This could be a good solution for the problem of what to do with old phones. I have a couple of old phones just sitting in a shoe box, if I could convert one into a print server or something... would be rather satisfying.
I want the opposite. I'd love to be able to run android apps on standard Linux without using an emulator. I can't seem to find anything like this, not even an abandoned school project. It must be more complicated than I realize.
Google provide such emulator. Ubuntu could at some point run Android apps, but they gave up before Android 1.6 was released.
The problem with recent Android is that most apps require the full system with all the services / contentproviders. You can download the playstore APK or individuals APK if you wish.
The second option is to run the x86 version of Android in a VM or chroot + VNC (linux only). Apps using the NDK wont run, but you will get native-ish speed for the apps that does run. As for an "integration mode" where many apps can run in parallel with their own WM client, I don't think there is something for that yet.
I forget the name, but there is at least one project doing that. In the mean time, here's an abandoned project doing something similar (not the one that works):
Nice. So AFAICT, this improves over the 'usual' way of running linux on android as it shares the filesystem instead of using a chroot, meaning the linux side has access to everything. But X still can't run via android so it uses a remote desktop server/viewer. I guess this means that when connecting via HDMI the resolution of the external display will be limited to what the phone does? (because it will just be showing an android RDP app) is there a way around this?
AFAICT the linux system is fully functional (native performance, latest browsers etc should work fine?), but unaware of android's presence. What is holding us back from doing the whole ubuntu-for-android-esq experience? - ie, linux boots when HDMI connected, android then lives inside an app in linux, and android notifications are shared to the desktop linux? and no RDP limitations. FYI this system is available to users of motorola phones of a certain age (atrix-d.razr)[1], with issues (at least the ubuntu version i tried; old ubuntu and unable to install eg. the latest browser versions).
The polished version of concurrent linux+android has massive potential, IMO.. although this looks like a good step forward, subject to ubuntu still not releasing anything of their u4a!
I was never satisfied with the chroot solutions because of the separate <your distro (Debian, Ubuntu) here>/Android userspaces. Unionfs was supposed to provide a way to merge the two environments but I was never able to get it to work. All I really wanted were to use the Debian userspace tools as if they were installed into the Android FS.
Note that the guy got Ubuntu 12.04 running on an ODROID board using a similar technique from a prebuilt image. So it's apparently a very easy thing to get going...
Ubuntu on Nexus 7 was nice to have a real Linux system but there's only so much dogfood you can eat. This gives me the best of both worlds - try out tablet-ubuntu while keeping good keyboard/GPS.
