Android apps run in an Ubuntu netbook

Talk of non-smartphone devices running Android has been commonplace in the last few months. From tiny companies like Guangzhou Skytone Transmission Technologies, which is expected to release an ARM-powered netbook driven by Android, to the ultra-mega computer giants like Dell with its Android-equipped Mini 10, the "DroidBook" is not far from reality.

But today, Ubuntu sponsor Canonical showed a different approach: making Android applications usable in Ubuntu Netbook Remix. The Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS) takes place in Barcelona this week, and the focus is expected to be Ubuntu 9.10 (a.k.a., Karmic Koala), which was released in alpha earlier in May (downloadable from Fileforum now). However, three sessions at the convention are reportedly dedicated to development for, and compatibility with Android.

Today's presentationused an Android execution environment to run apps within a Xorg window in Ubuntu. The apps were not ports, nor were they running in an emulator. However, because of Android's hybrid architecture (Linux Kernel/Java Runtime), they had to be run on their own platform -- the one that provides the Java Infrastructure.

The project is still at an early stage and the source for the Ubuntu Android environment is not yet available. However, thanks to Ubuntu's frequent and regular update schedule, this it could be available in alpha when Karmic Koala enters stable beta.