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Samsung To Let Proper Linux Distros Run on Galaxy Smartphones (theregister.co.uk)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Samsung has announced it will soon become possible to run actual proper Linux on its Note8, Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones -- and even Linux desktops. Yeah, yeah, we know Android is built on Linux, but you know what we mean. Samsung said it's working on an app called "Linux on Galaxy" that will let users "run their preferred Linux distribution on their smartphones utilizing the same Linux kernel that powers the Android OS." "Whenever they need to use a function that is not available on the smartphone OS, users can simply switch to the app and run any program they need to in a Linux OS environment," Samsung says. The app also allows multiple OSes to run on a device. Linux desktops will become available if users plug their phones into the DeX Station, the device that lets a Galaxy 8 run a Samsung-created desktop-like environment when connected to the DeX and an external monitor.

5 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. About time. by jonr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    About time. Why can't my phone be my PC? Plug in a monitor, wireless keyboard, and voila! Unless you are running seriously heavy software (Where you would probably use a desktop anyway) a smartphone could probably run 99% of your stuff. I am only talking as software developer here.

    My daily-driver laptop is an 8GB RAM 128GB SSD i7 8 core computer.
    I can get a, say, Samsung Galaxy Note8 with 6GB RAM and 128GB SSD ARM 8 core CPU. Definetly not fast as my laptop, but probably fast enough to compile some files and run a development environment.

  2. A step in the right direction by gweihir · · Score: 4, Insightful

    After all, it is totally ridiculous to carry around powerful universal computers and restrict them to be used as a phone and phone-type app only.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  3. A room full of... by jabberw0k · · Score: 4, Insightful

    VT-100's with no permanent seat assignments, worked perfectly well back in the days of horse-drawn computers. Ah, the reedy "beep" sounds!

  4. Re: Yeah, but can it run linux? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you have a [physical keyboard then your phone can essentially become just a screen

    I busted my ass to get this 27 inch screen, so you'll have to pardon me when I give this bit of news a big whoop-dee-freakin-doo

  5. Re:I wish by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This to me sounds like the Worst Idea Ever (TM).

    A few companies have put a huge amount of effort into making GNU/Linux usable on a smart phone and have failed spectacularly. You only wish for Linux on your smartphone because of altruism not because you have put any thought into how well in its current form it would actually work.