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The Loongson processor isn’t exactly common in the west. But this CPU developed in China is likely to start showing up on a growing number of Chinese notebooks — not to mention the Emtec Gdium Liberty netbook. Right now, most Loongson-based notebooks run Linux. But China’s Lemote Technology is working on porting GOogle Android to run on the platform.

Yes, I know Android is based on Linux too, but it’s not exactly typical Linux distribution. It’s designed for smartphones and has its own software infrastructure which means it can’t run common Linux Apps such as OpenOffice.org or Firefox. But it does have a speedy Webkit-based web browser and a growing marketplace of applications, even if you typically don’t get access to the full Android Market unless you’re using Android on a smartphone.

Computer World reports that Lemote already has a demo version of Android that people with Loongson-powered netbooks can download to test.