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Would PureOS support Android APKs? I think that is something I'd need to consider before making a leap.

by j0e1 8y ago

dman 8y ago
I hope they dont go that way. The amount of engineering effort required to do that would be immense and it would be a constant game of playing catch up to android to ensure that all APKs work. Disclaimer: Views expressed here are my own and do not have anything to do with my employer.
- simcop2387 8y ago
  The way I'd do it, is support the kernel extensions needed (or some wrapper) for the android specific stuff and leave it to the community to start actually making things work. There's a lot of research and work already done out in the android community to strip off a lot of the google play stuff from android and leave you with a functional device. I suspect that a lot of that would make the job easier on the software side. The API side (display, sound, etc.) will probably be a lot more difficult but it has been done in the past. Google's done this with ARC Welder and running some APKs in Chrome. Not sure if it's open sourced or not but if it is then it'd probably handle a good part of the work.
  - dman 8y ago
    Amount of engineering effort involved here would be immense and its unclear if a startup could achieve this and keep up with the developer/ecosystem velocity of Android. Disclaimer: Views expressed here are my own and do not have anything to do with my employer.
- amiga-workbench 8y ago
  Having an Android Emulator is a death knell for any mobile OS. It all but killed native application development for BBOS and Sailfish.
subway 8y ago
I'd expect this to happen via anbox, if at all. IIRC, both the Plasma Mobile and UB Ports folks are also working on anbox integration.
- simcop2387 8y ago
  I had not heard about anbox before but that looks fantastic. Given the work put into it I'd expect the same thing if they make official support that way. Combined with F-Droid for a package manager for android apps it'd let a lot of things get supplemented pretty easily.
codethief 8y ago
I'd be interested in this, as well. Also: What is the operating system's UI going to be like? Considering that https://pureos.net https://pureos.net only shows the desktop version (a Debian derivative), I'd say there's a lot of work waiting for them on the software side alone to make the OS usable on a touchscreen.
- cosmojg 8y ago
  Check out KDE Plasma Mobile. Linux has come a long way with touch screens.
rapnie 8y ago
I believe they mentioned this in the long document accompanying their initial crowdfunding campaign. Thought this would not be the case in first release, but to be added at a later time, and running 'compartmentalized' if I remember correctly. Don't know if things have changed since.
kyleperik 8y ago
I can see how for some this might be necessary for sure, but for me I don't use much more than termux, browsing and texting. To me I hope they rely on porting Linux apps and getting the most of that, because I know how much time has been poured into that whole infrastructure. And then if this catches on, it would hopefully fuel the open source community to keep advancing this technology, so that even if purism is gone, someone else can come and pick up where they left off. I'm just saying, it would be a huge advancement for the Linux desktop to fit Linux desktop apps in a mobile context. (And a huge step for reactive design, if done well)

Would PureOS support Android APKs? I think that is something I'd need to consider before making a leap.

by j0e1 8y ago

Would PureOS support Android APKs? I think that is something I'd need to consider before making a leap.

dman 8y ago

I hope they dont go that way. The amount of engineering effort required to do that would be immense and it would be a constant game of playing catch up to android to ensure that all APKs work. Disclaimer: Views expressed here are my own and do not have anything to do with my employer.

simcop2387 8y ago
The way I'd do it, is support the kernel extensions needed (or some wrapper) for the android specific stuff and leave it to the community to start actually making things work. There's a lot of research and work already done out in the android community to strip off a lot of the google play stuff from android and leave you with a functional device. I suspect that a lot of that would make the job easier on the software side. The API side (display, sound, etc.) will probably be a lot more difficult but it has been done in the past. Google's done this with ARC Welder and running some APKs in Chrome. Not sure if it's open sourced or not but if it is then it'd probably handle a good part of the work.
- dman 8y ago
  Amount of engineering effort involved here would be immense and its unclear if a startup could achieve this and keep up with the developer/ecosystem velocity of Android. Disclaimer: Views expressed here are my own and do not have anything to do with my employer.
amiga-workbench 8y ago
Having an Android Emulator is a death knell for any mobile OS. It all but killed native application development for BBOS and Sailfish.

subway 8y ago

I'd expect this to happen via anbox, if at all. IIRC, both the Plasma Mobile and UB Ports folks are also working on anbox integration.

simcop2387 8y ago
I had not heard about anbox before but that looks fantastic. Given the work put into it I'd expect the same thing if they make official support that way. Combined with F-Droid for a package manager for android apps it'd let a lot of things get supplemented pretty easily.

codethief 8y ago

I'd be interested in this, as well. Also: What is the operating system's UI going to be like? Considering that https://pureos.net https://pureos.net only shows the desktop version (a Debian derivative), I'd say there's a lot of work waiting for them on the software side alone to make the OS usable on a touchscreen.

cosmojg 8y ago
Check out KDE Plasma Mobile. Linux has come a long way with touch screens.

rapnie 8y ago

I believe they mentioned this in the long document accompanying their initial crowdfunding campaign. Thought this would not be the case in first release, but to be added at a later time, and running 'compartmentalized' if I remember correctly. Don't know if things have changed since.

kyleperik 8y ago

I can see how for some this might be necessary for sure, but for me I don't use much more than termux, browsing and texting. To me I hope they rely on porting Linux apps and getting the most of that, because I know how much time has been poured into that whole infrastructure. And then if this catches on, it would hopefully fuel the open source community to keep advancing this technology, so that even if purism is gone, someone else can come and pick up where they left off. I'm just saying, it would be a huge advancement for the Linux desktop to fit Linux desktop apps in a mobile context. (And a huge step for reactive design, if done well)