Dualboot with Android

twidtwpes

I'm looking for an easy way to multiboot RecalBox with Android on my XU4. I've tried U-Boot but was unsuccessful as the Batocera image is not recognized as a valid Linux image. I see in the repository in the 'boot' folder there are several folders including grub and uboot. I'm not sure if this means there is an option within Batocera itself. Is it possible to dualboot on the same card or load another OS from within Batocera? I've searched the form but please point me to any posts that might help me understand better my options.

nadenislamarre

not sure you can do a dual boot on xu4 while from the boot.ini of the xu4, you specify a kernel to load (not 2).
however, batocera is a valid linux image ;-)
grub is for x86* versions. uboot for the xu4 and the c2.

however, a simple search seems to tell it's possible, but not userfriendly to implement :
https://github.com/loboris/Odroid-installer
https://magazine.odroid.com/wp-content/uploads/ODROID-Magazine-201405.pdf (p14).

twidtwpes

Sorry. I meant Odroid-installer not U-Boot. Odroid-installer didn't like the image. Ubuntu + Android seem to work fine. I'll take a look at the article and see if I can make sense of it.

merlinux81

The one thing I absolutely love about my XU4 is the hardware switch between emmc and microSD.
I find it a lot more elegant than a software dual boot like what was explained in odroid magazine a while ago.
Android run quite well off the sdcard. And if you have a usb sata adapter you can boot to a rootfs on a hddd from a boot partition on the sdcard.
I use the switch myself, I run batocera on emmc and archlinux on HDD/sdcard.

merlinux81

And btw if you absolutely want to go the software dual boot, keep in mind that you will still need a 'switch' but it will be a software one, aka a script. Basically what you are doind is changing boot.ini in your boot partition...

Jawbraeka

Can someone please create a test eMMC bootable image that can be flashable as I'm looking for a standalone option with option to use USB and uSD card to add ROMs/emulators etc.. Possibly with a file manager add-on like es file manager or it's own internal file manager..

peanutwarrior

The sd/emmc switch option is a clean solution, put batocera on the sd card, android on the emmc and add a large usb 3.0 flash drive to the usb port for roms, if you have recalbox set up your roms folder on the flash drive first, you can share that between both operating systems so you could access the 3do emulator and jaguar emulator on android. if you solder three wires to the switch on the odroid board you can extend this out of the case and have it as an external switch