4 ms·

I don't understand what this would be useful for. The Linux terminal app on Android (check Developer settings if you want it) already exists and it uses hardwar

by vimredo 6mo ago

I don't understand what this would be useful for. The Linux terminal app on Android (check Developer settings if you want it) already exists and it uses hardware accelerated virtualization, while this uses QEMU with TCG. The Linux terminal app also supports running a DE (No VNC - as in no VNC, not NoVNC - required!), has full shell, full root, all the features of Podroid, and hell, you could even swap out the terminal if you wanted to. The only advantage to this seems that it supports Android 14, 15, and 16. Am I missing something, or does this have no purpose?

j45 6mo ago
Sometimes the capability unlocks the possibilities.
- m132 6mo ago
  But does it synergize paradigms?
  - j45 6mo ago
    Creating a new capability is like making a new flashlight. Maybe the new light can see wider, or further and you see something you didn’t before that was possible. You can synergizr the looksmaxing while cooking if you like :)
nagaiaida 6mo ago
you seem to have articulated precisely the advantage that makes it serve a purpose for me: supporting the version of android on my phone. presumably i am far from unique in not having android 16
gbil 6mo ago
My understanding is that the integrated linux terminal is not supported on all processors like snapdragon ones and also is not available on all manufactures like Samsung. Therefore this approach covers a much bigger audience.
- microtonal 6mo ago
  I think it was only available on Google Pixel until recently. As far as I understand, some Samsung Exynos devices support it (e.g. Z Flip 7, non-US S26 with Exynos), but not Snapdragon devices, which don't seem to support non-protected VMs yet: Error code: java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: Non-protected VMs are not supported on this device
  - gbil 6mo ago
    I can find it on my S25fe with exynos android 16/oneui 8.0 if I search for it in the setting but is greyed out. I wait for 8.5 to see if it is enabled then and is the only time I'm happy to have an exynos device!
  - fg137 6mo ago
    Can confirm -- seeing the same error on a Samsung Snapdragon device when attempting to use the Linux terminal
- getpokedagain 6mo ago
  It also behaves weirdly if you use a VPN.
ghywertelling 6mo ago
We can use old phones for running PiHole.
jacek 6mo ago
I tried it on my Samsung phone. Keeps crashing, "recovery" just deletes everything and you start over from scratch. No session lasted more than 5 minutes.
realusername 6mo ago
Personally this toggle doesn't do anything (Android 16, Samsung) so I'm not sure when it's supposed to be ready
iraizo 6mo ago
The new app is truly awesome, was able to get a desktop environment running, and a minecraft server & client. Just a shame that you can't pass through USB.
thrance 6mo ago
Wow, didn't know this existed, thanks. But 761 Mo download?? That's insanely big for a terminal, what could possibly make this bundle so big?
- petu 6mo ago
  It's not giving you access to Android shell, but one inside VM. So OS image for VM.
- prmoustache 6mo ago
  It is a complete OS in a virtual machine.
m132 6mo ago
This. Also, for phones that don't support Android virtualization, there's a user-space hack, part of Termux upstream, that allows for root-less chroots via LD_PRELOAD: https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot. systemd won't boot with this (needs to be PID 1), but a lot of software will work just fine and there's nearly zero emulation overhead.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6mo ago
  I don't think it uses LD_PRELOAD, it uses ptrace to intercept system calls (hence the name). Unfortunately this does have performance overhead, although I've never bothered to measure it. Actually that would be an interesting thing to benchmark.
  - m132 6mo ago
    My bad, I must have confused it with something else. Yes, it uses ptrace; there definitely is some overhead around system calls, but that still should be better than running atop a full-scale CPU emulator. That being said, I haven't benchmarked it myself, just remember it being pretty snappy. Thanks for your correction!
shrx 6mo ago
> The Linux terminal app on Android (check Developer settings if you want it) I don't see it. How do I install it?
- Gander5739 6mo ago
  In developer settings, under debugging "Linux development environment (Experimental) Run Linux terminal on Android"
  - shrx 6mo ago
    No such option. Apparently it needs to be allowed by the vendor (Samsung)?
    - mbana 5mo ago
      Yeah, it is controlled by the vendor. If you can't find the option, you will need to use `adb` to enable it that's what I did basically. You can Google it and you'll find what I'm talking about. IRC, it is `pm enable ...`.
arend321 6mo ago
The Linux terminal app on Android reddits are full of reports of instability. It is far from being useful as far as I understand. I had so much hope for this being a good way to use my phone as a portal for development, but it's a dud. At least we have termux and proot.
- dredmorbius 6mo ago
  Termux itself is a red-headed step-child on Android, with current releases installable only from F-Droid, and quite possibly subject to further restrictions in future. Mind: Termux is the only thing on Android which has not precisely sucked in my own 15+ years' experience with the platform. It remains both crippled and emperiled by the OS and Google. <https://web.archive.org/web/20210103151837/https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Termux_Google_Play https://web.archive.org/web/20210103151837/https://wiki.term...> There's ... some Google Play availability as of June 2024: <https://github.com/termux/termux-app/discussions/4000 https://github.com/termux/termux-app/discussions/4000>. F-Droid's own future viability is at risk given Google's recent Android directions: <https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/07/googles-requirement-for-all-android-developers-to-register-and-be-verified-threatens-to-close-down-open-source-app-store-f-droid/ https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/07/googles-requirement-for-...>. My own interests lie more in the ability to run Android emulated under Linux, and switching from phone / tablet devices to a small form-factor laptop (Framework 12 or 13 most likely) for on-the-go computing.
smetannik 6mo ago
Android's terminal app is really slow and takes some time to boot comparing to Termux. Also, the Terminal app is essentially a webview (as I understand, the reason is architectural).
fmajid 6mo ago
The Linux Terminal app is incredibly buggy in my experience, but that may be because I use GrapheneOS.
acka 6mo ago
Not everyone owns one of the limited range of devices that Linux Terminal is available for. For example, no Snapdragon chips currently in use support the "non-protected" virtual machines required by the Android Virtualization Framework. Also, it doesn't jive with Samsung Knox, so the few Samsung devices that this might work on (mostly international models with Exynos chips) will likely not be supported.
Saris 6mo ago
Isn't this super limited? It seems to only support the latest version of android which only recently released phones have.

