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The tragedy of the Linux desktop is that its CLI is superb and Chrome works really really well. The year of the Linux desktop happened with Android but sadly al

by jart 5y ago

The tragedy of the Linux desktop is that its CLI is superb and Chrome works really really well. The year of the Linux desktop happened with Android but sadly all that successful GUI stuff that Google did was never able to percolate back into the FOSS world as a WIN32 alternative. It's a sad state of affairs for Linux desktop app developers, because they've had the wind taken away from them on all possible angles. The only Linux desktop app I can personally remember using in the past year (aside from the terminal and Chrome) would probably be kcachegrind. I wish that we as a community could focus more on building outstanding TUIs (e.g. linux perf, gdb --tui, emacs) since most Linux installs are headless and it makes an app more functionally useful it can be used in a terminal via ssh.

pjmlp 5y ago
The CLI is just like any other UNIX/POSIX, and as far as Android is concerned, Linux does not exist for userspace coming from Play Store, including apps written with NDK/AGK[0]. Only OEMs have the ability to directly use Linux, doing so from userspace means using what Google considers as being private APIs. Not to mention that Google could at any moment change it by Zircon, if they could so feel inclined. So Android is hardly the best that Linux could make it as desktop. [0] - Native Development Kit/Android Game Kit
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  > So Android is hardly the best that Linux could make it as desktop. Chrome OS Flex might be interesting when it does, eventually, support the linux environments.
  - pjmlp 5y ago
    Another Pyhric victory where Linux runs in a container WSL style and desktop is a browser.
    - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
      I guess, but I am weirdly fine with this if the desktop can see everything it needs from the container.
      - pjmlp 5y ago
        Another proof that only POSIX matters.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
xialvjun 5y ago
We can use [anbox](https://anbox.io/ https://anbox.io/).
okanat 5y ago
The year of the Linux desktop did not happen and will not happen, if we consider the actual GNU+systemd+curl+gstreamer+freetype+Wayland/Xorg+Gtk/Qt+.... as the desktop layer. None of those projects have shared goal of actually making a useful system with stable API / ABI. Moreover, there is already quite a bit competition inside like Qt vs GTK. What made Android successful is Google seeing that mess and creating an entirely new operating system, from kernel to especially userspace. Android in a way turns Linux into a system that is much closer to a microkernel based OS. The binder IPC on the kernel side resembles the message passing systems of microkernels and almost all communication, except a couple of system stuff, passes through it. From allocating display buffers to "Share" buttons all of them uses this system. It has nothing to do with classical desktop system nor the Unix "way" of doing things, which is oversimplifying the system layer to the point of almost uselessness. While the build system of AOSP and Android apps gives me shivers, the OS works beautifully and it can be continuously upgraded and be kept secure, if greedy SoC and device manufacturers released driver updates.
- jart 5y ago
  https://c.tenor.com/srlLdtb35fkAAAAC/starwars-anakin.gif https://c.tenor.com/srlLdtb35fkAAAAC/starwars-anakin.gif

by jart 5y ago

pjmlp 5y ago

The CLI is just like any other UNIX/POSIX, and as far as Android is concerned, Linux does not exist for userspace coming from Play Store, including apps written with NDK/AGK[0]. Only OEMs have the ability to directly use Linux, doing so from userspace means using what Google considers as being private APIs. Not to mention that Google could at any moment change it by Zircon, if they could so feel inclined. So Android is hardly the best that Linux could make it as desktop. [0] - Native Development Kit/Android Game Kit

unfocussed_mike 5y ago
> So Android is hardly the best that Linux could make it as desktop. Chrome OS Flex might be interesting when it does, eventually, support the linux environments.
- pjmlp 5y ago
  Another Pyhric victory where Linux runs in a container WSL style and desktop is a browser.
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    I guess, but I am weirdly fine with this if the desktop can see everything it needs from the container.
    - pjmlp 5y ago
      Another proof that only POSIX matters.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

xialvjun 5y ago

We can use [anbox](https://anbox.io/ https://anbox.io/).

okanat 5y ago

The year of the Linux desktop did not happen and will not happen, if we consider the actual GNU+systemd+curl+gstreamer+freetype+Wayland/Xorg+Gtk/Qt+.... as the desktop layer. None of those projects have shared goal of actually making a useful system with stable API / ABI. Moreover, there is already quite a bit competition inside like Qt vs GTK. What made Android successful is Google seeing that mess and creating an entirely new operating system, from kernel to especially userspace. Android in a way turns Linux into a system that is much closer to a microkernel based OS. The binder IPC on the kernel side resembles the message passing systems of microkernels and almost all communication, except a couple of system stuff, passes through it. From allocating display buffers to "Share" buttons all of them uses this system. It has nothing to do with classical desktop system nor the Unix "way" of doing things, which is oversimplifying the system layer to the point of almost uselessness. While the build system of AOSP and Android apps gives me shivers, the OS works beautifully and it can be continuously upgraded and be kept secure, if greedy SoC and device manufacturers released driver updates.

jart 5y ago
https://c.tenor.com/srlLdtb35fkAAAAC/starwars-anakin.gif https://c.tenor.com/srlLdtb35fkAAAAC/starwars-anakin.gif