Google introduces Debian Linux terminal app for Android. My phone's a laptop at last!

Qualcomm claims that my Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus’ Snapdragon 8 Elite CPU is faster than the Intel Core Ultra 288V chip. My smartphone also has 12GB of RAM and 512GB of solid-state storage. In short, it’s more powerful than most of my laptops. So why not use it as a laptop?

Why not, indeed, says Google, which has introduced – at long last – a native Linux Terminal application in its March 2025 Pixel Feature Drop.

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My dream has been to have a phone that works like a phone until I get home and plug in a monitor and kbm then it’s a full fledged PC. Think Dex but not shitty Samsung Android. While I’m dreaming while docked it could also utilize a desktop grade GPU.

bitwolf
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MaruOS

I think it would have been much bigger if Pixels had hmdi out in the first few gens.

tpyoman
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That would be the life.

monk
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And what’s stopping you? Install new LineageOS on an unblocked Samsung, check one checkbox xin developer settings and here it is. Without the GPU, of course.

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I do this today with my Librem 5 and a 1 TB uSD

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112M

May I introduce you to what already existed at one time? (Motorola Atrix 4G from 2011 with Ubuntu desktop when docked.)

xttweaponttx
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Wow, that is incredible!

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Oh I remember. Ahead of its time. RIP.

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IIRC you can do exactly that with the Nintendo Switch (carry it around like a handheld until you plug it into the TV and it becomes a stationary console), though i’ve never had a Switch myself so i don’t know for sure.

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The switch is more or less the same when docked, only additional feature is you get to use a higher resolution.

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I join you on this. The closest I found is a and old surface pro with Linux and waydroid on it. It is nicer than all my previous try but far far from perfect, not even good. Just meh + +.

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Dex is the closest I can get right now. I’d love to have one device. However I’ll need to degoogle and foss more things. I rely on Google Too much for games and such.

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Honestly the steamdeck shows we are getting close. It works like that, just in a slightly bigger form factor and without some of the phone hardware.

A little more tech advancement and I think this won’t be that hard to do.

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