14 DAY TRIAL // Android-x86 is a port of the Android operating system for the x86 platform. The developers have just released a new update for it and version 4.4-r2 is now out and ready for download.
The distribution is simply called Android and there is a good reason for it. This is actually the Android system made to run as a Linux distribution, with just a few modifications from the developers. It's very close to the real deal and it might give users a better idea of what it's like to have something like this running on the desktop.
When Google started building Android, they used a Linux kernel, so you could argue that it's a Linux distribution. It's difficult to make that case now, because the kernel used is actually pretty far from that one. In any case, this proves that Android and Linux are not these far-off cousins.
How close is this to the real thing?
When the devs ported this distro for the X86 processors, they changed very little. They only needed to provide a Linux kernel that would recognize most of the hardware out there, and a proper network interface so you can use it on other stuff than just laptops with Wi-Fi. Besides that (and a couple non-standard default apps), everything is pretty much the same as the original Kit Kat version.
"The 4.4-r2 release is based on the Android 4.4.4_r2 (KitKat-MR2.2) release. We have fixed and added x86 specified code to let the system runs smoothly on x86 platforms, especially for tablets and netbooks," reads the official announcement.
The developers have also explained that the Linux kernel has been updated to version 3.18, the system now supports UEFI boot, the suspend and resume function have been improved, and a number of updates from upstream have been implemented.
You can download the Android-x86 4.4 R2 Linux distribution from Softpedia if you want to give it a spin; you can use this Linux distribution in Live mode and you don't need to install it.
