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[Edit 13 Oct 2017] I just realized how edgy my blog description is but it's funny so I'll leave it there lmao

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Remix OS

Posted 02-23-2016 at 11:08 AM by FrustratedAssassin

So today I read an article on The Verge about this cool thing called Remix OS. It's basically Android x86 with a really pretty UI.

Me being an aspiring UI designer of course I had to install it. I did so on my laptop. I always use my laptop for this kind of thing and I find setting up OSes fun for some reason. Also I'm at my parents' so even if I wanted to use my desktop I couldn't have because it's 700km away.

And then I ran into some problems.

Problem #1
Remix OS only runs off USB

Yes, Remix only runs off USB flash drives. And it's recommended you use a USB 3.0 drive. Otherwise it crashes constantly and is generally slow and unpleasant to use.

Of course, I only have a USB 2 drive, and it was pretty late and I don't have a car so I couldn't have just gone to the store to buy one. So I had to improvise.

Installing Remix OS on an HDD. Yes, this is what I have to do. But of course, my laptop only has one HDD slot and because it's a 2011 XPS15 I had to take the whole thing apart. Well, not the whole thing, but I had to remove the palmrest, which was a pain to do.

The HDD is finally in my hands.

Problem #2
Windows is very very picky

Thankfully my parents' PC has a SATA to USB adaptor which they use for an internal-turned-external drive full of data. But my laptop HDD already had an OS installed. Elementary OS. And Windows refused to read it. I of course start up Disk Management to format it because Elementary OS, being a consumer-oriented Linux distro, is pretty bad, so I didn't really want to stick with it, and I wanted to install Remix on a clean HDD anyway.

Disk Management tells me that it can't initialize the disk because it's "not ready". What does "not ready" mean? I have no idea. So I get another idea. Boot from the Elementary OS disc I made a few days ago and format the HDD from there.

Problem #3
"Who needs DVDs these days anyway" - My parents, 20xx

One thing my parents' desktop does not have is a DVD drive. So I had to search the entire apartment for an external drive, which I knew my dad has. Twenty minutes and a Skype call later, I find not one, but two external drives. I plug in the first one. A matte black box inscribed with the words "iomega SuperSlim DVD". Windows doesn't recognize it as a USB device. I plug in the other box. The second box is smaller, glossy. It has to work, right? It's a Samsung after all.

I plug the Samsung drive in the front USB. Windows plays the USB device connected sound. I restart the PC and go into BIOS to make sure it works. It doesn't. Yes. I had to use one of the rear USB ports. I take out the whole box from its place, and turn it ninety degrees. Surprisingly few ports. None of them are empty. I take out the keyboard. The one in the front port is working just fine anyway. I restart the PC again, and this time the BIOS detects the new drive. I manage to format the 500GB laptop HDD, but not without panicking for a moment thinking I formatted one of my parents' own drives.

Problem #4
EasyBCD is surprisingly hard

I can finally get to the actual installing. How do I do it though? Most guides seem pretty complicated and they need a program called EasyBCD and a lot of trial and error. Not only that, but the program is surprisingly complicated for something called EasyBCD.

Thankfully I found a super easy guide on reddit. Copy the contents of the USB drive onto the HDD and boot from the USB. The PC will boot off the USB and then switch to the HDD. All user data is saved to the HDD too, it only needs the USB to actually boot. It's not ideal but it works.

It was fun but I swear to god I would've had a nervous breakdown if after putting the whole thing back together it still wouldn't have worked.

tl;dr FA uses her wits to outsmart Android, only succeeds partially

Comments 27

Total Comments 27

Comments

You remind me of my youth, I've been doing that kind of shit on a daily basis like 10 years ago. Technologies change, but some things stay the same.

This ~~article~~ blog surprizingly contains little information about Remix OS.

Disk Management tells me that it can't initialize the disk because it's "not ready". What does "not ready" mean? I have no idea. So I get another idea. Boot from the Elementary OS disc I made a few days ago and format the HDD from there.

If you're aiming to have 2 OSes on the same PC, Windows should always be installed as the first one. Since that's being the case, I'm assuming, there shouldn't be any problems with installing it on a clean HDD. I dunno, maybe you're using shit Windows 10.

...why would you use W10?

About DVD drives, it's actually true that they're not being used often nowadays, at least I use them very very rarely. I do have a drive, though.

EasyBCD part

I've never tried to install RemixOS or anything, but since Android is a derivative of Linux, can't you just be managing the boot using GRUB, like normal Linux users do?

Quick edit: like that?

Posted 02-23-2016 at 11:26 AM by Varrok

Updated 02-23-2016 at 11:28 AM by Varrok

I like Windows 10 and this has nothing to do with Windows 10.

I'm not trying to dual-boot anything, I'm just messing around with OSes out of boredom and I just wanted to install a few shitty ones before going back to W10, since I had to reinstall it anyway.

The problem was related to Disk Management (which was added in Windows 7) not recognizing an HDD partitioned by Linux.

And no, Remix uses its own bootloader, because Android, while based on Linux, isn't Linux per se.

Also those instructions look like voodoo to me because I'm not that good at doing stuff. I could barely make a dual-boot hackintosh work and I can't even upgrade it.

