From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

Possibly off topic, did not see a more appropiate
group.

Don't have a smart phone, considering an android
emulator for Windows 10 because my fiber provider,
Bluepeak, does not support a web interface for
managing their equipment - they have a smart phone
app only (android and ios). Sitting at my pc with
a mouse and keyboard would be easier preferable ;)

So what I am hoping is possible is being able to
run their app in an emulator.

Been looking for an excuse to get an android
tablet, this might be it. Don't want to spend
much though.

Thanks in advance, and apologies if this is
too off topic.
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114

From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

On Sat, 16 Nov 2024 22:48:22 -0700, reeze wrote:

Possibly off topic, did not see a more appropiate
group.

Don't have a smart phone, considering an android
emulator for Windows 10 because my fiber provider,
Bluepeak, does not support a web interface for
managing their equipment - they have a smart phone
app only (android and ios). Sitting at my pc with
a mouse and keyboard would be easier preferable ;)

So what I am hoping is possible is being able to
run their app in an emulator.

Been looking for an excuse to get an android
tablet, this might be it. Don't want to spend
much though.

Thanks in advance, and apologies if this is
too off topic.

I have Android-x86 running successfully in a virtual machine (VMWare Workstation Player) on Windows 10.

* Android-x86 -- <https://www.android-x86.org/releases>

Android-x86 latest version is Android 9 Pie. If the smart phone app
will run on Android 9 Pie, that is an option.

VMWare Workstation is free for personal non-commercial use. <https://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2024/05/vmware-workstation-pro-now-available-free-for-personal-use.html>
--
Kind regards
Ralph Fox
🦊️

What's freer then gift?
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114

From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

Ralph,

I have Android-x86 running successfully in a virtual machine (VMWare Workstation Player) on Windows 10.

* Android-x86 -- <https://www.android-x86.org/releases>

Question: is that just an emulator, or does it come with app-building capabilities ?

If the latter I'm interrested (I have a pixel 6 which I would like to be
able to experiment with/write my own apps for).

A problem though: the first link doesn't allow me to download the 32-bit ISO (I lifted the link from the HTML source as my browser "doesn't do" JS), and the latter just tells me that it doesn't have any pre-builds available.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


--- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114

From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

Ralph Fox <-rf-nz-@-.invalid> Wrote in message:

On Sat, 16 Nov 2024 22:48:22 -0700, reeze wrote:

Possibly off topic, did not see a more appropiate
group.

Don't have a smart phone, considering an android
emulator for Windows 10 because my fiber provider,
Bluepeak, does not support a web interface for
managing their equipment - they have a smart phone
app only (android and ios). Sitting at my pc with
a mouse and keyboard would be easier preferable ;)

So what I am hoping is possible is being able to
run their app in an emulator.

Been looking for an excuse to get an android
tablet, this might be it. Don't want to spend
much though.

Thanks in advance, and apologies if this is
too off topic.

I have Android-x86 running successfully in a virtual machine (VMWare Workstation Player) on Windows 10.

* Android-x86 -- <https://www.android-x86.org/releases>

Android-x86 latest version is Android 9 Pie. If the smart phone app
will run on Android 9 Pie, that is an option.

VMWare Workstation is free for personal non-commercial use. <https://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2024/05/vmware-workstation-pro-now-available-free-for-personal-use.html>

This?
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eero.android&hl=en_US>

That runs on Android 9. But it's likely to be updated in future so
that it no longer does.
--
Remove numerics from my email address.
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114

From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

On Sun, 17 Nov 2024 09:06:49 +0100, R.Wieser wrote:

Ralph,

I have Android-x86 running successfully in a virtual machine (VMWare
Workstation Player) on Windows 10.

* Android-x86 -- <https://www.android-x86.org/releases>

Question: is that just an emulator, or does it come with app-building capabilities ?

It is real Android. Not an emulator. Built to run on x86 processors.

