5 ms·

Try Termux and you'll be surprised how much 'Linux' software runs fine on Android, this includes things made to run under X11 etc.

fsflover 1y ago
https://github.com/termux-play-store/ https://github.com/termux-play-store/
- jraph 1y ago
  What's your point? This mess is caused by Google policies, not technical considerations. You can still install Termux from F-Droid. We can argue about Android being a horrible OS for all sorts of reasons but that's a separate discussion.
  - fsflover 1y ago
    Touché.
  - jauntywundrkind 1y ago
    > Almost every Android version imposes new major restrictions when it comes to security requirements, and specifically the Android 10 version update was dramatic for Termux usage, as it disallowed executing downloaded files directly. > The Termux app avoided that by using a targetSdkVersion of Android 9, declaring that it was not compatible with the Android 10 requirements. Android level 9 is from Android 2 Gingerbread (2010!!). https://apilevels.com/ https://apilevels.com/ For now it's not a huge barrier to Termux running. We can go run Android 2 stuff today, & maybe Android will forever be backwards compatible. It does mean that Termux can't build a top or use any new Android features. Termux is glued to a truly ancient version of Android, because Android became inhospitable to basic Linux userland use cases. Seems its mostly about being unable to run downloaded code, which feels admittedly like very much "just a technicality", but boy oh boy has that technicality kept Android from expanding outside of its own bespoke userland.
    - jraph 1y ago
      > > The Termux app avoided that by using a targetSdkVersion of Android 9, declaring that it was not compatible with the Android 10 requirements. > Android level 9 is from Android 2 Gingerbread (2010!!). https://apilevels.com/ https://apilevels.com/ Wait, no, Termux is not stuck at Gingerbread, it's stuck at Android 9 (Pie). Agree with the rest though. Android is a sinking ship, not only the Termux issue, but the increasing number of basic apps and features that are proprietary and not part of AOSP. I hope we'll be able to be caught by Linux Mobile or something like this in time.
      - jauntywundrkind 1y ago
        Apologies! I originally posted Android 9 Pie (2018), but had doubt & switched to the SDK version. My mistake!! The AI age where the AI needs to be able to peak into all the apps will hopefully create a new API / MCP age, new machine-to-machine work. I'm not sure how much of what Google is doing today is proprietary, adding hooks into all their apps and creating some means for Gemini to access that all, and how much is paved road & available for others. Very curious to know more.
    - zozbot234 1y ago
      Right, Android target levels are so different in how they behave towards applications that they're practically best treated as distinct OS's to begin with. There's really no such thing as a unified Android or iOS, unlike Windows or desktop Linux where even a program from the mid-1990s will run unmodified in the latest version of the OS.
      - jraph 1y ago
        > Android target levels are so different in how they behave towards applications that they're practically best treated as distinct OS's to begin with You can run applications running different target levels side by side though > desktop Linux where even a program from the mid-1990s will run unmodified in the latest version of the OS mhm... I wish but that's not so true for Linux. Your old program will likely be missing some dynamic library or be incompatible with your current libc. Desktop Linux userspace is awfully unstable, compatibility is broken left and right, basically no one cares except the Linux kernel itself. There's a reason people jokingly say that win32, through wine, is the most stable Linux API. If you still have the source code of your program (and the linux ecosystem is full of free software so that's likely), you can always recompile but you'll probably need to edit the code so it's compatible with the current versions of libraries). I've heard macOS is not great at this neither.
thesuperbigfrog 1y ago
Termux turns my Android phone into a programmable pocket computer. https://termux.dev/en/ https://termux.dev/en/ Please give it a try and if you find it useful, donate.

fsflover 1y ago

https://github.com/termux-play-store/ https://github.com/termux-play-store/

jraph 1y ago
What's your point? This mess is caused by Google policies, not technical considerations. You can still install Termux from F-Droid. We can argue about Android being a horrible OS for all sorts of reasons but that's a separate discussion.
- fsflover 1y ago
  Touché.
- jauntywundrkind 1y ago
  > Almost every Android version imposes new major restrictions when it comes to security requirements, and specifically the Android 10 version update was dramatic for Termux usage, as it disallowed executing downloaded files directly. > The Termux app avoided that by using a targetSdkVersion of Android 9, declaring that it was not compatible with the Android 10 requirements. Android level 9 is from Android 2 Gingerbread (2010!!). https://apilevels.com/ https://apilevels.com/ For now it's not a huge barrier to Termux running. We can go run Android 2 stuff today, & maybe Android will forever be backwards compatible. It does mean that Termux can't build a top or use any new Android features. Termux is glued to a truly ancient version of Android, because Android became inhospitable to basic Linux userland use cases. Seems its mostly about being unable to run downloaded code, which feels admittedly like very much "just a technicality", but boy oh boy has that technicality kept Android from expanding outside of its own bespoke userland.
  - jraph 1y ago
    > > The Termux app avoided that by using a targetSdkVersion of Android 9, declaring that it was not compatible with the Android 10 requirements. > Android level 9 is from Android 2 Gingerbread (2010!!). https://apilevels.com/ https://apilevels.com/ Wait, no, Termux is not stuck at Gingerbread, it's stuck at Android 9 (Pie). Agree with the rest though. Android is a sinking ship, not only the Termux issue, but the increasing number of basic apps and features that are proprietary and not part of AOSP. I hope we'll be able to be caught by Linux Mobile or something like this in time.
    - jauntywundrkind 1y ago
      Apologies! I originally posted Android 9 Pie (2018), but had doubt & switched to the SDK version. My mistake!! The AI age where the AI needs to be able to peak into all the apps will hopefully create a new API / MCP age, new machine-to-machine work. I'm not sure how much of what Google is doing today is proprietary, adding hooks into all their apps and creating some means for Gemini to access that all, and how much is paved road & available for others. Very curious to know more.
  - zozbot234 1y ago
    Right, Android target levels are so different in how they behave towards applications that they're practically best treated as distinct OS's to begin with. There's really no such thing as a unified Android or iOS, unlike Windows or desktop Linux where even a program from the mid-1990s will run unmodified in the latest version of the OS.
    - jraph 1y ago
      > Android target levels are so different in how they behave towards applications that they're practically best treated as distinct OS's to begin with You can run applications running different target levels side by side though > desktop Linux where even a program from the mid-1990s will run unmodified in the latest version of the OS mhm... I wish but that's not so true for Linux. Your old program will likely be missing some dynamic library or be incompatible with your current libc. Desktop Linux userspace is awfully unstable, compatibility is broken left and right, basically no one cares except the Linux kernel itself. There's a reason people jokingly say that win32, through wine, is the most stable Linux API. If you still have the source code of your program (and the linux ecosystem is full of free software so that's likely), you can always recompile but you'll probably need to edit the code so it's compatible with the current versions of libraries). I've heard macOS is not great at this neither.

thesuperbigfrog 1y ago

Termux turns my Android phone into a programmable pocket computer. https://termux.dev/en/ https://termux.dev/en/ Please give it a try and if you find it useful, donate.