Google TV on VMware?

Question

Just a quick query, is it possible to either put Google TV on a spare pc or alternatively boot it on VMWare.

This is so I can test it out before buying, maybe install a custom solution at home, but mainly make sure a TV website looks and works well.

Answer 1

Seeing as Google TV is built off the Android stack, I don't think so, a device would have to be tailored with drivers and the like to get it work properly. In fact I can't even verifiably find the source code for Google TV, this was the closest thing I could find. According to the Google TV FAQ, there is/might be an add-on emulator as part of the SDK, but I haven't verified that since I don't have the Android SDK installed. Also, as far as I know, the "apps" that are currently on Google TV aren't even Android apps yet, but websites modified to look nice in its browser, such as the Amazon VOD "app".

Answer 2

Here's what google says of its GTV emulator requirements:

• Linux kernel with KVM running on bare metal (you have to boot into linux to run the emulator)
• unload other virtualization drivers in the host Linux systems (e.g. Virtualbox, VMware)
• only intel processors with VT are supported (you can't run the host on other CPU architecture and you can't emulate an ARM CPU google tv)
• android SDK

https://developers.google.com/tv/android/docs/gtv_emulator