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CKLW listener Gerald in Detroit, Michigan has a question about Android:
There are new versions of android that plays nice with x86 hardware. Have you guys had a chance to play with this? I have a lot of x86 machines sitting around and would like to breathe new life into them. Do any of these new Android programs work well with x86 processors?
There are two ways to run Android on your old computers (other than by using an emulator like BlueStacks that is):
You can run Android-x86, a version of Android specifically designed to work on computers, but keep in mind that this is a non-commercial project, so not many computers are actually supported, and the things may or may not go well, don’t expect much.
Your other option if you’re using an Intel based computer is to download Intel’s own distribution, the people at Intel are not particularly creative so it’s just called “Android on Intel Architecture” or Android-iA. Unfortunately this version of Android won’t work on every Intel device either, since it was designed to be installed on some tablet computers as a way to give users a second OS.
If you just want to breathe new life into those old machines your best bet is probably Linux
If you just want to breathe new life into those old machines your best bet is probably Linux. There are tons of different Linux distributions and many of them will play nice with older computers. In the end if you use Linux you will be able to do more and the experience will be less awkward, since you probably don’t have touch screen capabilities on your old computers.
WTN 99.7 James in Deer Lodge, Tennessee wants to know if he can run two games at once on his computer:
I am an avid gamer, and I want to load two accounts on two monitors on one PC. My question is can I do that and will I need a better cooling system than the regular fans that came in the PC i.e. Water cooling?
It depends on what kinds of game you play, if you’re talking about two accounts of your online poker game, no problem, you’ll be fine. If you’re talking about games with heavy graphics though, you may be in trouble.
Modern games will tax your computer more than just about anything else. Typically the two most intensive tasks your computer is like to face are gaming and video rendering.
If you’re trying to run two modern, graphics-intensive games side by side there’s a good chance that cooling won’t be the only problem, you will need a pretty powerful computer.
If your computer overheating is your only issue, you have a pretty powerful system.
You may be better off focusing on one game at a time and just loading the second one when you need it.