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I would love to have Android on my phone but when I plug it into a USB-C dock, it outputs a full fat linux distro (with root access) on my monitor, using the US

I would love to have Android on my phone but when I plug it into a USB-C dock, it outputs a full fat linux distro (with root access) on my monitor, using the USB peripherals as input. Android in the hand, Tux on the dock.

zozbot234 5y ago
Meh. The single one AOSP application that I'd actually want natively on my Linux phone is the open source Hacker's Keyboard, to enable a full-sized PC keyboard on the touch screen. Everything else can be left to an emulation layer like Anbox.
- kop316 5y ago
  To the best of my knowledge, you can make a custom layout on the Phosh keyboard with a layout file. IIRC it isn't too difficult.
  - zozbot234 5y ago
    If so, why don't they ship standard full-PC layouts as Hacker's Keyboard does? IME, those are especially useful in landscape mode, or else on larger-screen phones and tablets.
    - kop316 5y ago
      I'm not the squeek keyboard dev, so I do not know. They have a "terminal" layout, which works well for me when I need more full-PC layouts.
      - zozbot234 5y ago
        Found this issue tracker with related information: https://forums.puri.sm/t/using-non-latin-language-on-librem-5/7103/14 https://forums.puri.sm/t/using-non-latin-language-on-librem-... Looks like they're still far from basic feature parity with HK: they don't have key-specific popups for alternate inputs, and are unclear on how to support shift as a "true" modifier key (as HK does) without interfering with their existing UX, which is oriented towards composing text without necessarily involving the application. (This can be especially beneficial on smaller devices, where the "keyboard" can actually be a full-screen view with the only function being pure text entry.) A more PC-like layout would still provide some benefits though.
- apatheticonion 5y ago
  I mean, if I'm running Android on the host level and the desktop OS is virtualized or containerized, I'm not fused as long as it's a fully featured desktop environment.
lmm 5y ago
Samsung already sells a dock that you can (or could) use like that. Turns out it's not really so valuable once you get past the novelty factor.
- apatheticonion 5y ago
  I actually have a compelling use case, assuming I can run a full desktop OS with all the tools available to me.
  - lmm 5y ago
    You certainly used to be able to run full linux on Samsung phones with Dex. I think they may have discontinued it for lack of interest. (You can certainly still use it running Android).
DolphinChips 5y ago
https://maruos.com https://maruos.com is pretty close to what you've just described, but it doesn't support a lot of devices and Linux distro will be running inside LXC.

zozbot234 5y ago

Meh. The single one AOSP application that I'd actually want natively on my Linux phone is the open source Hacker's Keyboard, to enable a full-sized PC keyboard on the touch screen. Everything else can be left to an emulation layer like Anbox.

kop316 5y ago
To the best of my knowledge, you can make a custom layout on the Phosh keyboard with a layout file. IIRC it isn't too difficult.
- zozbot234 5y ago
  If so, why don't they ship standard full-PC layouts as Hacker's Keyboard does? IME, those are especially useful in landscape mode, or else on larger-screen phones and tablets.
  - kop316 5y ago
    I'm not the squeek keyboard dev, so I do not know. They have a "terminal" layout, which works well for me when I need more full-PC layouts.
    - zozbot234 5y ago
      Found this issue tracker with related information: https://forums.puri.sm/t/using-non-latin-language-on-librem-5/7103/14 https://forums.puri.sm/t/using-non-latin-language-on-librem-... Looks like they're still far from basic feature parity with HK: they don't have key-specific popups for alternate inputs, and are unclear on how to support shift as a "true" modifier key (as HK does) without interfering with their existing UX, which is oriented towards composing text without necessarily involving the application. (This can be especially beneficial on smaller devices, where the "keyboard" can actually be a full-screen view with the only function being pure text entry.) A more PC-like layout would still provide some benefits though.
apatheticonion 5y ago
I mean, if I'm running Android on the host level and the desktop OS is virtualized or containerized, I'm not fused as long as it's a fully featured desktop environment.

lmm 5y ago

Samsung already sells a dock that you can (or could) use like that. Turns out it's not really so valuable once you get past the novelty factor.

apatheticonion 5y ago
I actually have a compelling use case, assuming I can run a full desktop OS with all the tools available to me.
- lmm 5y ago
  You certainly used to be able to run full linux on Samsung phones with Dex. I think they may have discontinued it for lack of interest. (You can certainly still use it running Android).

DolphinChips 5y ago

https://maruos.com https://maruos.com is pretty close to what you've just described, but it doesn't support a lot of devices and Linux distro will be running inside LXC.