SATA based Android – Convert any laptop with this drop in PCB board

Android runs on everything! Though, it’s admittedly tougher to run on some things, of which the most common target are PCs. Those of us wanting to experiment in that department have typically found our way to projects like Android x86, which by the way has ICS development builds underway (Yes, I’m one of the experimenters). However, here’s another solution I hadn’t known about until today. It’s so far called “PunkThis” from CUPP Computing. Essentially what we have here is a PCB board attached through either SATA or PCI express. So yeah, stick this thing in your laptop’s hard drive bay and you’ll be running Android. The board is a great improvement over Android x86 in terms of compatibility. Most of the typical phone guts are part of the board, including a 1GHz TI OMAP processor, 512MB of RAM, MicroSD card, and even a WiFi chip. This should pretty much guarantee that any app should run unless its simply too taxing for the allotted processor speed and RAM. As for the rest of what makes a smart phone, the board is able to magically interact with the laptop’s display, keyboard, touch pad, and speakers.

My former laptop had two hard drive bays, but now I only have one. What happens if we can’t give up our hard drive? Perhaps you and I will have to take advantage of the board’s pass-through SATA slot. Or, if you have a PC of the desktop variety, CUPP has a Drive enclosure on the way that you can install in one of your tower’s bays.

While personally I think this is awesome to do for the sake of doing, others may look at the $200 board more rationally and wonder, why? Well, here’s a few reasons.

1. It would make an ideal media center PC.
2. It’s an instant on OS.
3. It’s simpler than a full OS.
4. Running in a netbook you could peak at about 40 hours of battery life.

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