Forum > Operating Systems
Android vs Linux
djdjdjole:
I don't know if it is right forum or forum branch to ask such question. My field of
interest is embedded device programming (ARM, GUI), using some operating system.
Many such devices come with both Linux and Android images. This raises a question to me regarding relation between Linux and Android programming.
So what is the comparation between the two (although Android is basically Linux), which will help me outweight to one side or the other?
To make comparition "language independent", let's assume I do Linux programming, using Java (and Android also).
Regards
Leledumbo:
Linux basically is just a kernel, what sits on top of it that differs common Linux and Android. Common Linux uses native binaries for execution, has the concept of daemons, applications, etc. common to desktop computers. Android uses interpreted binaries (a.k.a. bytecodes) interpreted by its Dalvik virtual machine. It has very simple concept, and everything is regarded as application. Launchers, lock screen, keyboards, etc. are applications you can modify.
djdjdjole:
Thanks Leledumbo, I'm pretty aware of the facts that you quoted about Android, because I did some Android programming in Java for tablets. What I want to ask is does Linux loose battle against Android, when speaking of EMBEDDED world?
For example Android has it's Eclipse IDE (with designer), seems to me easier for GUI programming and also hardware (of embedded boards) seems to be equally accessible as in bare Linux.
I really like Linux, however I am now in doubt if I should continue to use it for embedded or turn over to Android.
Regards
Leledumbo:
--- Quote ---What I want to ask is does Linux loose battle against Android, when speaking of EMBEDDED world?
--- End quote ---
IMO, no. Embedded Linux is everywhere, long before Android comes. Android mostly wins on phone and tablet, but not on other hardwares. Embedded Linux is less likely to use GUI, mostly just needs to make the hardware 'alive'. And that's the power in itself: small, compact, yet powerful and not bloated. You should narrow down your term of "embedded", whether it's a phone or what. Anyway, I think the battle hasn't started yet. We'll have to wait for Ubuntu phone, and probably after that other distros will follow.
BigChimp:
IMO: yes ;)
Disclaimer: this is more of a "devil's advocate" post, an attempt to show a different view, as I haven't even developed for embedded Linux or Android before.
Agreed with Leledumbo that plain Linux may be better for non-GUI embedded devices. However, given the huge success of Android in the market (cell phones, tablets), I think it is very likely that Android will expand to non-GUI embedded devices as well, because a lot of infrastructure, procedures, compilers etc can be standardised.
TBH, I have no idea about the current situation with native (non-Java) executables on Android but assume these will indeed play a larger role on resource-constrained non-GUI Android devices than on traditional, fatter Android devices.
Just my 2 cents - that may be completely wrong.
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