[chirp_users] Chirp on Android

[Eric Vought]

Much of the Python code should work on Android without much problem given
the existing Android port of Python. Much of the underlying driver stack
(USB, etc) is even the same with Chirp/Python/Linux because Linux often
uses the same chipsets used in Android hardware.

The problem, as I understand it, is that the Chirp Graphical User Interface
has not been ported and is not expected to ever be. That does not prevent
the use of a new GUI on Android making the same Python calls that the Chirp
GUI now does. At the very least, it *should* be possible to make an Android
app which allows some *basic tasks* to be performed from an Android phone
or tablet short of what the full Chirp GUI does.

For instance, it would be handy to just be able to backup a radio's
configuration or upload a preconfigured image in the field without even the
ability to edit the images. Right now, we can pull a radio from our radio
cache and clone handset-to-handset without Chirp. We can also field program
a radio manually and clone it without Chirp. What would be useful to do
from a phone would be too pull a *different* configuration (generated in
Chirp elsewhere), perhaps backing up the radio first, and upload it to the
radio or to download the field-programmed changes and send them to someone
else.

That much should be a good test-of-concept.

On Nov 17, 2015 1:36 PM, "Tom Hayward" <tom at tomh.us> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Nov 17, 2015 at 10:59 AM, David Ranch <chirp at trinnet.net> wrote:
> >
> > There is Python for Android so I'm curious if Chirp could indeed work
> > w/o a port to native Java:
> >
> > https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hipipal.qpyplus&hl=en
>
> Here's my list of things required for Chirp to work on Android. Not
> sure if I'm missing anything.
>
> - USB serial cable to radio
> - USB OTG adapter
> - USB OTG support in device hardware
> - USB OTG support in device kernel
> - USB serial driver for radio cable bundled in kernel (keep in mind
> most Android devices use stripped down kernels without most of the
> device drivers available to desktop Linux, and have locked bootloaders
> preventing custom kernels)
> - Linux/Android permissions for app to open serial device (like adding
> yourself to dialout group on Ubuntu)
> - Python for Android
> - GTK 2.x for Android
> - PyGTK for Android
>
> Once these dependencies are satisfied, Chirp should work just
> fine on Android. You'd probably want to add a mouse to this list,
> because otherwise things like right-click menus would be inaccessible.
>
> All these things are possible, but will take a lot of work. GTK and
> PyGTK are the biggest issues for developers, while device/kernel
> support will block the majority of consumers. If you want to pursue
> this further, you should look into the state of GTK on Android. Short of
> a rewrite, there's nothing Chirp can do about lack of GTK on Android.
>
> Tom KD7LXL
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