Running Android on your laptop alongside Linux or Windows is easier than you may think, and offers some unique advantages. With a dual boot system, you can switch between your standard OS and Android with a reboot.
Why bother with Android on a laptop at all? For starters, Android is extremely efficient with memory and battery usage compared to traditional operating systems. The nature of the Linux kernel which Android is built on contributes to this efficiency. You‘ll likely see improved battery life with casual browsing and app usage in Android versus running Linux or Windows on the same hardware.
There‘s also the obvious benefit of gaining access to Android‘s massive app and game ecosystem. Any app or game you use on your Android phone can now run on a large screen. Productivity apps can take advantage of the increased screen real estate. Mobile games translate well to keyboard and mouse controls. And experimental or region-restricted apps are easily accessible.
While Android emulators do exist for Linux and Windows, a true dual boot configuration provides the most seamless experience. Performance will be many times better than what an emulator can offer. Google Play integration works flawlessly for installing and updating apps. And all Android features simply "just work" as they would on physical Android devices.
So with all of those benefits in mind, let‘s walk through the process of getting Android up and running in a dual boot configuration along with your existing Linux distribution…
Method 1: Installing Android x86 with an RPM Package
The developers behind Android x86 have provided custom RPM packages to handle the installation and configuration automatically. This presents the easiest method for most users.
To start, you‘ll need to download the Android x86 RPM package for your system‘s architecture from https://www.android-x86.org/download. We‘ll be using the 64 bit version in this guide.
With the .rpm package downloaded, start by using the rpm command to check what the installation scripts will do:
$ rpm --scripts -q android-x86-7.1-r2.x86_64.rpm
The scripts contained in the package will run and output directly to the terminal. They mainly handle setting up entries in GRUB so Android will appear alongside your other OS options when booting.
If for any reason you can‘t run the scripts directly with rpm, extract them to a separate file like so:
$ rpm2cpio android-x86-7.1-r2.x86_64.rpm | cpio -idv
You can then review the script files and run them manually if needed.
Now for the actual installation. If you‘re on an Ubuntu or Debian system, you‘ll first need to use Alien to convert the .rpm package into a .deb:
$ sudo apt install alien $ sudo alien android-x86-7.1-r2.x86_64.rpm
This will generate a .deb package file from the RPM. Next install the package with:
$ sudo dpkg -i android-x86_7.1-1_amd64.deb
The Android files will be installed in the /android-7.1-r2/ directory. Grub should automatically find and add this folder to your boot options.
To verify, run:
$ update-grub2
And inspect the Grub config file:
$ cat /etc/grub.d/40_custom
You should see a menu entry for your newly installed Android OS, pointing to the correct kernel image and initrd file in /android-7.1-r2/.
Now reboot your system and Android x86 will appear in the Grub menu! Select it to boot into Android. The first startup will guide you through some account creation and configuration steps.
Method 2: Installing from an ISO Image
The second major method of installing Android is to create a live USB drive from an ISO image. This gives you more flexibility over install location, but requires configuring the bootloader manually.
Start by downloading the Android x86 .iso file for your system architecture from the https://www.android-x86.org downloads page.
Next, prepare a flash drive with at least 4GB of space. On Linux, the easiest way is to use Etcher from https://www.balena.io/etcher/. This will handle decompressing the .iso and writing all its files correctly to the drive.
With your bootable Android x86 flash drive ready, reboot your machine and select the USB drive from the boot menu. This will launch the Android installer.
The installer includes everything needed to partition a drive and setup a working Android system. But for more control, I recommend partitioning the target drive beforehand with GParted or similar tools.
Be sure to mark the partition as bootable if installing Android on a secondary drive. The installer can handle this automatically if installing to primary storage.
With partitions ready, proceed through the installer. Select your desired install drive, taking care not to overwrite existing OS partitions. The installer will copy all files and make configurations.
After finishing, you‘ll need to add a Grub boot menu entry pointing to the Android files. Edit /etc/grub.d/40_custom and add:
menuentry "Android-x86 7.1-r2" {
search --set=root --file /android-x86 7.1-r2/kernel
linux /android-x86 7.1-r2/kernel quiet root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.selinux=permissive
initrd /android-x86 7.1-r2/initrd.img
}
Be sure to update Grub again and reboot. Android should now appear alongside your other OS options on boot!
Tips for Data Sharing Between Linux and Android
When running Android in a dual boot config, you‘ll likely want to share some data between Android apps and your Linux files. Here are some methods:
SD Card Images
Create an empty image file in Linux, format it as FAT32, mount it as a loop device, and fill it from Linux. For example:
$ dd if=/dev/zero of=sdcard.img bs=1M count=1000 $ mkfs.vfat sdcard.img $ mkdir /mnt/sdcard $ mount -o loop sdcard.img /mnt/sdcard $ cp -r /some/linux/files /mnt/sdcard
Then in your Android Grub entry, add:
SDCARD=/path/to/sdcard.img
This will allow Android to mount the image file as portable storage just like a real SD card.
rsync
Since Android installs as just another Linux distro, you can rsync files between them like any Linux systems. For example:
$ sudo rsync -avP /linux/files /android-7.1-r2/data/
Be sure Android is fully shut down before syncing its data partition to prevent corruption.
Conclusion
Adding Android alongside your existing Linux environment opens up a whole new world of mobile apps and efficiency, right on your laptop‘s hardware. With two solid methods of installation provided by the Android x86 project, creating a seamless dual boot experience is easier than ever. Whether you prioritize battery life or mobile ecosystem access, enjoy the best of both worlds with Android and Linux coexisting peacefully on a single machine!
