Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Installing apps on Live Android

After playing around with the liveandroid instance on my Virtualbox VM, it was time to try out installing some apps.

Few basic things first:

  1. For switching to the console mode / terminal screen press : Alt-F1
  2. For switching back to the GUI mode from console mode press : Alt-F7

I read about how to install apps here.

Android apps are files ending with .apk. And all that is needed to install the app is to copy the *.apk file to the /system/app folder. Image-1 shows how my /system/app folder looks like after I have installed a few apps.

So the only task remains is downloading the apps and copying them to the /system/app folder. For downloading apps try any of the following:

  1. Download the AndAppStore Client – and use this client to browse and install apps. I find this as the best way.
    1. Either wget http://download.funkyandroid.net/SoftwareDirectory-1_3_0.apk
    2. Or, click on http://andappstore.com/AndroidApplications/apps/125845!download
    3. Ensure that the SoftwareDirectory-1_3_0.apk is copied to the /system/app folder
    4. Switch back to the GUI view (Alt-F7) and go to the menu screen, and you can see the AndAppStore Client – Seen as Software Directory (See image-2)
  2. You could also browse apps at http://www.cyrket.com/
    1. Download the apps directly from the browser
    2. The apk file is downloaded to /sdcard/download
    3. Switch to console mode (Press Alt-F1 )
    4. cp /sdcard/download/* /ststem/app/
    5. chown 1000:1000 /system/app
    6. Switch to the GUI mode (Press Alt-F7) – That is it, you should be able to see your app !

image-1

image-2

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