From Zero to Boot: Porting Android to your ARM platform
This article describes how to get Android running on your favourite ARM-based System on Chip (SoC) board. We run through the overall procedure and point out potential pitfalls and other things that you may encounter.
Linaro is a not-for-profit software engineering company investing in core Linux software and tools for ARM SoCs.
Linaro delivers software consolidation and optimizations to our members, and provide ARM tools, Linux kernels and builds of key Linux distributions including Android and Ubuntu on member SoCs.
Mali Graphics IP - Visual Computing By ARM
The ARM® Mali™ family of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) scales to deliver industry-leading graphics on entry level smartphones, right through to visually stunning user experiences for the future of top-end, cutting-edge superphones, tablets and Smart TVs. Mali technology is complemented by the Mali Ecosystem, a comprehensive community of graphics industry players, helping developers to achieve shorter time-to-market and supporting application development for Mali through the ARM Mali Developer Center: an online portal providing support and resources.
Partner Development Platforms
Odroid developer platforms along with other Texas Instruments, Freescale, Samsung and ST-Ericsson available at Linaro are great software and hardware developer reference platforms. Some, like the Beagle Bone, are an inexpensive but feature rich platform to start building applications and devices on. Others like the Odroid-A family are top of the line devices with multiple cores, Mali GPUs, lots of memory, and JTAG ready. Most devices from Linaro come with Gator, an open source module that enables DS-5 CE's free Streamline performance analyzer, pre-loaded.
Begin developing and innovating today with Android on ARM. A number of both vendor and community supported Android projects are available for a wide range of ARM based SoCs.
| Silicon Vendor | SoC | ARM Processor | Project Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Development Chips | Cortex-A | Linux-arm.org | Includes latest ARM kernel patches and drivers for various ARM development boards. Kernel patches are validated with both Android and the ARM Linux Internet Platform for immediate Android support of ALIP ports. |
 | OMAP4430 | Cortex-A9 | Pandaboard.org | PandaBoard: First open OMAP™ 4 mobile software development platform includes a Dual-core ARM® Cortex™-A9 MPCore™ with Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) at 1 GHz each. Allows for 150% performance increase over previous ARM Cortex-A8 cores. |
| OMAP3xxx, AM3xx | Cortex-A8 | Google.com | Includes support for popular Beagle board and EVM platforms. |
| OMAP3xxx | Cortex-A8 | onARM.com | Reuse ALIP BSP for EVM, Beagle and Zoom2. |
 | Tegra 250 | Cortex-A9 | nVidia.com | |
 | S5PC100 | Cortex-A8 | odroid.com (hardkernel.com ) | Projects target ODROID and ODROID-T device platforms. |
 | i.MX51 | Cortex-A8 | Freescale.com | |
 | EMMA Mobile EVx | Cortex-A9 | EMMA Mobile EV | Dual Cortex-A9 processors with NEON™ |
 | ZMS | Cortex-A8 | ZiiLabs.com |
Please note that access to some of the content listed below is subject to acceptance of licensing terms. Please read the project sites closely before accessing software content.
Partners With Software Solutions
The SCA is a good place to find partners to assist with your Android porting and customization efforts, including some of the following partners.
