old PC which would otherwise only be good for the garbage bin. With RemixOS I can just hook up a camera to this thing and set it up as a Skype terminal for my mom. Not that she cannot do the same with any old crap tablet or phone, but this laptop was given to me free... So why not?
 
AMI DuOS definitly has worked the best for me in the past.

Not going to lie - I used it to play clash of clans on my laptop. Luckily I moved back to real games.
 
didnt work on my surface pro 3. couldnt boot from usb.
to be fair, looks like MS disabled booting from usb. a lot of other users have the same issue
 
Yes, including Play Services.

It can also be rooted. Now that they've released an EFI boot *.iso, I might try it again.
 
luv2liv said:
didnt work on my surface pro 3. couldnt boot from usb.
to be fair, looks like MS disabled booting from usb. a lot of other users have the same issue
Click to expand...

Power off the SP3, hold Volume + and power it up. You'll get a configuration menu, disable Secure Boot and set your boot order to "Network>USB>SSD". When you reboot your screen will be red, but it should boot off the USB drive.

I tried it on my Surface 3 (non pro) and it didn't work - just a blank screen.
 
I thought it would have been a lot cleaner at release, given the hype. No Play Services, weird graphical issues, and a USB tool that can't boot the USB on newer hardware by default.

Alpha is alpha, and they did not mis-apply the label. I still think that this approach, while not perfectly ideal for touch-only tablets, is leagues better than the nothing Google is doing on tablets.

I am about to go all-in on MS if a Surface Phone is a thing, and it's what I imagine it to be.
 
sweenish said:
I thought it would have been a lot cleaner at release, given the hype. No Play Services, weird graphical issues, and a USB tool that can't boot the USB on newer hardware by default.

Alpha is alpha, and they did not mis-apply the label. I still think that this approach, while not perfectly ideal for touch-only tablets, is leagues better than the nothing Google is doing on tablets.

I am about to go all-in on MS if a Surface Phone is a thing, and it's what I imagine it to be.
Click to expand...
Im in the same boat. My GF just picked up an iPad Pro (she got it for free from work) and I was expecting it would be better than the Surface Pro but I realize now they have almost no apps designed to really work with the pencil. That's one place where the MS store is ahead of others so I think the Surface Phone actually makes sense, take advantage of its strengths.

I just switched from a Lumia 830 to my first Android phone, a Huawei Mediapad X2, the size looks silly at first but once you use a large phone its hard to go back and hard to see a reason for a small tablet....maybe that's why the Surface Mini went away....
 
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