by vimredo 6mo ago

j45 6mo ago

Sometimes the capability unlocks the possibilities.

m132 6mo ago
But does it synergize paradigms?
- j45 6mo ago
  Creating a new capability is like making a new flashlight. Maybe the new light can see wider, or further and you see something you didn’t before that was possible. You can synergizr the looksmaxing while cooking if you like :)

nagaiaida 6mo ago

you seem to have articulated precisely the advantage that makes it serve a purpose for me: supporting the version of android on my phone. presumably i am far from unique in not having android 16

gbil 6mo ago

My understanding is that the integrated linux terminal is not supported on all processors like snapdragon ones and also is not available on all manufactures like Samsung. Therefore this approach covers a much bigger audience.

microtonal 6mo ago
I think it was only available on Google Pixel until recently. As far as I understand, some Samsung Exynos devices support it (e.g. Z Flip 7, non-US S26 with Exynos), but not Snapdragon devices, which don't seem to support non-protected VMs yet: Error code: java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: Non-protected VMs are not supported on this device
- gbil 6mo ago
  I can find it on my S25fe with exynos android 16/oneui 8.0 if I search for it in the setting but is greyed out. I wait for 8.5 to see if it is enabled then and is the only time I'm happy to have an exynos device!
- fg137 6mo ago
  Can confirm -- seeing the same error on a Samsung Snapdragon device when attempting to use the Linux terminal
getpokedagain 6mo ago
It also behaves weirdly if you use a VPN.

ghywertelling 6mo ago

We can use old phones for running PiHole.

jacek 6mo ago

I tried it on my Samsung phone. Keeps crashing, "recovery" just deletes everything and you start over from scratch. No session lasted more than 5 minutes.

