pdk/docs/guide/index.jd

page.title=Welcome to the Android Porting Guide
pdk.version=1.0
@jd:body


<p>The Open Handset Distribution (OHD) is a software distribution for mobile devices, often referred to as Android, developed by members of the <a href="http://www.openhandsetalliance.com">Open Handset Alliance</a>. &nbsp;Android includes an operating system, middleware, and key applications typically required for mobile devices.</p>
  
<p>This platform development kit describes the steps necessary to port Android to a new mobile device. &nbsp;Android is designed as a highly-portable, hardware-independent platform based on Linux, and porting the platform to new devices requires little more than porting the Linux kernel and developing the Linux drivers necessary for your device.</p>
  
<p>The current version of this guide describes bringing Android up to "PDA-level" functionality; functionality sufficient to support non-multimedia apps that run on unconnected mobile devices through the standard user interface devices such as keypad and display. &nbsp;Future versions of this guide will cover complete telephony, multi-media and peripheral integration to create a complete mobile device.</p>


<a name="androidWelcomeIntendedAudience"></a><h2>Intended Audience</h2>

<p>This porting guide is intended for engineers proficient with running (and writing drivers for) Linux on embedded devices. 
<p>The guide also assumes you have a target hardware that matches <a href="system_requirements.html">Device Requirements</a> and that you 
can boot and run a recent (2.6.x) version of the Linux kernel
with at least keypad and display drivers properly installed.</p>


<a name="androidWelcomeGettingStarted"></a><h2>Getting Started with Android</h2>

<p>To get started with Android, start with the publicly-available documentation at <a href="http://code.google.com/android/documentation.html">http://code.google.com/android/documentation.html</a>, paying particular attention to <a href="http://code.google.com/android/what-is-android.html">What is Android?</a> and <a href="http://code.google.com/android/intro/index.html">Getting Started with Android</a>.</p>


<a name="androidWelcomePorting"></a><h2>Porting Android to Your Device</h2>

<p>Start with the following sections in order to port Android to your target hardware.</p>
<dl>
    <dt><a href="system_requirements.html">Device Requirements</a></dt>
    <dd>What must your device support in order to successfully port Android to it?  </dd>
    <dt><a href="source_setup_guide.html">Setting up a Development Environment </a></dt>

    <dd>Install necessary packages and retrieve source code through a Git server. <a href="build_system.html">Build System</a> offers a conceptual overview of Android's build system and instructions to affect a simple build.</dd>
    <dt><a href="bring_up.html">Basic Bring up </a></dt>
    <dd>Establish core components necessary to your device, such as keymaps / keyboard input and display drivers. </dd>
    <dt>&nbsp;</dt>
</dl>