Terminal app can now run full graphical Linux apps in the latest Android Canary

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Gaming and “killer app” ideas

  • Some see the major benefit as finally running full desktop games on phones, especially Minecraft Java and possibly Steam titles via translation layers.
  • Others note similar capabilities already exist via third‑party Android apps (e.g., for Minecraft or Fallout 4 via Windows/x86 emulation), but welcome an official, better‑integrated path.
  • There’s discussion of whether SteamOS on ARM plus binary translation could make phones viable handheld PCs, though ARM‑native games remain rare.

Graphics stack: Wayland, X11, and GPU virtualization

  • The “Terminal” isn’t just a text terminal; it launches a full Debian environment with a Wayland session and hardware‑accelerated graphics.
  • X11 apps would run via XWayland; using terminal graphics protocols (Sixel, Kitty) is seen as a poor fit for performance.
  • Under the hood it uses pKVM and virgl/virtgpu‑style GPU virtualization, not full GPU passthrough (SR‑IOV). This enables near‑native 3D across host and guest.

VM vs container and Android kernel differences

  • Multiple comments emphasize VM isolation over containers for security, especially given unvetted Linux software.
  • Running a guest VM decouples Debian from Android’s heavily customized kernel, HAL/Binder model, and strict process rules.
  • Containers would depend on Android’s kernel and exec constraints, making long‑term compatibility and policy independence harder.

Usability, performance, and Android’s process model

  • User reports are mixed: some find it usable for light dev or remote work; others see frequent crashes, slow startup, and “reinitialize” prompts.
  • A recurring theme is Android’s aggressive killing of background processes, which clashes with long‑lived VMs; this is framed as design, not just bugs.
  • Even devices with 8 GB RAM can feel constrained due to many resident services and Android’s memory policy, unlike a lean Linux desktop.

Hardware support and ecosystem

  • Currently tied to Pixel and a few AVF‑capable devices; commenters want broader OEM support and note some Samsung models support AVF while others do not.
  • Some envision phones with external displays or AR glasses plus keyboard as full dev machines.

Broader implications and concerns

  • Seen as a big win for developer tooling, education, and low‑cost computing (e.g., in regions where phones are the only device).
  • Some complain that calling this “Linux” reframes Linux as a mere app inside a proprietary OS, potentially obscuring the idea of Linux as a standalone OS.