# Symbian in a Virtual Machine



## MetalheadGautham (Jan 19, 2009)

Hi,

I am interested in installing both Symbian S40 and Symbian S60 in virtual machines and looking at how they feel under emulated environments (as far as applications and OS is concerned) before going for a Multimedia Phone or a Smart Phone. I feel this would enable me to make a much much better choice as to whether a mobile phone is good enough to rival a subnotebook, and also to compare performances of OpenMoko, Qtopia, Andrioid, etc, which are easily usable in virtual machines, with Symbian.

Can somebody guide me on this ? I intend to use something like Virtual Box or VMWare. Would I also need ARM emulation ? If yes (I expect so) can you please guide me to some good ARM virtualisation softwares available for Linux 2.6.28.x onwards kernels ?


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## amitabhishek (Jan 19, 2009)

How are you planning to get the Symbian firmware? Is it available, am not sure.


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## eminemence (Jan 19, 2009)

You can download and install the SDK which has a device emulator.
So if you just want to check out the basic software then the S60 emulator is the way to go.
Just download the sdk from
*www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia....26-913a-3c6f21eb65a5/S60-SDK-0616-3.0-mr.html
But if you want to check out the S40 devices then devices specific sdks are present. You can download them from
*www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia....dba-c4d41b3d05ce/Series_40_Platform_SDKs.html
--eminemence.


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## MetalheadGautham (Jan 21, 2009)

Isn't there something like the ANDROID VirtualMachine from google ? Which helps me see 100% UI of an existing phone ?


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## infra_red_dude (Jan 23, 2009)

^^^ Reported...

[ontopic]

For installing Symbian S60 (there is NO 'Symbian S40') you'd need an emulator like QEMU which can emulate an ARM architecture. However, the biggest problem is getting the Symbian image. Its not free. How will you get it??!! and from where!? Some tools (which are expensive, of course) will allow you to dump the contents of the ROM of a mobile phone. Maybe thats a way but finding such a tool and getting it to work is the most difficult thing.

[/ontopic]


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## MetalheadGautham (Jan 27, 2009)

Isn't Symbian OpenSource ? Thats what several guys told me here.


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## infra_red_dude (Jan 28, 2009)

Yes, but how will you compile an actual build without phone specific drivers?


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## MetalheadGautham (Jan 28, 2009)

is it possible to obtain Symbian S60 through firmware updates for some phone ?


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## eminemence (Jan 28, 2009)

MetalheadGautham said:


> is it possible to obtain Symbian S60 through firmware updates for some phone ?


Then what?


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## MetalheadGautham (Jan 28, 2009)

eminemence said:


> Then what?


Hopefully it would have an image of the ROM ???


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## gxsaurav (Jan 29, 2009)

dude, forget it. You cannot test symbian OS in a virtual machine. It isn't that tough to use, go for it. Even I m using it & I started using it for the first time this month only


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## MetalheadGautham (Jan 29, 2009)

I can't just invest over 15 grands on a product when I have no experience using it and benchmarking it.

I want maximum value for the money I pay.

For that I need to use it for quite a few hours before finalising on it.


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## infra_red_dude (Jan 29, 2009)

I seemed to haf overlooked the part in your first post in which you say you want to test S60 BEFORE buying a new phone. I thought you are developing some symbian app and hence need to test it in an emulator.

If thats the only reason then go out and grab your friend's cellphone or goto any Nokia Priority dealer and check it out. I feel its a waste of time, energy (apart from looking foolish) to go thru the pains of installing Symbian s60 only for the reason of testing it out before buying! Not everything in this world can be "tested" before buying. Start trusting the reviewers on the net. They are not fools


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## MetalheadGautham (Jan 29, 2009)

But many things are highly RELATIVE when it comes to rating or performance.
I need to know performance of phones compared to certain desktop apps.
I also need to know if certain things are as feasable as they seem to be on reviews.

Nobody would lend anyone a phone for a whole week for benchmarking.


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## gxsaurav (Jan 29, 2009)

MetalheadGautham said:


> I need to know performance of phones compared to certain desktop apps.



What??? You want to run Symbian OS in a virtual Machine using a Desktop CPU to test how fast it will run on a Mobile ARM CPU?? Seriously, u R a certified nutcase... yaar who teaches u computers?



> Nobody would lend anyone a phone for a whole week for benchmarking.



What do u want to benchmark?? Frame rates??

the only phone good for u in OpenMoko freeerunner. Good lack telling your GF (if u have one) "Honey, I will talk to u later, the shell of my phone has just given an error, I need to debug & reinstall some libraries"


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## MetalheadGautham (Jan 29, 2009)

gxsaurav said:


> What??? You want to run Symbian OS in a virtual Machine using a Desktop CPU to test how fast it will run on a Mobile ARM CPU?? Seriously, u R a certified nutcase... yaar who teaches u computers?


Lol, YOU are the nut. Read my first post carefully. I intend to use ARM emulation 



> What do u want to benchmark?? Frame rates??



Nope. Usability. How websites would look on a QVGA screen in opera mini and whether I can handle that, how would it be managing email on a mobile, etc. I am a first time PDA user. Remember that. 



> the only phone good for u in OpenMoko freeerunner. Good lack telling your GF (if u have one) "Honey, I will talk to u later, the shell of my phone has just given an error, I need to debug & reinstall some libraries"


Actually, its the easiest phone for me to benchmark. Because it already has an installable on VM, like Android.


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## gxsaurav (Jan 29, 2009)

MetalheadGautham said:


> Lol, YOU are the nut. Read my first post carefully. I intend to use ARM emulation



not possible. make your own code for that & contribute to the world 



> How websites would look on a QVGA screen in opera mini and whether I can handle that,



You need Opera Mini Demo



> how would it be managing email on a mobile



You need Profimail screenshots or youtube videos.



> I am a first time PDA user. Remember that.



I am also a first time Symbian user, but just some common sense helped to get familiar with the I.


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## MetalheadGautham (Jan 29, 2009)

gxsaurav said:


> not possible. make your own code for that & contribute to the world



As far as I remember, there DO exist a few ARM emulators. QEMU for example can emulate ARM successfully.



> You need Opera Mini Demo


thanks for the link.



> You need Profimail screenshots or youtube videos.


Can't judge things based on videos and screenshots.



> I am also a first time Symbian user, but just some common sense helped to get familiar with the I.


there is a difference. you were already comfortable with using PDAs and have tested quite a few phones. While here I am, switching from Nokia 1100 to an N-Series mobile.


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