The developers behind the Android-x86 project, a Linux kernel-based operating system that aims to deliver the latest Android mobile OS to your PC, have announced the release and immediate availability for download of the first RC (Release Candidate) build of the upcoming Android-x86 5.1 release.
According to the release notes, Android-x86 5.1 RC1 (Release Candidate 1) is now based on the Android 5.1.1 r24 Lollipop mobile operating system. It includes numerous optimizations to the x86 (32-bit) code, and fixes lots of bugs that have been reported by users since the previous release of the distribution, all in order to make the entire OS more stable and reliable, so that it runs as smoothly as possible on laptops and tablets.
Being powered by the Linux 4.0.9 kernel, the first Release Candidate of Android-x86 5.1 includes support for 64-bit kernels, multi-touch support, the ability to boot from UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) systems, as well as to install the OS on UEFI computers, Bluetooth support, Camera support, Ethernet (only DHCP) support, Wi-Fi support, audio support, and support for sensors.
“The Android-x86 project is glad to announce 5.1-rc1 release to public. This is the first release candidate for Android-x86 5.1 (lollipop-x86) stable release. The 5.1-rc1 release is based on the Android 5.1.1_r24. We added many x86 specified code and fixed issues to let the system runs smoothly on x86 platforms, especially for netbooks or tablets,” reads the announcement.
OpenGL ES hardware acceleration now available
In addition to the many new features mentioned above, Android-x86 5.1 RC1 enables OpenGL ES hardware acceleration for Nvidia, AMD Radeon/RadeonSI, and Intel graphics cards, installation support for the FAT32, NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, and EXT4 filesystems, as well as support for virtualization software and virtual machines, such as Oracle VirtualBox, VMware and QEMU.
Last but not least, the first RC build of Android-x86 introduces support for automatic mounting of external USB drives and SD cards that have been formatted with the VFAT, NTFS, ExFAT, or EXT4 filesystems, and support for foreign architectures like ARM and ARM64 through the native bridge mechanism. Download Android-x86 5.1 RC1 right now from Softpedia, but keep in mind that this is a pre-release version, not suitable for production use.
Via Softpedia