realusername 6mo ago

Personally this toggle doesn't do anything (Android 16, Samsung) so I'm not sure when it's supposed to be ready

iraizo 6mo ago

The new app is truly awesome, was able to get a desktop environment running, and a minecraft server & client. Just a shame that you can't pass through USB.

thrance 6mo ago

Wow, didn't know this existed, thanks. But 761 Mo download?? That's insanely big for a terminal, what could possibly make this bundle so big?

petu 6mo ago
It's not giving you access to Android shell, but one inside VM. So OS image for VM.
prmoustache 6mo ago
It is a complete OS in a virtual machine.

m132 6mo ago

This. Also, for phones that don't support Android virtualization, there's a user-space hack, part of Termux upstream, that allows for root-less chroots via LD_PRELOAD: https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot. systemd won't boot with this (needs to be PID 1), but a lot of software will work just fine and there's nearly zero emulation overhead.

yjftsjthsd-h 6mo ago
I don't think it uses LD_PRELOAD, it uses ptrace to intercept system calls (hence the name). Unfortunately this does have performance overhead, although I've never bothered to measure it. Actually that would be an interesting thing to benchmark.
- m132 6mo ago
  My bad, I must have confused it with something else. Yes, it uses ptrace; there definitely is some overhead around system calls, but that still should be better than running atop a full-scale CPU emulator. That being said, I haven't benchmarked it myself, just remember it being pretty snappy. Thanks for your correction!

shrx 6mo ago

> The Linux terminal app on Android (check Developer settings if you want it) I don't see it. How do I install it?

Gander5739 6mo ago
In developer settings, under debugging "Linux development environment (Experimental) Run Linux terminal on Android"
- shrx 6mo ago
  No such option. Apparently it needs to be allowed by the vendor (Samsung)?
  - mbana 5mo ago
    Yeah, it is controlled by the vendor. If you can't find the option, you will need to use `adb` to enable it that's what I did basically. You can Google it and you'll find what I'm talking about. IRC, it is `pm enable ...`.

arend321 6mo ago

The Linux terminal app on Android reddits are full of reports of instability. It is far from being useful as far as I understand. I had so much hope for this being a good way to use my phone as a portal for development, but it's a dud. At least we have termux and proot.

dredmorbius 6mo ago
Termux itself is a red-headed step-child on Android, with current releases installable only from F-Droid, and quite possibly subject to further restrictions in future. Mind: Termux is the only thing on Android which has not precisely sucked in my own 15+ years' experience with the platform. It remains both crippled and emperiled by the OS and Google. <https://web.archive.org/web/20210103151837/https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Termux_Google_Play https://web.archive.org/web/20210103151837/https://wiki.term...> There's ... some Google Play availability as of June 2024: <https://github.com/termux/termux-app/discussions/4000 https://github.com/termux/termux-app/discussions/4000>. F-Droid's own future viability is at risk given Google's recent Android directions: <https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/07/googles-requirement-for-all-android-developers-to-register-and-be-verified-threatens-to-close-down-open-source-app-store-f-droid/ https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/07/googles-requirement-for-...>. My own interests lie more in the ability to run Android emulated under Linux, and switching from phone / tablet devices to a small form-factor laptop (Framework 12 or 13 most likely) for on-the-go computing.

smetannik 6mo ago

Android's terminal app is really slow and takes some time to boot comparing to Termux. Also, the Terminal app is essentially a webview (as I understand, the reason is architectural).

fmajid 6mo ago

The Linux Terminal app is incredibly buggy in my experience, but that may be because I use GrapheneOS.

acka 6mo ago

Not everyone owns one of the limited range of devices that Linux Terminal is available for. For example, no Snapdragon chips currently in use support the "non-protected" virtual machines required by the Android Virtualization Framework. Also, it doesn't jive with Samsung Knox, so the few Samsung devices that this might work on (mostly international models with Exynos chips) will likely not be supported.

Saris 6mo ago

Isn't this super limited? It seems to only support the latest version of android which only recently released phones have.