Previously on this site, I wrote about the possibilities of installing Android as a full operating system on your computer (unlike Android emulators, That are running “inside” current operating system). You can install a pure Remix or Android x86 operating system optimized for PCs and laptops on your computer, as detailed here: How to install Android on your laptop or computer. There is another good option for such a system: Phoenix OS.
Bliss OS is another variant of Android optimized for use on computers, that today is already enabled in the Android version 9 Pie (8.1 Y 6.0 are available for the aforementioned), what will be discussed in this short review.
Where to download the Bliss OS ISO
Bliss OS is distributed not only as an Android x86 based system to install on a computer, but also as firmware for mobile devices. Only the first option is considered here.
The official web portal for Bliss OS is https://blissroms.com/, where you will find the link “downloads”. To find the ISO of your computer, go to folder “BlissOS” and then to one of the subfolders.
A stable build should be in the folder “Stable”, and today only the first ISO variants of the system are available in the Bleeding_edge folder.
I could not find any information on the differences of the various images presented, therefore I downloaded the most recent one according to the date. Whatever the case, at the time of writing this document, it's just beta versions. The Oreo version is also enabled, located at BlissRomsOreoBlissOS.
Creating a bootable flash drive of the Bliss operating system, running in Live mode, installation
To create a bootable Bliss OS flash drive, you can use the following methods:
In all cases, you will need to disable Secure Boot to boot from the flash drive created later.
The next steps to execute in Live mode to familiarize yourself with the system without installing it on the computer would be the following:
- After booting from the Bliss OS drive, you will see a menu, the first item is to boot into Live CD mode.
- Once Bliss OS starts, you will be asked to select the launcher, choose taskbar, an interface optimized for your computer. The desktop will open immediately.
- To set the Russian language of the interface, click the button analog “Start”, open Settings – System – Languages and input – Languages. Click on “Add a language”, select russian then, on the language preferences screen, move it to the first place (with the mouse over the bars on the right) to enable the Russian language of the interface.
- To add the Russian input option, in Settings – System – Language and input, click on “Physical keyboard”, and then – AI translated keyboard set 2 – Configure the keyboard layout, check US English. UU. And Russian. The additional input language will be changed with the Ctrl keys + Space.
In this point, you can begin to familiarize yourself with the system. In my test (tested on a Dell Vostro 5568 with i5-7200u) almost everything worked (wifi, touchpad and gestures, sound), but:
- Bluetooth didn't work (I had to agonize over the touchpad since my mouse is specifically BT).
- The system does not see the internal drives (not only in Live mode, but also after installation, I have also checked) and behaves strangely with USB drives: shows them as it should, offers to format them, supposedly formats them, in reality – they are not formatted and are not yet visible in file managers. Decidedly, I did not perform the procedure with the same flash drive that Bliss OS was started with.
- A couple of times, Taskbar Launcher “it's blocked” with a mistake, then it restarted and continued running.
Otherwise, everything is fine: the apk is installed (See How to download apk from Play Market and other sources), Internet works, the brakes are not noticeable.
Pre-installed applications include “Super user” for root access, a repository of free F-Droid apps, Firefox browser is pre-installed. And in the settings there is a separate item to change the Bliss OS behavior settings, but only in english.
In summary, It is not bad at all and I do not rule out that at launch it is a great Android option for relatively weak PCs. But for now I have a feeling for something “unfinished”: The Remix operating system, in my opinion, it seems much more complete and complete.
Installing the Bliss operating system
Note: installation is not described in detail, in theory, with Windows already installed there may be bootloader problems, take the time to install it if you understand what you are doing or if you are willing to fix the problems found.
If you decide to install Bliss OS on your computer or laptop, there are two alternatives to do it:
- Booting from a flash drive, select “Installation”, then set the installation location (separate from existing system), install the Grub bootloader and wait for the installation to complete.
- Use the installer found on the ISO with Bliss OS (Androidx86-Install). Only works with UEFI systems, you have to specify the ISO file with the image as source (Android Image), from what i could understand (searched in english forums). But in my test the installation by this method failed.
If you have previously installed similar systems or have experience installing Linux as a second system, I don't think I have any problem.