If you install it in a VM on (say) Windows 10, you get an Android tablet
device running in your VM. Like other Android devices, there is no app *building* capability on the device.

If the latter I'm interrested (I have a pixel 6 which I would like to be
able to experiment with/write my own apps for).

It is not the latter.

A problem though: the first link doesn't allow me to download the 32-bit ISO (I lifted the link from the HTML source as my browser "doesn't do" JS), and the latter just tells me that it doesn't have any pre-builds available.

The ISO images are there -- perhaps fosshub and osdn might both need JS.

You can download ready-to-use VM images from <http://www.osboxes.org/android-x86/>.
But without JS, you will not be able to change which VM you want the image for. --
Kind regards
Ralph Fox
🦊️

Chi spuda contra il vento si spuda contra il viso.


--- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114

From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

On Sun, 17 Nov 2024 08:09:25 +0000 (GMT), Dave Royal wrote:

This? <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eero.android&hl=en_US>

That runs on Android 9. But it's likely to be updated in future so
that it no longer does.

For that eventuality, consider BlissOS instead of Android-x86.

* BlissOS -- <https://blissos.org/>

BlissOS 15.x stable versions are based on Android 12L.
BlissOS 16.x beta (test) versions are based on Android 13.

I cannot give personal testimony on BlissOS, just Android-x86.
--
Kind regards
Ralph Fox
🦊️

Look not a gift horse in the mouth.
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114

From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

Ralph,

Question: is that just an emulator, or does it come with app-building
capabilities ?

It is real Android. Not an emulator. Built to run on x86 processors.

Thank you. In that case I have to look elsewhere.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


--- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114

From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

reeze wrote on Sat, 16 Nov 2024 22:48:22 -0700 :

So what I am hoping is possible is being able to
run their app in an emulator.

From your headers I presume you're on Windows where there are many Android emulators on Windows, all of which I've tested but that was years ago.

Now I simply control my Android on Windows with the phone mounted as a hard drive over Wi-Fi so the phone is about two feet tall & uses PC speakers.

At the time I wrote all the tutorials and posted them to the Windows &
Android newsgroups, the free Android emulators on Windows were from Google, Arm, Microsoft, Genymotion, Andyroid, Bluestacks, Nox, Koplayer, Remixos
and MeMu.

Here's a cut-and-paste of an old summary I posted to the newsgroup since
I'm an unusually helpful person who loves to learn & disseminate knowledge.

Google (Android ?, fails on older AMD CPUs but is the default for AS)
Arm (Android ?, nobody recommends these, too slow to be usable)
Microsoft (Android 6, works great on older AMD CPUs, integrates into AS)
Genymotion (Android 7.1, everyone recommends for speed & compatibility)
Andyroid (Android 7.1.2, simple setup where AS instantly recognized it)
Bluestacks (Android 7.1.1, simple & runs fast, wouldn't work with AS)
Nox (Android 4.4.2, targeted to gamers)
Ko (Android ?)
MeMu (Android Lollipop)
RemixOS* (Android Marshmallow, incompatible with AMD)

*Google Emulators* (Android 9)
Google Emulators are the cat's meow, all the way to Android 9
But they don't work on older AMD CPUs (on Windows only, apparently)
One great thing about the Google emulators, is some have Google Play
That allows people to run other software, e.g., NewPipe as one example
Comes pre-integrated with Android Studio

*Arm Emulators* (Android 9?)
They are too slow on my machine to be worth the trouble
Most people suggest ARM eabi-v7a for older AMD CPUs it's slow
Does not appear to come with Google Play (which is important)
Comes pre-integrated with Android Studio

*Microsoft Emulators* (Last version, forever, is Android 6)
The Microsoft Emulators are fantastic - but they stop at Android 6
The Microsoft emulators don't appear to have Google Play installed
They're the only emulators that work with Windows 10 Pro Hyper-V enabled!
Very easy to integrate into Android Studio (as an external tool)
<https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/msft-android-emulator/>

