First development images are now available to download

Nov 16, 2019 18:53 GMT  ·  By

The Android-x86 project finally lets users users install the Android 9 Pie mobile operating system on their personal computers with the upcoming Android-x86 9.0 release.

Android-x86 9.0 has recently entered developed, of course based on the Android 9 Pie (android-9.0.0_r50) operating system, and the first release candidate images are now available to download for 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x86_64) computers to let you run Android 9 Pie on your PC.

But Android-x86 9.0 doesn't only rebases the OS on Android 9 Pie, it also brings numerous enhancements like support for OpenGL ES 3.x hardware acceleration on AMD, Intel, Nvidia and QEMU (virgl) systems thanks to the latest Mesa 19.0.8 graphics stack, along with OpenGL ES 3.0 support for via SwiftShader for software rendering on unsupported GPUs.

Furthermore, Android-x86 9.0 promises support for hardware accelerated codecs on devices with Intel HD and G45 graphics cards, support for secure booting from and installing to UEFI disk, theme support for the GRUB-EFI bootloader, as well as support for audio, Bluetooth, camera, Ethernet (DHCP only), multi-touch, sensors, and Wi-Fi.

New text-based GUI installer, support for ARM apps

Other noteworthy features coming to the Android-x86 9.0 release include a new text-based GUI installer, support for automatic mounting of external USB drives and SD cards, and support for ARM apps through the native bridge mechanism, which can be enabled in Settings > Android-x86 options.

It also adds a new Taskbar as an alternative launcher that supports freeform window mode and places a start menu and system tray with recent apps on top of the screen, enables default orientation by default on devices without known sensors, and will finally allow portrait apps to run on a landscape device without the need to rotate the screen.

Experimental Vulkan support for newer Intel and AMD graphics cards will be implemented as well in Android-x86 9.0, which can be enabled in Advanced options > Vulkan support. With this release, users will also be able to finally upgrade from non-official releases. For virtual machines, Android-x86 9.0 will bring mouse integration.

Android-x86 9.0 RC1 is now available to download through our free software portal. This pre-release version ships with the long-term supported Linux 4.19.80 kernel, but it's only recommended for testing purposes only, not for any production work. To increase app compatibility, this release will also simulate the Wi-Fi adapter by Ethernet.