How to set up Android gingerbread on Windows 7 (Part 1/2)

To be quite honest with you, I have seen several blogs guiding on how to set up Android SDK/JDK, but not seen something that works in one shot.

Let me try to write down for you, the steps I followed to set up Android on Windows 7.

Setting up your Virtual Machine

Android application programming can be done directly on Windows 7 or on a Linux virtual machine.
In this post I will be focusing on using the Linux virtual machine.

To begin with you need to download VMware Player from VMware or virtual box or any other virtualization environment. Here I will take VMware Player as an example.
Download VMware Player from here. You could also always look for the latest version available.
VMware might require you to register before you download. The download can take longer if your download speed is not great!

Once the download is done, you would need to install the VMware player. The set up is quite straight forward really.

Setting up Ubuntu Linux


The next step is downloading and setting up an ubuntu virtual player image. When you go to the ubuntu download page, there is a drop down box that says 32 bit (recommended). Please bear in mind that Android Native development (compiling Android native code) requires 64 bit ubuntu.
But if you do not wish to compile any of the Android JDK sources, then 32 bit is also fine.

The Ubuntu download can take around 3-4 hours if your download speeds are not great. So it is best to take this from friends who already download it or use high speed data link.
I'd recommend you to download a version that is 10.x or above.
What gets downloaded is a .iso file . You need to make a note of where it is downloaded.

Playing Ubuntu image


Now you need to go to Program Files and open VMware Player.
Once you open it  you would be presented with options to start a new virtual machine.
Select the option "Create a new virtual machine". This opens up a view to then select the ubuntu file. downloaded in the previous step. Also fill in a full name, password and other details in the form that follows.
This will essentially install ubuntu for you.

Coming up next...


Installing Sun JDK




Setting up Eclipse

Why I am a Nokia fangirl..

From the very first time I have seen cellphones in India, the Nokia brand has caught my eye.
My first cellphone was a Nokia 3330, with a WAP browser killer feature, which was a really hot feature at the time. Ever since there's no looking back..I love Nokia phones for all that everyone raves about- battery life, superb hardiness , excellent hardware and feature richness.

Let me also say something about what lies beneath. I started working on the Symbian OS from the year 2000 when a Google search /yahoo search for Symbian did not yield any results.
The first Nokia phone that I wrote software for was Nokia 6600.
I have ever since worked on multiple device releases within Nokia as an employee, gathering more than 11 years of Symbian and Nokia software experience.
I'm passionate about the brand and value that Nokia stands for - Connecting People.
The simple yet hardy spirit of this Finnish company, despite the recent lows, is something that any big corporation could take a leaf out of.
Even when people criticized Nokia, I still believed and hoped that a revival in Nokia was imminent.
There was a period of time this year when the first thing I do in the morning was google for Nokia news.

With the new Symbian Anna and Belle software, the Nokia 700, 701, and 600 phones released, the absolutely gorgeous Meego phone N9 and news about Windows 7.5 (Mango) release, it's more than evident that a resurgence is in store for the world to witness.
I cant wait to bag a chance to attend the Nokia World 2011 in London, to see all the action first hand..and what a coincidence, my first software for a Nokia phone was also written when I was in London!

All the best to Nokia for a mighty comeback to once again emerge as the numero uno in the mobile world!

I reckon by you too would have some comments/speculations about Nokia in 2012-13 ?
Please feel free leave your comments on my blog..