Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
Tl; DR
- Google has revealed that it is developing a Linux Terminal application to transform Android into a platform for the development of applications on devices and possibly the game.
- The application performs a DEBIAN Linux environment in a virtual machine on certain Android devices.
- Recent Android builds can already run Linux graphic applications, opening the way to Android to become a real office computer platform.
When Google published a Linux Terminal application earlier this year, it generated a lot of buzz among amateurs and developers. Despite the excitement, Google was silent about the release, even refusing to mention it during its annual conference on the developers of E / S. recently, however, Google published the documentation for the terminal application, revealing its ambitious plans for the functionality.
With the Linux terminal, Google aims to allow developers to create Android applications directly on Android devices. Finally, the company plans to allow users to execute full -fledged applications and graphics games. The ultimate goal could be to transform Android into a first class office platform that rivals MacOS and Windows – and we could not be more excited.
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The Linux Terminal application arrived in the second quarterly version of Android 15, which Google deployed last March. He uses the Android virtualization framework (AVF) to start a Debian OS image in a virtual machine (VM), providing users with a terminal interface to run Linux commands.
Google recently updated its official documentation for AVF, highlighting the Linux Terminal application as a key use case. The documentation addresses a long-standing limitation, noting that “Android has traditionally been the only major operating system that does not allow users to develop applications on the platform itself.” Unlike MacOS or Windows, the creation of applications for Android has always required a separate computer because the development tools are not natively available on the operating system.
By introducing the Linux Terminal application, Google can “provide a Linux -based development environment to Android users who are developers”. This is crucial because many development tools, including Google’s official Android studio, are available for traditional Linux distributions.
Although Android Studio is available for Linux, there is a warning: it does not currently support the processors based on ARM which feed the vast majority of Android devices. To activate the true development on devices, Google will probably have to add an ARM support to the Linux version of Android Studio, which allows it to run in a virtual machine on Android devices a bit like it already does on Chrome OS.
More interestingly, Google plans to allow OEMs to “implement cases of use of innovative virtual machine such as the execution of graphical user and even games interface applications”. To do this, the company worked to add graphic, audio and hardware acceleration to AVF.
This work is already bearing fruit. The Android Canary Construction published last week allows the terminal application to execute Linux graphic applications. We have tested this new capacity over the weekend and have successfully completed full Linux applications in its own right – including the Chromium, Gimp and LibreOffice – Office version – on a Pixel 8 Pro.
Compared to our initial tests in January, the terminal application now performs linux applications much more reliably, although performance is still slow. When we executed the speed counter reference inside the virtual machine, for example, he marked less than half of what he natively did. Google still has a lot of work to do to correct bugs and improve performance, but it is impressive to know how far the functionality has arrived from its initial version.
If it is well implemented, the Linux environment could even provide the means for Android to become an office game platform. Chromebooks can currently run Windows Games via their Linux environment thanks to the Proton compatibility layer, so the same is true to be done theoretically on Android. However, the processor architecture would again make a challenge, because Proton does not support the processors based on ARM – at least not yet. According to rumors, Valve works on ARM support for proton. If this could open the door to perform many Windows games on Android via its new Linux environment.
The addition of AVF and the Linux environment has a multitude of new possibilities, and we are delighted to see Google continue this work. These features can even be essential to Google’s long-term ambition to merge Chrome OS and Android in a single unified platform. For Android to really compete with MacOS and Windows on the desktop, it must be more than just exploded of its mobile operating system. He must win developers and players who demand a powerful and versatile platform, and these new features are a crucial step in this direction.
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