Need Android Advice

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melancholy
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Need Android Advice

Post by melancholy »

For most of my life, my mom has been blind in one eye. She has a disease that causes bleeding inside her eye that blocks her vision. But she still had one good eye so she's able to still function normally. Anyway, a few years ago she moved to Kentucky, so I got her an iPad so she could get online and communicate with people. Since then almost all of her correspondence with people back home has been through Facebook, Messenger, and emails.

Well a few nights ago, her central vision collapsed in her good eye. She can still see, but only with her peripheral vision. Which means that small text on the iPad is impossible to see. Now obviously there are assistant services on the iPad that can help her, but honestly she just needs a bigger screen. I could get her an HDMI connector so she could hook the iPad up to a TV, but she'd still have to manipulate stuff on the smaller screen first. What she needs is a really, really big tablet.

Which brings me to my Android question. I see these Android Boxes all over Amazon. What I would like to do is hook one of those up to a nice big 24" touchscreen monitor. However, all those boxes advertise themselves as running Android TV and come with remotes. I don't want TV streaming, I literally just want a vanilla version of Android hooked up to a touchscreen monitor as if it was a big tablet. Does anyone have any advice on a good solution for this?

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Dr. Zoidberg
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Re: Need Android Advice

Post by Dr. Zoidberg »

A different option could be a Windows 10 box or a NUC. Windows 10 has touchscreen controls.

https://www.gearbest.com/mini-pc/pp_691981.html?wid=21

I've got a Android/Windows tablet with the same chipset as that box, I mainly use Android but when I have used Windows the touchscreen worked OK.

This one is a bit cheaper and has a more powerful chipset:

https://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc ... tml?wid=21

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melancholy
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Re: Need Android Advice

Post by melancholy »

Windows isn't an option. She's had a Windows computer for years and she never used it because she could never figure it out. She was pretty much out of touch with electronics until she got that iPad. So I'm trying to build an experience as close to an iPad as possible.

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melancholy
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Re: Need Android Advice

Post by melancholy »

Actually now that you mention dual booting, there is an x86 branch of Android, isn't there? I wonder if I could get one of those mini PC's and install the x86 version of Android on it. Or even an old computer. Interesting...I think I'll experiment on this old laptop I have.

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Dr. Zoidberg
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Re: Need Android Advice

Post by Dr. Zoidberg »

There is. You can try Remix OS on the laptop.

http://www.android-x86.org/download

You could install Android on a Raspberry Pi 3.


OrangeRibbon
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Re: Need Android Advice

Post by OrangeRibbon »

If you are doing a mini PC, a raspberry pi can also run Android. She can even leave it running 24/7 because it only takes about 1.4 watts at idle.

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Big Boss Man
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Re: Need Android Advice

Post by Big Boss Man »

Windows might be the best bet regarding assisted technologies. If you have 7 or 8.1 you can still update to Windows 10 via their assisted technology option.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessi ... s10upgrade

You can also get specialist program(s) which might be more beneficial and have more features than what you'd find on Android and iOS. This page has some free ones here
http://www.rnib.org.uk/information-ever ... y-software

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melancholy
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Re: Need Android Advice

Post by melancholy »

I looked into the Raspberry Pi option, but after reading all the known issues and bugs, it doesn’t sound like the most stable option. I don’t want her to have problems, I just want things to work. I still like the idea of using the x86 version on a vanilla computer. I tried it on my laptop last night and it detected the touchscreen instantly, though it kept crashing because I was running it from a flash drive. I’ll try throwing a spare HDD in it and load it that way tomorrow. But it gives me optimism for a mini PC and touchscreen monitor combo.

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Dr. Zoidberg
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Re: Need Android Advice

Post by Dr. Zoidberg »

Here's a TV box with regular Android 5.1 and Windows 10 as well:

https://www.gearbest.com/media-player/p ... tml?wid=21

That one is basically my tablet without a screen and with 2GB less RAM.


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melancholy
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Re: Need Android Advice

Post by melancholy »

So I spent a chunk of my night hitting a brick wall with this project. Everything I tried to do just ended up in crashes. So I did some more research and eventually stumbled on a ROM called Bliss OS. It’s based on the newest Android 7.1 and has an x86 variant. So I thought ‘why not’ and threw it on a flash drive.

And it is absolutely perfect. It does exactly what I was looking for and is incredibly stable. I’ve been using it for 2 hours now on my touchscreen laptop and I’m super impressed. Now all I need is to buy one of those mini PC’s and a touchscreen monitor and I’ll be in business.

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