*Genymotion Emulator* (Android 4 to 7 - and maybe 8 & 9)
Generally considered superior to all other emulators on Windows!
Most complex to set up (if things fail) due to Win10 & VMWare needs
Very well integrated into Android Studio (even has its own plugin)
I don't see Google Play (yet)
<https://www.genymotion.com/fun-zone/>

*Andyroid Emulator* (Android 7.1.2)
This is very simple to set up (turn off Windows 10 Hyper-V!)
This installs Bonjour and VMWare bundled "services"
Comes with Google Play & F-Droid NewPipe came up, ran, but failed
Android Studio recognized it instantly so it's nicely integrated
<https://www.andyroid.net/>

*Bluestacks4 Emulator* (Android 7.1.1)
This is very simple to set up (turn off Windows 10 Hyper-V!)
They seem to be very focused on running Android games on Windows
Comes with Google Play & successfully ran F-Droid NewPipe tests
I need to learn how to integrate it into Android Studio
Drawback is that it has ads
<https://www.bluestacks.com/bluestacks-4.html>

*Nox* (Android 4.4.2)
Targeted to gamers
No ads
https://www.bignox.com/

*MeMu (Android Lollipop)
Targeted to gamers
Good support for AMD & Nvidia chips
https://www.memuplay.com

*Ko Player* (Android )
Targeted to gamers
Ad supported
Said to be buggy
http://www.koplayer.com/
Updated: Nov 26, 2018 Version: 2.0.0
http://down1.koplayer.com/Emulator/koplayer-2.0.0.exe

*Remix* (Android Marshmallow)
Incompatible with AMD chips
Jide Technology has stopped supporting this
It's an Android boot system
http://www.jide.com/remixos
Version 3.0.207 Release date: November 25, 2016
It doesn't seem to be available in 2018

The caveat is I haven't touched any of these free Android emulators on
Windows since, oh, probably five years ago - so my conclusions may be
different today than yesterday - but I'd suggest Genymotion emulators.

As I recall, they force you to create an account but you can use a bogus
email address, and you have to state it's for personal use only though.

Note that Genymotion also donated the open source scrcpy/sndcpy software
which allows you to control your Android phone onto the PC which I use.
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114

From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

Andrews wrote:

reeze wrote on Sat, 16 Nov 2024 22:48:22 -0700 :

Thanks to those who have responded. Looking at

https://www.msi.com/Landing/appplayer

which looks promising. My (so far) only intent
is to run the Bluepeak app periodically as I
feel it's a good idea to monitor the router etc.
On my old setup I could connect to its internal
web page which was very handy on a couple
occaisons. Have a little more googling to do
and I may have my project for Thanksgiving
break...

--- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114

From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

reeze wrote on Wed, 20 Nov 2024 22:19:58 -0700 :

Thanks to those who have responded. Looking at

https://www.msi.com/Landing/appplayer

which looks promising. My (so far) only intent
is to run the Bluepeak app periodically as I
feel it's a good idea to monitor the router etc.
On my old setup I could connect to its internal
web page which was very handy on a couple
occaisons. Have a little more googling to do
and I may have my project for Thanksgiving
break...

Thanks for mentioning that new emulator (which apparently works with Bluestacks I guess) which I had not known of (probably didn't exist) years
ago when I had tested every free emulation tool on Windows for Android.

*MSI App Player*
<https://www.msi.com/Landing/appplayer>
"Developed under an exclusive partnership with BlueStacks,
MSI App Player is an Android emulator tailored for running
Android applications and games on PC or Handheld."

