Google's Android Running on a Netbook

A team of freelance journalists announced Thursday they had managed to make Android, the OS of Google smartphones, run on an Asus EEE netbook. EEEs use Intel x86 processors. The only phone that is currently available with Android is the T-Mobile G1 smartphone, which uses an ARM processor.

It's not surprising that Android can run on a PC, because Android is based on Linux and enthusiasts have been known to get Linux to run on nearly anything, including video game consoles. The journalists noted, however, that Android seems to have code built in to help it run on PCs.

Last month, an interview with NetApplications revealed that a third of Internet traffic coming from Google's headquarters was from an unidentified OS. The fact that Android can be made to run on PCs fairly easily adds credibility to rumors of a Google desktop OS.

See the announcement for more details about getting Android to run on the netbook. The authors have also provided an in-depth FAQ with more technical information.

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