'SPURV' Project Brings Windowed Android Apps To Desktop Linux (androidpolice.com) 52
mfilion shares a report from Android Police: A new "experimental containerized Android environment" from a company called Collabora allows Android apps to run in floating windows alongside native applications on desktop Linux. You can read all the technical details at the source link, but put simply, 'SPURV' creates a virtual Android device on your Linux computer, much like Bluestacks and other similar tools. There are various components of SPURV that allow the Android environment to play audio, connect to networks, and display hardware-accelerated graphics through the underlying Linux system.
The most interesting part is 'SPURV HWComposer,' which renders Android applications in windows, alongside the windows from native Linux applications. This is what sets SPURV apart from (most) other methods of running Android on a computer. For this to work, the Linux desktop has to be using the Wayland display server (some Linux-based OSes use X11). Pre-built binaries for SPURV are not currently available -- you have to build it yourself from the source code. Still, it's an interesting proof-of-concept, and hopefully someone turns it into a full-featured product.
The most interesting part is 'SPURV HWComposer,' which renders Android applications in windows, alongside the windows from native Linux applications. This is what sets SPURV apart from (most) other methods of running Android on a computer. For this to work, the Linux desktop has to be using the Wayland display server (some Linux-based OSes use X11). Pre-built binaries for SPURV are not currently available -- you have to build it yourself from the source code. Still, it's an interesting proof-of-concept, and hopefully someone turns it into a full-featured product.
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It's a bit of a niche use, but it's a use.
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As an android developer, I can see this is potentially quicker for testing than an emulator or a connected phone.
It's scarcely faster, and you still have to test in the emulator, if not on an actual phone. You can't count on the emulator providing accurate results, let alone something like this.
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Re: But, really, why? (Score:1)
Weston can host Wayland clients (Score:5, Informative)
Weston, the reference compositor for Wayland, has a special feature where you can use it to run Wayland clients under X [newmarch.name].
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Hmmm (Score:5, Interesting)
>"A new "experimental containerized Android environment" from a company called Collabora allows Android apps to run in floating windows alongside native applications on desktop Linux."
I have heard this kind of thing many times before and tried many of them with limited success. Something always seems to be wrong or broken or missing. AndroVM, Virtualbox, Archron, Android-X86, Genymotion, Anbox, I keep holding out hope.
>"For this to work, the Linux desktop has to be using the Wayland display server"
Yuck. Oh well, guess this one uninteresting.
Re: Hmmm (Score:4, Insightful)
Yuck from me since it doesn't work with nvidia binary drivers, which I need to get decent performance out of my GPU.
Yuck, binary drivers.
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>"Why yuck Wayland? I personally feel odd about Wayland without great reasons,"
I have lots of great reasons, especially since I actually use X for everything. Effective remote access, Xterminals, all my apps are X. Nothing I do needs or requires Wayland, and I don't want the extra complexity and problems of trying to run X "under" Wayland. For me, it is a solution looking for a problem.
Virtualbox? (Score:2)
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>"What's wrong with Virtualbox? I use it every day."
Nothing wrong with Virtualbox, it just doesn't work right with any Android image I have tried with it- rotation issues, relative cursor problems, sometimes slow video. It is mostly issues with the Android implementation run under it.
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>"Huh? You're trying to run Virtualbox on a phone? Really?"
No, of course not. Running an Android image as a guest in a VB hosted under Linux on a desktop.
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It depends on the app and how well the developer built it. Some apps work fine on a Chromebook, for example.
We are slowly headed for realizing the old Java dream of running the same app everywhere. There are already a number of frameworks that let you run the same code on Android, iOS and desktop. This is coming from the other direction, adding an Android compatibility layer to other systems.
Good news for lazy developers I guess.
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>"A new "experimental containerized Android environment" from a company called Collabora allows Android apps to run in floating windows alongside native applications on desktop Linux."
I have heard this kind of thing many times before and tried many of them with limited success. Something always seems to be wrong or broken or missing. AndroVM, Virtualbox, Archron, Android-X86, Genymotion, Anbox, I keep holding out hope.
I have used Android-x86 under QEMU to post videos on Instagram, though I now prefer Android-x86 natively. It's not perfect in either case but it does the job. I have no other need for a dedicated Android device.
However, it all seems rather backwards. GNU/Linux has worked great as an all-around OS since the 1990s, ranging from supercomputers to phones. To me, Android seems like a closed toy system, an abomination that just takes advantage of Linux (so it's not unlike Andy Rubin himself). Why make an incom
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To me, Android seems like a closed toy system, an abomination that just takes advantage of Linux
To me, Android is a missed opportunity in the OSS community. There ought to be an Android/Linux distribution that merges Android and Linux out of the box, with the ability to flip between the Android GUI, a full Linux GUI, and console text mode, if not to integrate Android apps with Linux apps. If you have a rooted Android device you can already use Linux Deploy (or similar) to install a full Linux userland on Android. (On an unrooted device, you can get the ultra-light version by installing Termux, which i
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Does installing GNURoot Debian (or Termux) and XServer XSDL apps from Google Play Store give a user experience anywhere near what you suggest?
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Does installing GNURoot Debian (or Termux) and XServer XSDL apps from Google Play Store give a user experience anywhere near what you suggest?
Haven't tried it on Android-x86 so I'm not sure. On a typical Android ARM device yes, but most of them don't have much RAM. I haven't explored Termux to that extent, but I have installed a userland for Linux (maybe Ubuntu, I forget) on an Android stick, and used it with an X server.
Spurv? (Score:1)
Spurv? Does it use Spurving [google.com] bearings?
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Uncontainerized / Unwindowed Android Apps (Score:2)
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Unwindowed would mean fullscreen.
Do you really want to use an app built for a 5" or 9" display in full screen on a 30" monitor?
Viewing distance compensation (Score:2)
Perceived size of an application's display is proportional to the ratio between the screen size and the viewing distance. If I'm sitting 3.3 times as far from a 30" TV as I'd put my eyes from a 9" tablet, the display on the two will project to the same size on my retinas. This is why CSS's px unit is defined as 1/2688 of the viewing distance (based on a 96 dpi display 28 inches away), not as literal pixels.
But you're correct that the desktop use case doesn't put the 30" quite that far away. Phone apps on a
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I would like to see uncontainerized
I found this great Russian-made app for managing all your social media contacts. Would you like to run it natively on your main workstation?
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Seems all attempt to run Android Apps Windowed Android Apps To Desktop Linux are containerized and windowed. I would like to see uncontainerized or unwindowed ones.
Put Android-x86 in a VM, done. Or use the Android Device Simulator with the official SDK if you want ARM, done. What you want already exists. Seems like you haven't bothered to look.
"some Linux-based OSes use X11" (Score:2, Insightful)
OK, right. Just like "some cars don't use Telsa chargers".
Is there some agenda to inverting the tried-and-true and the new-but-woefully-incomplete-and-incompatible here?
Lies! (Score:3)
A windowed app in 2019? That's heresy! Everything must run full screen and tabbed to waste as many pixels as possible. Multi-tasking confuses users and windows? No... Those can move and then you become overwhelmed and lost. The ideal interface should be a large button in the middle of the screen labeled: "Do what you think I want, I'm the product, not the user."
How to know an article sucks right away (Score:2)
> For this to work, the Linux desktop has to be using the Wayland display server (some Linux-based OSes use X11)
MOST Linux-based OSes *still* use XOrg, and Wayland is still considered beta quality software that lacks support for remote access. FAIL.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]