Linux and Android apps sharing one desktop on an unrooted phone — ARLinux demo, built on tawcroot and libhybris
What if you could keep stock Android, but use desktop Linux apps and Android apps in the same multi-window workspace?
I'm the developer of ARLinux. Here's a real-phone demo followed by an animated explanation of the runtime and graphics stack:
youtube.com
The first 1:47 shows the practical side: Android apps in windows, Debian desktop software, touchpad-style controls and voice input. The technical explanation starts after that; tawcroot is covered at 5:25 and the GPU path at 6:14.
This is not a ROM, a remote desktop, or an ARM CPU emulator. Android stays running. ARM64 Linux programs execute on the phone's CPU, while tawcroot translates the system calls that need a different filesystem view. For graphics, Mesa Zink translates OpenGL to Vulkan; supported Snapdragon devices use Turnip, and our libhybris integration can use the phone's Android Vulkan driver on other tested devices. GPU presentation uses Android hardware buffers.
Credit where it's due: this builds on wmww's tawc/tawcroot, upstream libhybris, Mesa, and the compositor projects—not a runtime or driver stack we invented from scratch. We've published our compatibility work:
• tawc/tawcroot fork: taowen/tawc — guest signal and exec lifecycle fixes, plus application compatibility work.
• libhybris fork: github.com/taowen/libhybris/tree/arlinux — Android linker namespaces, Vulkan compatibility and presentation fixes.
• Distribution build framework: taowen/arlinux-rootfs — build your own Debian, Arch, LXQt or Omarchy-based workspace.
The latest APK includes Yibu, a Debian-based layout with one main task and three live side slots; other desktops can be imported separately. The Linux framework, distribution configs and these forks are open source. The ARLinux Android host is closed source. Download and guide: arlinux.com
A few important limits: this doesn't replace Android with a mainline Linux OS, not every Android or Linux app works, and GPU support depends on the device/driver. The Linux guest is not a security boundary between its programs; compatibility behavior must not be mistaken for working application sandbox isolation.
We've been testing desktop apps such as LibreOffice, Blender, GIMP and Chromium on Redmi and MediaTek hardware. I'd be interested in which real workflow people here would want tested next, and whether the open runtime/graphics changes are useful to other mobile Linux projects.
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@zouyanjian @servasyy_ai 补充个数据点：Mali 其实可以走 libhybris，让 Linux（glibc）进程直接加载手机自带的 Vulkan 驱动。我在做的 ARLinux 就是这条路，vivo X300（Mali-G1 Ultra）上 Steam 的 Windows 游戏《我的小鲨鱼》已经用 Mali 硬件跑起来了，不用 root。改动都开源在 taowen/libhybris
Linux and Android apps sharing one desktop on an unrooted phone — ARLinux demo, built on tawcroot and libhybris What if you could keep stock Android, but use desktop Linux apps and Android apps in the same multi-window workspace? I'm the developer of ARLinux. Here's a real-phone demo followed by an animated explanation of the runtime and graphics stack: youtube.com The first 1:47 shows the practical side: Android apps in windows, Debian desktop software, touchpad-style controls and voice input. The technical explanation starts after that; tawcroot is covered at 5:25 and the GPU path at 6:14. This is not a ROM, a remote desktop, or an ARM CPU emulator. Android stays running. ARM64 Linux programs execute on the phone's CPU, while tawcroot translates the system calls that need a different filesystem view. For graphics, Mesa Zink translates OpenGL to Vulkan; supported Snapdragon devices use Turnip, and our libhybris integration can use the phone's Android Vulkan driver on other tested devices. GPU presentation uses Android hardware buffers. Credit where it's due: this builds on wmww's tawc/tawcroot, upstream libhybris, Mesa, and the compositor projects—not a runtime or driver stack we invented from scratch. We've published our compatibility work: • tawc/tawcroot fork: taowen/tawc — guest signal and exec lifecycle fixes, plus application compatibility work. • libhybris fork: github.com/taowen/libhybris/tree/arlinux — Android linker namespaces, Vulkan compatibility and presentation fixes. • Distribution build framework: taowen/arlinux-rootfs — build your own Debian, Arch, LXQt or Omarchy-based workspace. The latest APK includes Yibu, a Debian-based layout with one main task and three live side slots; other desktops can be imported separately. The Linux framework, distribution configs and these forks are open source. The ARLinux Android host is closed source. Download and guide: arlinux.com A few important limits: this doesn't replace Android with a mainline Linux OS, not every Android or Linux app works, and GPU support depends on the device/driver. The Linux guest is not a security boundary between its programs; compatibility behavior must not be mistaken for working application sandbox isolation. We've been testing desktop apps such as LibreOffice, Blender, GIMP and Chromium on Redmi and MediaTek hardware. I'd be interested in which real workflow people here would want tested next, and whether the open runtime/graphics changes are useful to other mobile Linux projects.