<https://download-2.msi.com/uti_exe/nb/MSI-APP-Player.zip>
C:\archives\editors\android\emulators\msiapp\.
Name: MSI-APP-Player.zip
Size: 165138635 bytes (157 MiB)
SHA256: 6EDDF491D7A1328EE5AF13B394BA0DFC4F6958BFA8C0D6C23F30B9FBA618A272

It's a biggie. Why did they even bother to zip it though?
Name: BSX-Setup_10.40.0.6308.exe
Size: 165488680 bytes (157 MiB) <=== same size as the zip file!
SHA256: 0C10C01FA077CE51E674C52E40A0658CCFBE8E00FB39596FBAE2B928110DEB53

TOU: <https://www.bluestacks.com/terms-and-privacy.html>
Verified publisher: Now.gg INC
Defaults to C:\Program Files (x86) but can be installed where it belongs
C:\apps\editors\android\emulators\msiapp\. (but you can't name the folder)

The installation is simple (there's only one option - install location).
When it launches on Windows 10, a billion games show up in the GUI.

I'm an octogenarian so I'm long past playing games (but I used to love Microsoft Flight Simulator when it was on floppy disks so I get it).

It is well designed to promote games though - but it also seems to be able
to "Install Local APK" (which is a button in the "My Games" tab).

It's nicely done. Huge buttons. Really huge. Even my eyes can see them!
When I tape the (huge) "Install Local APK" button, another (huge) button
pops up of "Browse Local File" which brings up a (normal sized) Windows
File Explorer GUI which shows a few thousand APKs I've downloaded over the years (Android saves automatically every installer you ever installed).

Since NewPipe is one functionality that is NOT on any other platform other than Android, I chose that installer <https://newpipe.net/> to install.
<https://newpipe.net/#download>
<https://archive.newpipe.net/fdroid/repo/NewPipe_v0.27.2.apk>
Name: NewPipe_v0.27.2.apk
Size: 11718894 bytes (11 MiB)
SHA256: 6ECA47F1713000790D4BF4EEB3D7565ABB78A091FEDDA2C78061203E660A4041

The MSI App Player said "Preparing App Player for playing Android apps".
And then "Downloading" (which really must mean "importing" if you ask me).
And then "Installing" (saying "Fueling up for epic gaming sessions").

Drat. It says "Something went wrong. Installation failed. Error code: -23. Something went wrong while installing App Player. Check FAQ for details." Clicking the (huge) button for "Check FAQ for details" brings up the
default Windows web browser to this Bluestacks-support web site:
<https://support.bluestacks.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406934863373-Why-the-App-Player-is-needed-to-play-games-using-BlueStacks-X>
Which wasn't helpful at all (but that's OK as FAQs rarely are useful
nowadays since they're now just a marketing tool & not really an FAQ).

Trying something else, let me see, out of the thousands of APKs I could install, let me try something that is so vanilla it's got to work.

Hmm... how about I try the best APK app search engine on the planet?
<https://skyica.com/appfinder/get/>
<https://skyica.com/appfinder/get/App-Finder-1.4.1a-U.apk>
Name: 20241121_App-Finder-1.4.1a-U.apk
Size: 4497432 bytes (4392 KiB)
SHA256: 7075AFFE7593C03594DA6A1EB67AA955EBB2EE23FA28198FD49D5821602EC2B9

Drat. Same thing. Let's try the best APK app manager on the planet...
<https://muntashirakon.github.io/AppManager/en/>
<https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager>
<https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager/releases>
<https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager/releases/tag/v3.1.7>
Name: AppManager_v3.1.7.apk
Size: 18143386 bytes (17 MiB)
SHA256: 1922326A16870CEF0525AD99C7ECF6885F7B5E4AB93CB54DEF264BEA1FB77140

Same error.

To test better I "should" play a game instead, but as I said above, I've played more flight-simulator games than I should have in my younger days, mostly off of floppy disks, and then I had my children play games off of CDROMs & later on in DVDs & now their children play games off their iPhones
& Androids (girls get iPhones & boys get Android it seems in my extended family - go figure) - so I'm not gonna bother to test it with games.

However, my tentative conclusion (having not tested any of the games...):
a. For emulating Android games on Windows, it's probably great.
b. For emulating anything else... maybe not.
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114