Apps Android Things

[apjs]

Hi,

Any idea where the correct place to discuss Android Things would be (either on these forums or elsewhere) ?

We are evaluating for use in future products and it would be useful to discuss with other people looking to do the same thing.

 

[shalemail]

Define Android "Things".

If you mean things like Google Home, Nest, and other items of home automation you may want to clarify.

 

[no one]

You could give these a shot, Androidthingamigs.com, or Nicetrystevejobs.org.

 

[apjs]

Define Android "Things".

If you mean things like Google Home, Nest, and other items of home automation you may want to clarify.

No, I mean Android Things OS -
https://developer.android.com/things/hardware/index.html

 

[Deleted User]

Lol! It's literally called "Android Things".
An application support library. Never used it myself, but others might have.
If you want discussion, I'd say it falls into the scope of the Application Development forum

https://androidforums.com/forums/application-development.28/

So I moved this thread over there.

 

[Mirona]

I am trying to run Android Things (IoT) on Raspberry Pi Model 3 B+ without success. The result is just one color screen.
Is it possible to run Android Things (IoT) on Raspberry Pi Model 3 B+?

 

[mikedt]

I am trying to run Android Things (IoT) on Raspberry Pi Model 3 B+ without success. The result is just one color screen.
Is it possible to run Android Things (IoT) on Raspberry Pi Model 3 B+?

Yeh, it should be possible.
https://developer.android.com/things/hardware/raspberrypi
Although I've never tried this myself, no need.

Did you make the bootable SD image correctly? I presume the Raspberry Pi itself is aright, and you can run something like Raspbian no problem?

 

[Mirona]

Yes, I did a bootable SD image. Here is the information from the SD image:

Disk /dev/sdb: 14,9 GiB, 15931539456 bytes, 31116288 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 0B2E80EA-1277-4AB5-80EE-B8307749CFF1

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sdb1 40 131111 131072 64M unknown
/dev/sdb2 131112 133159 2048 1M unknown
/dev/sdb3 133160 135207 2048 1M unknown
/dev/sdb4 135208 200743 65536 32M unknown
/dev/sdb5 200744 266279 65536 32M unknown
/dev/sdb6 266280 1314855 1048576 512M unknown
/dev/sdb7 1314856 2363431 1048576 512M unknown
/dev/sdb8 2363432 2363559 128 64K unknown
/dev/sdb9 2363560 2363687 128 64K unknown
/dev/sdb10 2363688 2365735 2048 1M unknown
/dev/sdb11 2365736 2496807 131072 64M unknown
/dev/sdb12 2496808 2627879 131072 64M unknown
/dev/sdb13 2627880 2636071 8192 4M unknown
/dev/sdb14 2636072 2644263 8192 4M unknown
/dev/sdb15 2644264 2709799 65536 32M unknown
/dev/sdb16 2709800 2742567 32768 16M unknown
/dev/sdb17 2742568 3791143 1048576 512M unknown
/dev/sdb18 3791144 4839719 1048576 512M unknown
/dev/sdb19 4839720 8388567 3548848 1,7G unknown

I used the last build, previous builds and custom builds (Android Things Console).

Hardware Info:
Architecture: aarch64
Byte Order: Little Endian
CPU(s): 4
On-line CPU(s) list: 0-3
Thread(s) per core: 1
Core(s) per socket: 4
Socket(s): 1
Vendor ID: ARM
Model: 4
Model name: Cortex-A53
Stepping: r0p4
CPU max MHz: 1400.0000
CPU min MHz: 600.0000
BogoMIPS: 38.40
Flags: fp asimd evtstrm crc32 cpuid

One possible problem is that Raspberry Pi Model 3 B is ARM v7 while Raspberry Pi Model 3 B+ has a v8 CPU.
Also, there another hardware differences. For example the WiFi is dual-band, the RAM is 1GB, etc.

Attached is the image from the screen.

 

[mikedt]

What's all that "unknown" in the /dev/sdb...? That looks like nothing is readable at all? The rainbow screen is the RP trying read the SD and trying to boot from it. If it's stuck like that, that means it can't boot from the SD at all. Can it boot other OSs like Raspbian Linux?

As for actual compatibility with your B+, not a clue. I have a B myself which is ARM v7, bought a couple of years ago, and I just have it running Kodi as a media centre.

 

[Mirona]

The board works very well with Ubuntu Core (IoT) and Raspbian Linux.
Here is written, that Android Things support version B only: https://developer.android.com/things/hardware/raspberrypi
In other forums a year ago and more, I noticed that Android Things only supports B and does not support B+. I thought, it was fixed after more than a year.
https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/82358/flashing-android-things-to-raspberry-pi-3-b

 

[Mirona]

Another significant difference, that is related to booting is SoC. Version B is based on BCM2835, where version B + uses BCM2837.

 

[Mirona]

Today I flashed, an SD again, the picture is gone, and there is a black screen, with no signs of operating the device, except the LEDs that light up on the board.
Attached is the picture of Android Things Flashing.