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I have this assignment to run a "hello world" Android app. The problem is the Android app emulator is stuck on the Android loading screen.

I have searched this problem. They said that Android development needs a faster computer to execute apps neatly.

Is there a way to run it on a netbook? For example, editing the RAM settings and/or SD card settings so that it can run faster?

Kevin Panko
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2cool4u
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    Off topic related to Stackoverflow's Super User – Shoaib Chikate Feb 07 '14 at 15:00
  • This isn't an answer, maybe consider it advice. If you are serious about development work you need a dev machine that will handle your requirements. A netbook is probably going to struggle running Eclipse plus the emulator, without posting your netbook spec its hard to tell... but from the sounds its not up to the job. You could try running the hello world app on a real Android device via USB debugging - again assuming the netbook supports loading the right USB drivers. Good luck. – robnick Feb 07 '14 at 15:01
  • Netbooks aren't much performing computers. I realistically think they aren't useful in developing android apps. **They said that android development needs a faster computer** and "they" are right. You need **at least** a DECENT computer. – Phantômaxx Feb 07 '14 at 15:02
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    the emulator is always slow. use a real device. – njzk2 Feb 07 '14 at 15:21
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    @ShoaibChikate Android development is on-topic for [so]. – Kevin Panko Feb 07 '14 at 16:16
  • @ShoaibChikate Development tool questions are specifically on-topic here, so moving it to superuser is not appropriate. – Chris Stratton Feb 07 '14 at 16:18

2 Answers2

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Realistically I think your best bet is to try and find a used android phone. You can get them VERY cheaply on Amazon or at other retailers.

If you really can't you can try to muck around with the emulator, but even when it's at it's best the Emulator is a miserable way to do development. You can barely get it running as it is - imagine what happens if you do figure some hacky way to get it running and you try to do anything substantial. It will be a nightmare.

I would also look into upgrading your computer if you are really going to do dev work. A machine that can't run the emulator is a machine that probably can't do most of what you're going to be needing to do. Have you tried your schools computer lab?

Also - as a commentor has stated this question is likely off topic for stack overflow.

Edit: Per Chris Strattons Comment:

You might try disabling various things in your IDE (I'm assuming you're using eclipse) - for example Syntax checking. I would also recommened ensuring that you don't have a web browser, antivirus or other software running in the background which might eat up your computing power. If you're going to run the emulator I would strongly recommend making it the ONLY thing you run.

You may want to look into building and running the application from the command line to avoid the overhead of running and IDE at all:

Please see:

Building from the command line:

http://developer.android.com/tools/building/building-cmdline.html

Running the emulator from the command line:

How do I launch the Android emulator from the command line?

Additionally - is your netbook running Windows or Linux? Windows boxes tend to have higher overhead than Linux machines, so you might try installing a lightweight Linux distro (mint perhaps) and seeing if that helps.

Community
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Nathaniel D. Waggoner
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  • The minimum system for development would actually be a phone itself, *without* a PC. Though that's usually an annoying way to do editing. Obviously the emulator is the heaviest component. Next up is typically Eclipse or whatever IDE - with syntax checking on, that can tax a slower machine somewhat. But neither syntax checking, nor that IDE, is mandatory, as one can use any lightweight editor and build from the command line. Of course a fast machine is nice. – Chris Stratton Feb 07 '14 at 16:21
  • For a new coder (whom I can only assume this is) that seems like an unhelpful suggestion. I write lots of things in vim, but I wouldn't expect a novice to do so. Additionally I don't personally know any developers that work on large scale projects without an IDE. Finally - we're not really talking about the effect any single item is going to have on the machine - presumably you're running an emulator, the IDE, a web browser, probably antivirus, if you're on a school network their networking validation program etc... A netbook isn't going to handle this well – Nathaniel D. Waggoner Feb 07 '14 at 16:45
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    We don't know if a new machine is an option for the poster. That's why I'm pointing out an additional specific - the IDE and specifically syntax checking. Skip one or both of those and a machine that could be frustrating can be just fine. Incidentally, I think you'll find that the *larger* a project is, the *less* likely an IDE is to be used (and anything remotely serious is going to have automated builds going on independent of an IDE). It can sure be convenient for medium sized projects though. – Chris Stratton Feb 07 '14 at 16:49
  • I'm not speaking to the build process. That's a separate topic which I suspect is over the OP's head. I'm speaking specifically to the case presented here: A novice coder, working on hello world scale projects. I would be very surprised if turning off Syntax checking would be an attractive option. At risk of being off topic - we should probably define "large scale" - I work on a program which possesses multiple large code bases, and everyone edits in IDE's. They use automated builds and tools like maven and gradle for management, but unless its very simple IDES are used for writing code. – Nathaniel D. Waggoner Feb 07 '14 at 17:00
  • Also - it's a fair point about not knowing whether a new machine is an option. That's why I mentioned checking the schools computer lab. I'll add your suggestions with my caveat to the answer. – Nathaniel D. Waggoner Feb 07 '14 at 17:02
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If the problem is getting the emulator to start or your emulator is just too slow, you should look into HAXM:

http://software.intel.com/en-us/android/articles/intel-hardware-accelerated-execution-manager

Pretty much all of my emulators are running the x86 image with HAXM for acceleration, and my dev machine has 16GB of RAM. Using ARM images for your emulators is just too slow, especially for your netbook.

Yes, if you are serious about Android Dev (or any Dev really) you need to get something better than a netbook, but for now, see if a little hardware acceleration will do in a pinch.

jacobhyphenated
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