Posted 02-23-2016 at 11:33 AM by FrustratedAssassin

Updated 02-23-2016 at 11:37 AM by FrustratedAssassin

	: I like Windows 10 and this has nothing to do with Windows 10. Okay, I respect your opinion : The problem was related to Disk Management (which was added in Windows 7) not recognizing an HDD partitioned by Linux. It's not an odd thing, considered Linux partitions are using ext formats that Microsoft never uses and never will
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 11:38 AM by Varrok Updated 02-23-2016 at 11:44 AM by Varrok

	The thing you linked is pretty much FUD, plus I really like the design of Windows 10. Yes, including the tiles and the UWP apps. And I didn't expect Windows to be able to read the partitions, I just wanted it to be able to wipe the disk.
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 11:50 AM by FrustratedAssassin

	Knowing past Microsoft practices, FUD is not unreasonable. And being spied on is a real issue.
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 11:55 AM by Varrok

Windows 10 is really nice. It's as good looking as W8 but with all the functionality of 7. Also, gaming on it is heaven.

Windows 10 is good because you can install multiple OS' on the same disk and it gives you an option of which one you want to boot before it takes you to the login page.

I remember fucking around with Android a few years back, it was a pain in the arse and I ended up bricking my phone a couple times. Fun when it works, though. Can't do any of that shit with an iPhone.

Posted 02-23-2016 at 12:00 PM by Nepsotic

	: Knowing past Microsoft practices, FUD is not unreasonable. And being spied on is a real issue. I mean, it is, but what do you expect people to use? Windows XP? Cause 7 and 8 have the same data collection tools built in. They're not new to 10. Linux? Desktop Linux is amazingly bad and it has no apps and good luck making it work properly in general. OSX? Apple does the same things.
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 12:01 PM by FrustratedAssassin

	Linux is great because it's so open-source, you can get it to do pretty much anything you want if you know how. That's what it's for, not casual users. People who like fucking around with shit. Also, the community support is great.
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 12:02 PM by Nepsotic

I like fucking around with shit, including Linux. But a lot of the time I can't do what I want to on it because of the lack of apps and more importantly games. Not to mention the fact that all games run better on Windows on the same hardware.

I'm not a programmer though, and I can't code literally anything. I can draw cool looking apps in Photoshop but I can't build them so I'm pretty useless at the moment.

Posted 02-23-2016 at 12:09 PM by FrustratedAssassin

	Linux isn't really built for gaming, it's more for development.
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 12:11 PM by Nepsotic

	Linux is a better OS in most aspects than Windows (while. Unfortunately, Linux falls flat when it comes to gaming. I play games. I don't use it much, then.
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 12:30 PM by Varrok

	It also has no Photoshop.
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 12:46 PM by FrustratedAssassin

	You can make Photoshop work on it.
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 01:12 PM by Nepsotic

	It has GIMPohwhoamikiddinggimpsucks.
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 01:17 PM by Varrok

	is summoned : OSX? Apple does the same things. Apple doesn’t collect any data from your computer unless you explicitly opt in to sending diagnostics/crash reports. They’re very transparent about it. : normal Linux users oxymoron alert
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 02:47 PM by Manco

	Linux is fantastic if you're advanced enough to know how to use it.
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 04:51 PM by Nepsotic

	: Apple doesn’t collect any data from your computer unless you explicitly opt in to sending diagnostics/crash reports. They’re very transparent about it. FA meant "the same things" as in Linux. I think. Macs are sucky for gaming.
	Posted 02-23-2016 at 11:27 PM by Varrok

	This is how the actual thing looks. Super similar to Windows 10, except more Material sometimes. Edit: I just saw the comment counter on the blog at 18. Before it was 17. The 18th comment was mine. Still clicked. I am not an intelligent person.
	Posted 02-24-2016 at 04:42 AM by FrustratedAssassin Updated 02-24-2016 at 04:49 AM by FrustratedAssassin

	Do all android apps work well on Remixos?
	Posted 02-24-2016 at 06:57 AM by Varrok

	Not all, no. From what I've seen, Facebook Messenger is incredibly laggy, Telegram doesn't display chat background images and is just ominously black, and Maps rarely loads, and when it does it crashes soon after. Resizing is also hell, and full screen doesn't work properly. But then again this is an Alpha/Beta OS so whatever.
	Posted 02-24-2016 at 08:50 AM by FrustratedAssassin

	And yet you have GTAIII android port here. Does it run at all?
	Posted 02-24-2016 at 08:51 AM by Varrok

	Yeah, that one runs well, but I don't have an Android controller or a touchscreen so the controls are pretty weird.
	Posted 02-24-2016 at 08:54 AM by FrustratedAssassin

	You have a keyboard. Does it use keyboard?
	Posted 02-24-2016 at 09:08 AM by Varrok

	It does, but the controls are preset and can't be changed, and to move the camera you have to click and drag. Fun fact! You can only use the arrow keys to accelerate and brake in a car, but you can steer with A and D just fine.
	Posted 02-24-2016 at 09:55 AM by FrustratedAssassin

	That must've been quite an experience
	Posted 02-24-2016 at 10:13 AM by Varrok

	I run GTAIII on my phone too and it runs really well, it's just a pain in the arse to control.
	Posted 02-24-2016 at 10:57 AM by Nepsotic

	FA, why don't you post anymore?
	Posted 02-27-2016 at 03:09 PM by Vlam

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