Android 13 virtualization lets Pixel 6 run Windows 11, Linux distributions
The first Android 13 developer preview may have felt a bit underwhelming, but there's a hidden gem with full virtualization possible on hardware such as the Google Pixel 6 smartphone.
What that means is that it is now possible to run virtually any operating system including Windows 11, Linux distributions such as Ubuntu or Arch Linux Arm on the Google Tensor-powered phone, and do so at near-native speed.
[...] But why did Google enable virtualization in Android? It's unlikely they just wanted to let users install Linux or Windows on the phone. Mishaal Rahman addressed this issue about two months ago:
... This is because hypervisors may or may not be present on a device, and when they are, they're often not even used for their intended purpose, which is to run an operating system in a virtual machine! Instead, they're used for things like enhancing the security of the kernel (or at least trying to) and running miscellaneous code (such as third-party code for DRM, cryptography, and other closed-source binaries) outside of the Android OS.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DannyB on Tuesday February 15 2022, @08:15PM (4 children)
If the VMs are light weight enough, every app could be run within a VM.
Momentary but relevant diversion . . .
On Chrome OS, over the last several years, google developed the capability to run Linux. Part of this was that they built their own VM. They didn't use an existing one such as QEMU. They wanted one written in a type safe language, having only the most minimal set of features necessary to run the VM. Minimal attack surface area. This is well documented. It is familiar to anyone with a Chromebook following the "linux on chromebook" saga.
Now back to our topic . . .
I wouldn't be surprised that Google has used this or a similar capability to run VMs on Android. Let's face it. Modern smart phones are more powerful than yesterday's laptops of not so long ago.
For some odd reason all scientific instruments searching for intelligent life are pointed away from Earth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 16 2022, @04:38AM (3 children)
Can I buy one of these phones and run Win 7 Pro? Imo, that's the last sane version of Windows and some of the things I have to run (to work with my big customer) do require some version of Windows...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 16 2022, @07:09AM (2 children)
Virtualisation,.not emulation.
Arm64 isn't going to run x86 windows.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday February 16 2022, @02:57PM (1 child)
Depends on how powerful the Arm64 and how good of emulation you've got. There are ways right now, just not good ways on an Arm64 processor. DOSBox is about as good of an x86 emulator as you're going to be running on Raspberry Pi4 for example. You can get some other stuff to run with the right architecture emulation, but it sucks.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 16 2022, @06:13PM
The Windows reference in the article is running a Windows 11 via a hypervisor that Google built originally for Chrome OS.
That is, running the ARM version of Windows on an ARM phone.
One can, of course, emulate whatever one likes via qemu or similar but it has no relevance to the article.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Tuesday February 15 2022, @09:23PM (7 children)
How many years of OS patches can we expect? Apple is still supporting 7 year old phones at this point.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Freeman on Tuesday February 15 2022, @10:03PM (1 child)
Year?!?! What kind of shop do you think this is? 6 Months, tops.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 15 2022, @10:36PM
That's expressible in years: 0.5 years to be precise.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 15 2022, @10:47PM (1 child)
How much do those International Jews at Apple pay you to post that bullshit?
Those "patches" for older phones are for planned obsolescence purposes, and all they do is fuck your battery life and cause system instability. I can imagine Tim "Sharkface" Menschelstein Cook looking downward at your puckering anus through his coke-bottle glasses, his snaggleteeth gritting and bared, with his bulbous Jew-nose pointing directly downward at its objective: YOUR GAPING ASSHOLE.
Ol' Steve Jobs would be proud, smiling from his grave as the face of AAPL gets another ASSL.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 16 2022, @03:58AM
Admins, please! Why do I have to read this disgusting filth most likely posted by Aristarchus instead of enjoying Aristarchus demanding that the admins ban Runaway?!
If you edit some Aristarchus comments, why can't you edit them all?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 16 2022, @03:36AM
They do, but I can buy several Android One devices for the cost of an iThingie and get a couple more years of support out of it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 16 2022, @04:50AM
It's worth noting that Google has been moving more and more of the security sensitive stuff to apps that can be more easily updated independently of formal releases. It's not perfect, but an Android device gets a lot more updating for security than you're implying.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 16 2022, @09:47AM
LineageOS releases every week like clockwork.