Who owns a netbook or mini portable of compact ones with small screen like the EEEPC or even for those who want to have a fast and very simple PC to use in order to use the most common apps always keeping them at hand as you would with a tablet, it can simply install Android on the PC or run it as a Live operating system from a USB stick. Not only can Android on PC give new life to the old netbook, but it can also work as an alternative to Windows (without therefore replacing it) for the home laptop.
It's really surprising to see how well Android works on a normal computer with mouse and keyboard, how it opens quickly, lightly and how almost all applications work very well, how they were installed on a Samsung Galaxy Tablet or on a smartphone HTC.
The latest version of Android-x86 allows you to access the application store (Google Play), download apps, install and manage them as if it were a Samsung tablet.
Android X-86 is a project that has come a long way since a few years ago when it was only compatible with some laptop models and could have many defects and stability problems.
Today you can install Android X-86 in the 32 bit and 64 bit version and also in the Phoanix OS version that works on every PC.
It is not complicated to install, especially if you have had a little experience with Linux in the past.
Another article also explains how to install Android on a virtual machine on Virtualbox.
1) The first step in the installation process is to download Android-x86, making sure to download the latest version, Android 6 .
You can then download the Remix OS version or check if there is an Android optimized for your laptop in the list.
2) After downloading the ISO, you need to create the USB stick for installing the Android operating system.
The best program to create a bootable Rufus disc that does not require installation and allows you to burn an ISO to a USB stick, so that it is bootable at boot.
Simply copy the contents of the ISO to a flash drive that has a minimum size of 2 GB, using Rufus.
With Rufus, go ahead and choose the USB drive in the drop-down box at the top, taking into account that all the contents of the pen will be erased.
As file system, select "FAT32" and then click Create bootable disk using ISO, pressing the button next to select the ISO X-86 ISO file.
Then press the Start key and then OK twice with two warnings that appear on the screen.
The creation process will end successfully and we will then be ready to use Android on PC, run it in live mode (without installation) or install it as the main operating system of the computer.
After creating the USB drive, you can restart your computer by setting it to boot from the USB stick.
Then follow the instructions to change the startup of the computer, which can be simple with the F10 or F12 key or which will require you to access the Bios and change the boot order by putting the USB drive first.
Once the PC is booted from the USB stick with Android X-86, a menu will appear asking how to run Android, whether in Live CD mode or whether to install it on the disk.
The first time it is better to try it live directly without installation, in order to do a functional test and then, if necessary, to install it if everything works as we like.
After a few seconds, you should see the Android boot animation and then the configuration menu.
Then follow the instructions, log in with your Google account and proceed as if you were turning on a new Android tablet for the first time.
Keyboard and mouse should work well with Android, even if it is an operating system designed for the touchscreen and not with the mouse (in fact some games may be unplayable with the mouse).
Keep in mind that using the touchpad of the laptop you can move your fingers as you would on the touch screen of a tablet.
By hovering the mouse over the notification bar, you can drag it down while long pressing on an item can bring up its menu
If the notebook has a webcam, it should work with the camera application.
To turn off the computer, just press the power button.
To return to starting the PC with Windows, just restart the computer and disconnect the USB stick.
With the Live operating system, nothing is touched on the laptop and no problems can arise (except that Android may not work).
In this case, however, you cannot save files and applications because the operating system is loaded on RAM and not on the disk, but it is a good way to see how Android works on your computer.
If you prefer to install Android, you can choose the "Install" option from the home menu.
There are no dual-boot options in the installer, so be careful because there is a high risk of losing all the contents of the PC (in this case, obtain EasyBCD to manage dual boot on the computer).
However, if there is no interest in keeping the current installation of Windows or Linux, then you can go ahead and proceed without problems.
The best option would be to install Android on an SD card because it allows you to keep the current operating system and also to use Android on your computer by saving data and applications on the SD card.
In this case you will need both the USB stick with the installation file and the SD card in which to install the system.
During installation, choose the SD card instead of the hard disk.
After installation there will be no dual-boot problems because you can manage the startup of the computer differently depending on whether you choose the hard disk or the SD card (with Android).
Since the project is still in its beta testing phase, it cannot be guaranteed that Android-x86 will work properly on every laptop.
As already recommended, to give new life to the old laptop the ideal would perhaps be one of the light Linux operating systems, but putting Android on the computer is certainly a more interesting experience, with the integration of Google applications, which transforms the computer into a Tablet.
As seen in another post, you can instead run Android apps on PC through programs to install Android and its apps on Windows .
