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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Much more appealing to me is running Android apps on Linux officially. I don't want to use Android as my main system, but I sure as heck would love to have one or two Android apps available on my Linux Machines.
Termux has been a thing for years.
Termux recently got moved off of the play store (kinda), and is now only available on f-droid/github, because Google was further locking down what they allowed on their store.
And in addition to that, they recently added a restriction in later versions of Android: "Child process limit". Although this limit used to not there, when enabled, it prevents users from truly running arbitrary linux programs, like via termux.
Although the child process limit can still be disabled in developer options, it doesn't bode well for how flexible base android in the future will be, since many times corpos like Google move stuff into the "secret" options before eventually removing that dial all together.
TLDR: Termux has been, and is a thing... for now.
Also, I want to shout out winlator. It uses a linux proot, similator to termux, and has box64 and wine inside that proot that people can use to play games. I tested with Gungeon, and it even has controller support and performance, which is really impressive.
winlator can run windows apps on android
Hey that sounds neat!
uses ubuntu as a base
Oh no...
MIT license
oh no
Have to install from github/no F-Droid build
oh no
Winlator is really just termux + proot + box64 + wine wrapped in a neat UI (+ controller support). You can, and people have set this up manually before winlator came along. You'll either need termux-x11 or vnc for the GUI.
Mobox is a similar project that does this automatically via a script... but I don't see a license in their github repo, plus they require the proprietary input bridge for touch controls.
~~Termux is just proot~~
Termux is just a shell running in the context of an app
Termux isn't just proot, but you can install proot inside termux
~~It is proot based though. It is very useful but it does have disadvantages.~~
Yeah but I bet google's one will have lots of cool features like being harder to use and not supporting becoming root and requiring google play services for no discernable reason
If it’s anything like ChromeOS, it’ll be a VM where you can do whatever you want, within that VM.
Why not androids terminal since android is base on linux this one just downloads debian
Cool and all but id rather run android apps on a linux phone.
You can already, Waydroid exists
I think you misread. They want a Linux phone, not a container for android apps on Linux Desktop. Also, yeah there are very limited options to do this, but most of us can't yet.
Linux phones do exist, I was saying that you could use Waydroid on those devices (although you can also use it on Linux Desktop), such as postmarketOS on eg a Fairphone 5.
an all-in-one app for running a Linux distro in a VM.
No, it won't
let you run Linux apps on Android
It will let you run Linux apps in Linux
We already have termux for that, and on a rooted device you could do pretty much anything. This is pointless
Yeah, I just installed Debian in Termux last night. I've got a Samsung phone with a locked down bootloader, so it's the best I can do.
Google is still working on improving the Terminal app as well as AVF before shipping this feature. AVF already supports graphics and some input options, but it’s preparing to add support for backing up and restoring snapshots, nested virtualization, and devices with an x86_64 architecture.
This is the part I cared about. Can it run x86_64 programs, or is it just an ARM-compatible version of Debian?
If it can actually run x86_64 programs on ARM devices, then that's kinda fucking sick and would likely help the world transition to ARM. Like, fuck Google, but this sounds like a good thing, maybe?
Chromebooks have the advantage of being mostly a laptop with a keyboard, mouse-analog and largish screen... Phones don't really have that, so it seems an odd choice to me. Especially for a platform which is hostile to giving users permissions to install software on their own devices.
Smells like they might be preparing to make their own portable console running Android.
does this mean more steam support for android ?
I don't really see the need. It would be nice to have KVM but other than that I don't see much point.