Debian 8 on the Nexus 5
Pocket Linux
© Lead Image © watchara rojjanasain, 123RF.com
Maru OS provides a desktop Debian on a smartphone.
Today's Android devices have plenty of RAM and viable processors: How great would it be to present the software directly on smartphones on an actual Debian system? Maru OS [1] makes this a possibility.
The system created by American developer Preetam D'Souza combines two operating systems in one firmware. Its custom ROM (v0.2.3 at press) for the Nexus 5 (it only works on this device so far) is available for download under a free license, providing both Android 5.1 in the Android Open Source Project version and Debian 8 "jessie." The Debian system only comes into play if the user connects the Nexus 5 to an HDMI-capable monitor via an adapter.
This solution immediately offers several advantages over the classic Android system: It is much easier to use Debian on a larger monitor than Android, which is particularly optimized for small displays and touchscreens. Additionally, basically all applications provided in the Debian project for the ARM platform start on the Debian system. Along with LibreOffice (v4.3), this also includes tools such as Gimp or the popular Apache web server. Even some rather exotic programs like Blender and LaTeX run on the Android smartphone.
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