OT: It's Android Jim, but not as we know it (what CPUs does Livecode compile to?)

[Bernard Devlin]

Hi folks,

This is a question for those of you who have sallied forth into the
world of Android development (or, who have at least considered it).

When Livecode creates an app for Android deployment, what CPU
architecture does Livecode compile for?

My reason for asking is that I like the look of the Asus Transformer.
It is an Android tablet that docks into a keyboard.  But the processor
is the Tegra.  I'm guessing that Livecode will not be compiling apps
for such an unusual processor.  Assuming that Android (ultimately)
provides an OS that runs identically (let me dream) across different
processor architectures, then it would be great to be able to actually
run the IDE on a machine like the Transformer.  From what I read, the
Transformer is still a little imperfect (in terms of manufacturing
quality, and pointer lag when docked into the keyboard).  But it has
only been around for a few months and shows great promise as a design.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/18/asus-eee-pad-transformer-uk-edition-review/
http://thisismynext.com/2011/05/12/asus-eee-pad-transformer-tf101-review/#1_undefined,0_

As a tablet it is only marginally heavier than an iPad (about 10%).
And as a tablet it has a supposed battery life of 8 hours, plus
another 6 when docked to the keyboard (if fully charged on both
battery packs, the usage times of both are combined to provide 14
hours or so).  Being a dockable touchscreen, it has the benefits of
mutliple input modes (I really can't be doing with more than minimal
typing with an onscreen keyboard).  I held a Transformer today, and it
is pretty sweet (although I didn't get to touch the keyboard, as they
were sold out).

I wasn't very impressed by the quality of the early Asus EEE netbooks,
but the Transformer felt like a quality product.  The Acer AA1s were
superior to the early Asus netbooks - for some months now I've been
using a later Acer netbook for portable computing, and I've been
surprisingly pleased with the form factor and the performance.  Of
course, I still find the Macbook Air a very, very seductive design,
but Apple's attitudes have been fuelling a love/hate relationship for
me for some years now.

I guess I'm really hoping for too much to think that Livecode could
run on a Tegra (I know the Linux IDE is only compiled for intel).
Microsoft just about killed alternative operating systems on netbooks
(as OEM installations), but it looks like Linux might rise again on
these small laptops using Android.  Certainly I've never seen an OEM
install of linux on a netbook with the finesse of Android on the Asus
Transformer, and I've never seen a netbook with the build quality of
the Transformer tablet.  And the Transformer (including the dockable
keyboard) is about half the price of a Macbook Air.  If the
Transformer had access to the masses of apps found in a typical Linux
distro AND had a Livecode IDE that was at parity with the IDE on
Windows or OS X, I think I'd be in a very happy place technologically.

The Wikipedia entry on the Tegra says that it is a system on a chip
that incorporates an ARM processor, and that Ubuntu will run on it in
addition to Android.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Tegra
http://tegradeveloper.nvidia.com/tegra/forum/what-operating-systems-are-supported-tegra

I think however, the idea of getting even a basic Livecode development
platform running (e.g. one that ran within the scriptlimits inside an
Android app) might be the most I could hope for.  Still, I did not see
myself developing apps for an Android mobile phone, but running
Livecode apps on an Asus Transformer would be of interest to me.

Bernard