Running Linux on your smartphone in 2020 | Hacker News Reader

Running Linux on your smartphone in 2020

tuxphones.com

40 pointsjmngomes6 comments

Termux [0] is an excellent "other" method of having access to A LOT of GNU/Linux and FOSS tools on any Android device. You can also chroot a full distribution on it and get access to all the packages available from that distribution.

0. https://termux.com/

Termux is cool tech (including running full Linux in a chroot). I would also mention UserLAnd [0] to run full Linux distributions sand specific application with a simple install.

The thing I am missing the most is HDMI video out, as my retired Nexus 5 could do with MHL and a simple dongle on the USB micro port. That dongle could also provide power and another USB port for a mouse or keyboard. Very few modern phones seem to have any video out other than casting. I do see that DisplayLink does support Android, but I've yet to find a dongle that also provides USB C power delivery in a nice portable package.

0. https://userland.tech/

I'm using a USB-A DisplayLink adapter with a USB-C OTG adapter on my device, works very well for traveling, but yeah definitely wish there was one that was just straight USB-C and had a power pass-through.

Supposedly a few docks are coming out that will support it, but they seem to be fairly bulky.

> The thing I am missing the most is HDMI video out, as my retired Nexus 5 could do with MHL and a simple dongle on the USB micro port. That dongle could also provide power and another USB port for a mouse or keyboard. Very few modern phones seem to have any video out other than casting. I do see that DisplayLink does support Android, but I've yet to find a dongle that also provides USB C power delivery in a nice portable package.

Many phones support USB-C's DisplayPort Alternate Mode which basically does HDMI over USB-C and allows for power and data, a cheap adapter [0] is all you need.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R7PD8TR

Question for the knowledgeable, what "makes" Ubuntu touch and can those components be ported to arch?

Mír, libhybris and Unity8 are (AFAIK) the big pieces of the software stack.

I believe Mír is available on Arch.

Unity8 has been ported already, though I don't know how current that port is.

https://github.com/vanyasem/Unity8-Arch

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