Running Linux-based operating systems on smartphones has come a long way. We now have several Linux-powered smartphones on the market that cater to different use cases. Some pack in flagship-level performance, while others try to be a value-for-money proposition.
Sadly, these devices are out of reach for most people around the world due to excessive taxation from their countries and shipping charges. Of course, many do have an older spare Android smartphone laying around.
Why not make good use of it? In this article, we will be taking a look at a very cool project that turns an Android smartphone into a Linux machine with a simple APK file and no root access.
Just tested and my device is unsupported as my kernel lacks “the required system calls to run PRoot correctly.”
Whoops, didn’t work on my pixel :(
On the off chance you haven’t tried this, you might need to try disabling the ‘phantom process killer’ from the developer options if that’s thing on your device -
Local Desktop is built with Rust and runs entirely in native code. By using the Wayland protocol, it incurs less overhead compared to X or VNC alternatives.
Worth a try.
This seems pretty cool. I have an old Android tablet I’d love to try this on, but it’s got pretty weak stats compared to more contemporary devices; I wonder if this could work…?
Only one way to find out… try it and let us know how it goes.
I’m sure it would work fine - just scale your expectations for the performance levels of some software within the installation (IE: games)
What I think you’re saying is, “Play Doom”.
Yes. We can always play doom.
But will it run Brutal Doom? XD
